Llívia was the site of an Iberianoppidum which commanded the region and was named Julia Lybica by the Romans. It was the ancient capital of Cerdanya in antiquity, before being replaced by Hix in the Middle Ages. During the Visigothic period, its citadel, the castrum Libiae, was held by the rebel Paul of Narbonne against King Wamba in 672. As the "town of Cerdanya," 8th century Llívia may also have been the scene of the siege by which governor Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi of Muslim Spain rid himself of the Moorish rebel Uthman ibn Naissa, who had allied himself with Duke Eudo of Aquitaine to improve the chances of his rebellion, ahead of the Battle of Tours, also known as the Battle of Poitiers. In 1659, the Treaty of the Pyrenees ceded the comarques of Roussillon, Conflent, Capcir, Vallespir, and northern Cerdanya to the French Crown. Llívia did not become part of the Kingdom of France as the treaty stipulated that only villages were to be ceded to France, and Llívia was considered a town and not a village because of its status as the ancient capital of Cerdanya. In 1939, at the end of the Spanish Civil War, the government of France was in a position—due to the enclave being completely surrounded by French territory—to deny access to it to the victorious forces of Franco and let Llívia remain a free territory of the defeated Republican government. However, this was never carried out. In any case, such an arrangement would not have survived the German occupation of France. During the era of GeneralísimoFrancisco Franco, residents required special passes to cross France to the rest of Spain. Today, with these countries in the Schengen Area, there are no frontier formalities and the only nuisance are cross-border infrastructure issues. Both countries share a hospital there, as well as other local initiatives. During the 2017 Catalan declaration of independence, some of the town residents voted for independence in a referendum deemed illegal by the Spanish government. Spanish police did not intervene in the village, presumably due to its location.
Museum
The Esteve Pharmacy, which is now located in Llívia's recently revamped municipal museum, is a complete 18th-century pharmacy donated to the town by the family who owned it, on condition the contents remain in the town. There are records of pharmacists practising in Llívia since medieval times. The pharmacy has a large display of albarelli, a type of ceramic jar used in pharmacies, as well as antique drugs, and one of the most important collections of prescription books in Europe.
