Béziers is a town and commune in the Occitanie region of Southern France; it is a subprefecture of the Hérault department. The inhabitants of Béziers are known as Biterrois, after Baeterrae, the Roman name for the town.
Béziers hosts the famous Feria de Béziers, centred on bullfighting, every August. A million visitors are attracted to the five-day event. Béziers is also a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network.
| Country | France |
|---|---|
| Region | Occitanie |
| Department | Hérault |
| Government | |
| Mayor (2020–2026) | Robert Ménard (DVD) |
| Area1 | 95.48 km2 (36.87 sq mi) |
| Population (2017-01-01) | 77,177 |
| Density | 810/km2 (2,100/sq mi) |
| Demonym(s) | Biterrois |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
Geography
The town is located on a small bluff above the river Orb, about 10 km (6.2 mi) from the Mediterranean coast, and 75 km southwest of Montpellier. At Béziers, the Canal du Midi spans the river Orb as an aqueduct called the Pont-canal de l’Orb, claimed to be the first of its kind.
History
Béziers is one of the oldest cities in France.
The site has been occupied since Neolithic times, before the influx of Celts. Roman Betarra was on the road that linked Provence with Iberia. The Romans refounded the city as a new colonia for veterans in 36–35 BC and called it Colonia Julia Baeterrae Septimanorum. Stones from the Roman amphitheatre were used to construct the city wall during the 3rd century.
From the 10th to the 12th century, Béziers was the centre of a Viscountship of Béziers.
Massacre at Béziers
Béziers was a Languedoc stronghold of Catharism, which the Catholic Church condemned as heretical and which Catholic forces exterminated in the Albigensian Crusade.
Béziers was the first place to be attacked. The crusaders reached the town on 21 July 1209. Béziers’ Catholics were given an ultimatum to hand over the heretics or leave before the crusaders besieged the city and to “avoid sharing their fate and perishing with them”. However, many refused and resisted with the Cathars. The town was sacked the following day and in the bloody massacre no one was spared, not even Catholic priests and those who took refuge in the churches.
The invaders burned the Cathedral of Saint Nazaire, which collapsed on those who had taken refuge inside. The town was pillaged and burnt. By some accounts, none were left alive – by others, there were a handful of survivors.
French Revolution
During the French Revolution, citizens of Béziers met in a revolutionary society created in May 1790 and numbering up to 400 members. It had several successive names: first, “The Literary and Patriotic Cabinet”, a name still derived from the social life of the Ancien Régime; it then became “Society of the Friends of the Constitution and Liberty”. Later becoming affiliated to the Jacobin Club of Paris, the Béziers organization was accordingly renamed the “Society of the Jacobins”; then, the abolition of the French monarchy precipitated two further changes of name: “Society of Brothers and Friends of the Republic” and then “Regenerated Society of the Jacobins, Friends of the Republic”.
From 1790 to 1800, Béziers was the chief town of the district of Béziers. The city did not take part in the Girondin (“Federalist”) movement.
Napoleon the Third
In the repression following Louis Napoléon’s coup d’état in 1851, troops fired on and killed Republican protesters in Béziers. Others were condemned to death or transported to Guiana, including a former mayor who died at sea attempting to escape from there. In the Place de la Révolution a plaque and a monument by Jean Antoine Injalbert commemorates these events.
Sights
- Saint-Nazaire Cathedral
- The Plateau des Poètes (1867)
- The allées Paul Riquet
- Arenas: Béziers has two arenas, one dating from the Roman era whose structures and foundations have been preserved following major works in the Saint-Jacques district, and the other built in 1905 in the style of Spanish bullrings by Fernand Castelbon de Beauxhostes. The latter is one of the largest such structures in France (seating 13100). The arena hosts concerts and, every August, a bullfighting festival (the Féria).
- The Fine Arts Museum
- The musée Saint-Jacques
- Le Pont Vieux is a stone bridge crossing the Orb (Middles Ages).
- Le Cimetière Vieux (Old Cemetery)
Other sites and monuments include:
- Garden de la Plantade
- Saint-Jacques Church
- Church of the Madeleine
- Church of the Immaculate Conception and its glazed tile roof
- Island of Tabarka, on the Orb
- The Art Nouveau former Théâtre des Variétés
- The Saint-Jean-d’Aureilhan estate
- Chapelle du Jardin Notre-Dame (18th century)
Other sights in the area include the Oppidum d’Ensérune archaeological site and the Étang de Montady, a marsh drained in 1247 to create a field and Irrigation system which is visible from the Oppidum d’Ensérune.
Economy
Today, Béziers is a principal centre of the Languedoc viticulture and wine making industries, although there is still much unemployment in the city.
Transport
Road: The A9 autoroute between Italy and Spain skirts Béziers. The final link in the A75 autoroute links to Clermont-Ferrand and Paris.
Rail: The Gare de Béziers is a railway station with connections to Toulouse, Montpellier, Bordeaux, Marseille, Paris, Barcelona and several regional destinations.
Air: Béziers Cap d’Agde Airport, provides connections to destinations in northern Europe.
Canal: Primarily used today by trip boats and plaisanciers, the Canal du Midi is still used commercially to carry Languedoc wine to Bordeaux for blending. The canals locks have a maximum length of 30m, slightly less than the 38.5m adopted under the later Frecinet standard.
Sport
Béziers’ rugby union team (AS Béziers) has twelve championships to its credit.
Béziers hosts Languedocian sea jousts in the summer.
Football team AS Béziers play in French Ligue 2.
