Canillo

Canillo (kəˈniʎu) is one of the parishes of Andorra. Canillo is also the name of the main town of the parish. The parish is considered the religious center of Andorra with the Sanctuary and Chapel of Our Lady of Meritxell, patron saint of Andorra, and contains one of the best-preserved romanesque churches in the Pyrenees, Sant Joan de Caselles. It has a population of 4,826, as of 2011. Despite having a tourist vocation, the parish of Canillo still retains many livestock and agricultural traits. The localities of Canillo parish include Soldeu, Bordes d'Envalira, El Tarter, Sant Pere, Ransol, Els Plans, El Vilar, l'Armiana, l'Aldosa, El Forn, Incles, Prats, Meritxell and Molleres. Unlike the rest of Andorra, Canillo is divided by veïnats (neighborhoods). Canillo Parish is Andorra's largest parish, at 121 square kilometers (47 sq mi). Large natural places and areas in the parish include the Incles Valley, the Ransol Valley and the Montaup Valley. On the hiking trail of the Incles Valley is located the Estany de Juclà, the largest lake in Andorra, with 21.3 hectares (0.21 km2). Canillo has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb). The average annual temperature in Canillo is . The average annual rainfall is with May as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Canillo was on 1 July 1994; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 11 February 1956. The etymological origin of the name of the parish Canillo and its capital is pre-Roman, Iberian or Celtic. It is documented for the first time in the Acta de Consagració i Dotació de la Catedral de la Seu d'Urgell (Deed of Consecration and Endowment of the Cathedral of La Seu d'Urgell), during the 9th century, as Kanillave or Sant Serni de Kanillave. Later on it was referred to as Canilau as it appears in a document from 1176. In Prats is located the sanctuary of Roc de les Bruixes, a set of rock-engraved ritual themes dating from the Bronze Age and the Iberian era, to the Early Middle Ages.