Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a subprefecture of the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

of Southern France. Every August Béziers hosts the famous ''Feria de Béziers'', which is centred on bullfighting. A million visitors are attracted to the five-day event. The town is located on a small bluff above the river Orb, about from the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

coast and southwest of

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the department of Hérault. In 2018, 290,053 people l ...

. At Béziers, the Canal du Midi passes over the river Orb by means of the '' Pont-canal de l'Orb'', an aqueduct claimed to be the first of its kind.

History

Béziers is one of the oldest cities in France. Research published in March 2013 shows that Béziers dates from 575 BC, making it older than

Agde Agde (; ) is a commune in the Hérault department in Southern France. It is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi. Location Agde is located on the Hérault river, from the Mediterranean Sea, and from Paris. The Canal du Midi connec ...

(Greek Agathe Tyche, founded in 525 BC) and a bit younger than

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

(Greek Massalia, founded in 600 BC). The site has been occupied since

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

times, before the influx of

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

''Betarra'' was on the

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types o ...

that linked

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...

with

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese language, Aragonese and Occitan language, Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a pe ...

. 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 An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...

were used to construct the city wall during the 3rd century. Béziers exported

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented grapes. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different ...

to Rome. A '' dolia'' discovered in an excavation near Rome is marked, "I am a wine from Baeterrae and I am five years old." Another is simply marked, "white wine of Baeterrae." Béziers was conquered by the

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

and remained part of Islamic Iberia between 720 and 752. From the 10th to the 12th century, Béziers was the centre of a Viscountship of Béziers. The viscounts ruled most of the coastal plain around Béziers, including the town of Agde. They also controlled the major east–west route through Languedoc, which roughly follows the old Roman

Via Domitia The Via Domitia was the first Roman road built in Gaul, to link Italy and Hispania through Gallia Narbonensis, across what is now Southern France. The route that the Romans regularised and paved was ancient when they set out to survey it, and ...

, with the two key bridges over the Orb at Béziers and over the

Hérault Hérault (; oc, Erau, ) is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France. Named after the Hérault River, its prefecture is Montpellier. It had a population of 1,175,623 in 2019.Saint-Thibéry Saint-Thibéry (; oc, Sant Tibèri) is a commune in the Hérault ''département'' in the Occitanie region in southern France. The village of Saint-Thibéry is built at the confluence of the Rivers Thongue and Hérault. The old Roman road "V ...

. After the death of Viscount William around 990, the viscounty passed to his daughter Garsendis and her husband, Count Raimond-Roger of

Carcassonne Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the Aud ...

(d. 1012). It was then ruled by their son Peter-Raimond (d. 1060) and his son Roger (d. 1067), both of whom were also Counts of Carcassonne. Roger died without issue and Béziers passed to his sister Ermengard and her husband Raimond-Bertrand Trencavel. The Trencavels ruled for the next 142 years, until the

Albigensian Crusade The Albigensian Crusade or the Cathar Crusade (; 1209–1229) was a military and ideological campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, southern France. The Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the French crow ...

, a formal

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

(holy war) authorised by

Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 ...

Massacre at Béziers

Béziers was a Languedoc stronghold of

Catharism Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. F ...

, which the Catholic Church condemned as heretical and which Catholic forces exterminated in the

. The crusaders reached Béziers 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. One of the commanders of the crusade was the Papal legate Arnaud-Amaury (or Arnald Amalaricus, Abbot of Citeaux). When asked by a crusader how to tell Catholics from Cathars once they had taken the city, the abbot supposedly replied, "''

Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius "''Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.''" is a phrase reportedly spoken by the commander of the Albigensian Crusade, prior to the massacre at Béziers on 22 July 1209. A direct translation of the Medieval Latin phrase is "Kill them. T ...

''" ("Kill them all, for the Lord knoweth them that are His"). (This oft quoted phrase is sourced from

Caesarius of Heisterbach Caesarius of Heisterbach (ca. 1180 – ca. 1240), sometimes erroneously called, in English, Caesar of Heisterbach, was the prior of a Cistercian monastery, Heisterbach Abbey, which was located in the Siebengebirge, near the small town of Oberdollen ...

along with a story of all the heretics who desecrated a copy of the Gospels and threw it down from the town's walls.) Amalric's own version of the siege, described in his letter to Pope Innocent III in August 1209 (col. 139), states:

While discussions were still going on with the barons about the release of those in the city who were deemed to be Catholics, the servants and other persons of low rank and unarmed attacked the city without waiting for orders from their leaders. To our amazement, crying "to arms, to arms!", within the space of two or three hours they crossed the ditches and the walls and Béziers was taken. Our men spared no one, irrespective of rank, sex or age, and put to the sword almost 20,000 people. After this great slaughter the whole city was despoiled and burnt ...

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. (A plaque opposite the cathedral records the "Day of Butchery" perpetrated by the "northern barons".)

Later Middle Ages

Despite the massacre, the city was repopulated. A few parts of the Romanesque cathedral of St-Nazaire had survived the carnage, and repairs started in 1215. The restoration, along with that of the rest of the city, continued until the 15th century. Béziers became part of the royal domain in 1247. Rule of the city was for a long time divided among three powers: the Bishopric, which reached its apogee in the 16th and 17th centuries when it was held by the Bonsi family, allied to the

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mu ...

; the consuls, local magistrates created at the end of the 12th century; and finally the king, represented by a "Viguier for judicial affairs", and from the 17th century onwards by a sub-delegate of the Intendant. Béziers was not damaged in the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of England and France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French throne between the English House of Plantagen ...

. On 8 September 1381, a riot broke out at the seat of the municipal council, rioters setting the Town House on fire. The councillors tried to take refuge in the tower, but fire spread there as well, and they all died either by fire or in jumping from the tower to the square.

Early modern times

King Charles IX passed through the city during his royal tour of France (1564–1566), accompanied by the Court and the great men of the kingdom: his brother Henry, the Duke of Anjou, his distant cousin Henri of Navarre, and the Cardinal of Bourbon with the Cardinal of Lorraine. In 1551, Béziers became the seat of a seneschal, being removed from the jurisdiction of the seneschals of

. The city served as a rear base during various wars of the modern period, especially those against the Habsburgs. It was only once directly threatened. During the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

, the British in 1710 landed at

Sète Sète (; oc, Seta, ), also historically spelt ''Cette'' (official until 1928) and ''Sette'', is a commune in the Hérault department, in the region of Occitania, southern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Sétois'' (male) and ''Sétoises ...

and moved to within a few kilometres of Béziers, before being repulsed by the Duke of Roquelaure. Béziers was at the heart of the Montmorency Revolt in 1632. It was in Béziers that Gaston d'Orléans and Henri II de Montmorency, Governor of

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...

, met at the beginning of the rebellion. It was also here that the king, by the Edict of Béziers (October 1632) abolished the privileges of the province. (They were restored in 1649.) During the 18th century, Béziers prospered, notably thanks to the cultivation of vines which enabled it to become an important centre for alcohol trading.

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 ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

; 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, 1851

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. (Injalbert also designed the Fontaine du Titan in Béziers' Plâteau des Poètes park.)

The Languedoc vine growers' revolt in Béziers, 1907

While elsewhere in France, the area planted with vines was decreasing, it increased in the Departments of

Aude Aude (; ) is a department in Southern France, located in the Occitanie region and named after the river Aude. The departmental council also calls it " Cathar Country" (French: ''Pays cathare'') after a group of religious dissidents active ...

, Gard,

Hérault Hérault (; oc, Erau, ) is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France. Named after the Hérault River, its prefecture is Montpellier. It had a population of 1,175,623 in 2019.Pyrenees-Orientales. Together, these supplied some 40% of French wine production. Haut Languedoc, and more particularly the Biterrois and Béziers, proclaimed themselves to be "The World Capital of Wine" and grew rapidly. Great fortunes were made. Large landowners, coming from industry, finance or the liberal professions, gained possession of immense vineyards. There was also a growing foreign competition, with smuggled wines appearing on the market. The fraudsters remained unpunished. In 1892, the winegrowers of the Midi demanded "The restoration and enforcement of customs duties". But the market remained partly held by wines made from imported dried grapes (such as grapes from

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part ...

), and wines called "wet" (adulterated with water). Though the vintners attached great importance to this unfair competition, in fact it did not represent more than 5% of the market. On 12 May 1907, no less than 150,000 protesters gathered in Béziers with the declared aim of "Defending the Southern Viticulture". The crowd spilled into Paul-Riquet and the Champ-de-Mars. The slogans on the banners Proclaimed: "Victory or death! Enough of talking, the time has come for action! Death to fraudsters! Bread or death! Live by working or die fighting!". The demonstrators, who came from more than 200 communes, were joined by numerous Biterrois employees and shopkeepers. The event ended with speeches on the Place de la Citadelle, (now Place Jean-Jaurès). the Speakers included

Marcelin Albert Marcelin Albert (29 March 1851 – 21 December 1921) was a French cafe owner and winegrower considered the leader of the 1907 revolt of the Languedoc winegrowers. Early years Marcelin Albert was born on 29 March 1851 in Argeliers, Aude. The vi ...

who issued an ultimatum to the government, demanding that it raise the price of wine,

Ernest Ferroul Ernest Joseph Antoine Ferroul (13 December 1853 – 29 December 1921) was a French physician and politician. He held extreme left political views. He was twice a deputy for the southern department of Aude between 1888 and 1902, was first elected ma ...

who advocated tax refusal and the Béziers Mayor Émile Suchon, (close to Clemenceau), who took a stand in support of the winegrowers' struggle. There were some minor incidents during the dispersal of the demonstrators. On 16 May, the Béziers municipal council, of Radical and Socialist tendency, resigned. The pressure of the street continued. The police station and the town hall façade were set on fire. Alerted, Georges Clemenceau decided to launch a counterattack. The 17th regiment of line infantry, composed of reservists and conscripts, was on his orders transferred from Béziers to

on 18 June 1907. On the evening of 20 June, learning of the Narbonne shooting, about 500 soldiers of the 6th company of the 17th regiment mutinied, plundered the armory and headed for Béziers. They traveled about twenty kilometers by night. On 21 June, in the early morning, they arrived in town. They were warmly welcomed by the Biterrois, "fraternizing with the demonstrators, and peacefully opposing the armed forces". The soldiers sat down on the Allées Paul Riquet and the population offered them wine and food. The South was on the brink of insurrection. In Paulhan, the railway was taken out of commission by protesters who stopped a military convoy sent to quell the mutineers. In Lodève, the sub-prefect was taken hostage. The military authorities were not ready to accept this mutiny, apprehensive that the example of the 17th regiment would give similar ideas to other regiments in the region. In Paris, the Republic trembled, as Clemenceau had to face a vote of no confidence. However, he survived by letting the military command urgently negotiate with the mutineers. In the afternoon, after obtaining a guarantee that no sanctions will be imposed on them, the 17th soldiers put down their arms and marched to the station under escort, without any major incident. On 22 June, they returned by train to their barracks. Clemenceau announced the end of the mutiny and gained a parliamentary vote of confidence by 327 votes to 223. On 23 June, a law was finally passed, which repressed the massive chaptalisation of the wines. Negotiations and the scale of the movement prevented collective punishment: the mutineers of the 17th were assigned to Gafsa (

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

), a place where soldiers were often sent for "disciplinary companies", but these soldiers remained outside this framework, and were under ordinary military status. There was therefore no penal sanction for the revolt of the 17th, contrary to the legend that developed on this subject. However, during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, haunted by their reputation as deserters, many of them were sent to the front line, particularly in the bloody assaults of 1914. The mutiny of soldiers of the 17th has remained in historical memory, especially with the words of

Montéhus Gaston Mardochée Brunswick, better known by his pseudonym Montéhus (9 July 1872 – December 1952), was a French singer-songwriter. He was the writer of such notable songs as "Gloire au 17ème" and "La Butte Rouge". Biography Montéhus was ...

' anti-militarist song "Gloire au 17", with the refrain: "Salute, salute to you / Brave soldiers of the seventeenth...."

Geography

Climate

Béziers has a

mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

''Csa''). The average annual temperature in Béziers is . The average annual rainfall is with October 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 Béziers was on 7 July 1982; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 16 January 1985.

Population

The inhabitants of Béziers are known as ''Biterrois'', after ''Baeterrae'', the

Roman name Over the course of some fourteen centuries, the Romans and other peoples of Italy employed a system of nomenclature that differed from that used by other cultures of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, consisting of a combination of personal and fa ...

for the town.

Attractions

* Saint-Nazaire Cathedral: Situated in the high part of town, it occupies a picturesque site, visible from afar when approaching Béziers on the road from Narbonne. A remarkable example of middle Gothic architecture from the 14th century, the vaulted nave, wide, reaches a height of . The total length is . The western rose window has a diameter of . *The Plateau des Poètes (1867) : This vast English style (formal) park was laid out by landscape artists, the Bulher brothers. It contains numerous statues of poets and a monumental fountain of the Titan by Injalbert. The park connects the station with the allées Paul Riquet... * The allées Paul Riquet where a large bronze statue by David d'Angers celebrates the creator of the Canal du Midi,

Pierre-Paul Riquet file:Stèle de Pierre Paul Riquet, baron de Bonrepos.jpg, Stele in Toulouse Cathedral Pierre-Paul Riquet, Baron de Bonrepos (29 June 1609 (some sources say 1604) – 4 October 1680) was the engineer and canal-builder responsible for the construct ...

. The same sculptor created the bas reliefs which decorate the neo-Classical façade of the Municipal Theatre (1844) at the top of the ''allées''. At times of the ''Feria'', festivities are centred in these alleys. *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 (musée des Beaux-Arts), founded in 1859, received in 1934 the legacy of Injalbert's widow and, in 1975, drawings and the art collection of

Jean Moulin Jean Pierre Moulin (; 20 June 1899 – 8 July 1943) was a French civil servant and French Resistance, resistant who served as the first President of the National Council of the Resistance during World War II from 27 May 1943 until his death less ...

. Among the museum's works are canvasses by Hans Holbein, Sébastien Bourdon, Géricault,

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

Chaïm Soutine Chaïm Soutine (13 January 1893 – 9 August 1943) was a Belarusian painter who made a major contribution to the expressionist movement while living and working in Paris. Inspired by classic painting in the European tradition, exemplified by the ...

and Henri Goetz. *The musée Saint-Jacques, installed in a former barracks, has collections showing life in the Béziers region (''Biterrois''). * Le Pont Vieux is a stone bridge crossing the Orb (Middles Ages). * Le Cimetière Vieux (Old Cemetery), created in the 18th century, is a true open-air museum with numerous tombs and works of art by local sculptors, including Jean Magrou and Injalbert. * Pierre-Paul Riquet's Canal du Midi (17th century) Béziers installations: the Pont-canal de l'Orb canal aqueduct; the Fonserannes staircaise locks; the hapless Fonserannes "water slope"; and the Fonserannes lock continuation (now also ''hors service'') to the River Orb. Other sites and monuments *The Cordier or Bagnols mill *Saint-Jacques Church *The Saint-Aphrodise Church *Church of the Madeleine *Saint Jude Church *Church of the Immaculate Conception and its glazed tile roof *The Capnau quarter *Island of Tabarka, on the Orb *The Municipal Theatre (19th century) *The Art Nouveau former Théâtre des Variétés *The market hall (end of the 19th century) *The Saint-Jean-d'Aureilhan estate *The Domaine de Bayssan *Chapelle du Jardin Notre-Dame (18th century) *Chapelle des Pénitents Bleus (18th century) Other sights in the area include the Oppidum d'Ensérune

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

and the

Étang de Montady : The Étang de Montady ( en, "pond of Montady") is a drained pond or lagoon, or more accurately a former freshwater wetland, located near Montady and Colombiers, midway between Béziers and Narbonne in the western department of Hérault in sout ...

, a marsh drained in 1247 to create a field and

Irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

system which is visible from the Oppidum d'Ensérune.

Economy

Béziers is a principal centre of the Languedoc

viticulture Viticulture (from the Latin word for '' vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of '' Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, r ...

and wine making industries.

Transport

Road: The A9 autoroute between Italy and Spain skirts Béziers. The final link in the A75 autoroute between Pézenas and the A9 was completed in December 2010 and provides direct links to

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label= Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, with a population of 146,734 (2018). Its metropolitan area (''aire d'attrac ...

and Paris. Rail: The Gare de Béziers is a railway station with connections to Toulouse, Montpellier, Bordeaux, Marseille, Paris, Barcelona and several regional destinations. TGV trains stop in Béziers, but the tracks between Montpellier and Spain are not yet high speed tracks. Air:

Béziers Cap d'Agde Airport Béziers Cap d'Agde Airport (french: link=no, Aéroport Béziers Cap d'Agde) is an airport serving the town of Béziers and nearby Languedoc coastal resorts including Cap d'Agde. It is 11.5 km (6.2 NM) southeast of Béziers, near Vias in t ...

(previously Béziers-Agde-Vias Airport), owned by the

Chamber of commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ...

and Industry, provides connections to destinations in northern Europe. Following an extension to the runway which was completed in March 2007, Ryanair began flights to and from

Bristol Airport Bristol Airport , at Lulsgate Bottom, on the northern slopes of the Mendip Hills, in North Somerset, is the commercial airport serving the city of Bristol, England, and the surrounding area. It is southwest of Bristol city centre. Built on ...

in March 2008, and later to London Stansted and London Luton Airport. Current (Jan. 2013) destinations from this airport with Ryanair are Bristol, London Luton Airport,

Paris Beauvais Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, Oslo Rygge,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Weeze Airport and

Stockholm Skavsta Stockholm Skavsta Airport ( Swedish: ''Stockholm Skavsta flygplats''), or Nyköping Airport is an international airport near Nyköping, Sweden, northwest of its urban area and approximately southwest of Stockholm. It is served by low-cost airl ...

, while

Flybe Flybe (pronounced ), styled as flybe, is a British airline based at Birmingham Airport, England. History The airline traces its history back to Jersey European Airways, which was set up in 1979 following the merger of Intra Airways and Expre ...

serves

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. 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. Although parts of the River Orb are navigable, they river is interrupted by a number of impassable weirs.

Sport

Béziers'

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

team is

AS Béziers Hérault Association Sportive Béziers Hérault ( oc, Associacion Esportiva de Besièrs Erau), often referred to by rugby media simply by its location of Béziers, is a French rugby union club currently playing in the second level of the country's profe ...

, the football team is

AS Béziers (2007) Avenir Sportif Béziers is a French association football club founded in 2007 by the merger of AS Saint-Chinian, FC Béziers Méditerranée, and the Béziers-Méditerranée Football Cheminots. They are based in the town of Béziers and their ho ...

who play in Championnat National 2.

Notable people

* Jedaiah ben Abraham Bedersi (1270–1340), poet, philosopher and physician * Abraham Bedersi was a Provençal Jewish poet from the 13th-century *

(1609 or 1604–1680), engineer and

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface f ...

-builder responsible for the construction of the Canal du Midi * Paul Pellisson (1624–1693), author *

Jean Barbeyrac Jean Barbeyrac (; 15 March 1674 – 3 March 1744) was a French jurist. Life Born at Béziers in Lower Languedoc, he was the nephew of Charles Barbeyrac, a distinguished physician of Montpellier. He moved with his family into Switzerland after ...

(1674?–1744),

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the U ...

* Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan (1678–1771), geophysicist * Jean-Henri-Nicolas Bouillet (1729–1790), physician and Encyclopédiste, mayor of Béziers from 1787 to 1790 * Pierre Jean Porro (1750–1831), guitarist, composer and music publisher * Joseph-Henri baron de Jessé (1755–1794), nobleman and president of the National Constituent Assembly * Jean Gailhac (1802–1890), priest, educator and founder of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary *

Agénor Azéma de Montgravier Michel Auguste Martin Agénor Azéma de Montgravier (28 October 1805, in Béziers – 14 September 1863, in Montpellier) was a French archaeologist and soldier. Career He was one of the most distinguished students at the ''École Polytechnique'' fr ...

(1805–1863), archeologist and '' Chef d'escadron'' in the Artillery * Jean Antoine Ernest Constans (1833–1913),

statesman A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level. Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to: Newspapers United States * ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a ...

* Jean Antoine Injalbert (1845–1933), sculptor * Valentin Duc (1858–1915), operatic tenor * Gustave Fayet (1865–1925), artist, art collector, owner of Abbaye de Fontfroide * Jean Magrou (1869–1945), sculptor *

Henri Fescourt Henri Fescourt (23 November 1880 – 9 August 1966) was a French film director. He directed some 40 films in his career. Filmography * 1912 : '' Un vol a été commis'' * 1912 : '' Le Petit restaurant de l'impasse Canin'' * 1912 : '' Paris-Sa ...

(1880–1946), film director * Mario Cazes (1890–1972), composer, conductor and violinist *

(1899–1943), a hero of the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

in the Second World War * Edgar Faure (1908–1988), statesman * Gabriel Bacquier (1924-2020), baritone * Christian Metz (1931–1993), film theorist *

Jean-Pierre Escalettes Jean-Pierre Escalettes (born 29 May 1935 in Béziers) is the former president of the French Football Federation having served in the role from 12 February 2005 to 2 July 2010. He was awarded the presidency after winning the ball with 92.56% of th ...

(b. 1935), former president of the French Football Federation (2005–2010) * Elisabeth Daynès (b. 1960), sculptor *

Damien Comolli Damien Jacques Comolli (born 24 November 1971) is a French former football coach and scout and the current director of football of Toulouse FC. He has previously worked with the clubs Monaco, Saint-Étienne, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool ...

(b. 1972), football director *

Julien Rodriguez Julien Rodriguez (born 11 June 1978) is a French former professional footballer who played as a defender. Career Born in Béziers, France, Rodriguez started his career at AS Monaco, making 135 appearances for the club and helping them win the ...

(b. 1978), Olympique de Marseille footballer *

Jérémy Clément Jérémy Clément (born 26 August 1984) is a French professional football manager and former player. Playing as a midfielder, he spent most of his career with two clubs, Paris Saint-Germain and Saint-Étienne. Playing career Though born in Bé ...

(b. 1984),

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Saint-Étienne is the ...

footballer * Aurélie Kamga (b. 1985), athlete *

Alexandra Rosenfeld Alexandra Rosenfeld (born 23 November 1986) was elected Miss France in 2006. Representing the region of Languedoc, she succeeded Cindy Fabre as the 77th Miss France on 3 December 2005. Early life and education Alexandra Rosenfeld was born i ...

(b. 1986), Miss France 2006,

Miss Europe Miss Europe is a beauty pageant for European women from all over Europe. It was established in February 1927 by Fanamet, the European distributor of Paramount, as a one-off event where the winner was to star in a film directed by Friedrich ...

2006 * Richard Gasquet (b. 1986), French

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

player * Thomas Heurtel (b 1989), basketball player * Jim Pla (b.1992), racing driver * Amale (b. 1993), wrestler

Cultural references

*The Kate Mosse novels ''

Labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by ...

'' and ''The Winter Ghosts'' draw on the history of

, Béziers and the Cathars. *

Alan Tunbridge Alan Tunbridge is an English artist, book dust-jacket illustrator and songwriter. Life and work Normally painting in oils, Alan Tunbridge has also designed a great number of book dust-jacket illustrations, mainly in Scraperboard. Many of hi ...

commemorated the Cathars in his song " Massacre at Béziers". *Parts of the town, especially the cathedral, figure prominently in

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. After a career of more th ...

's film '' Une belle fille comme moi''.

Twinned towns

Béziers is twinned with: * Heilbronn, Germany, since 1965 * Anping (Tainan), Taiwan * Chiclana de la Frontera, Spain, since 1993 * Stavropol, Russia, since 1982 * Stockport, United Kingdom, since 1972 * Maaloula, Syria, since 2014

Gallery

Beziers (the old bridge).JPG, The old bridge Map commune FR insee code 34032.png, Map Cathédrale Saint-Nazaire Béziers.JPG, Saint-Nazaire cathedral Saint-Jean d'Aureilhan.JPG, Le domaine de Saint-Jean-d'Aureilhan, neo-Gothic style tower (19th century) Beziers2.jpg, Église de la Madeleine Rochelongue 129 Béziers.JPG, Place Gabriel Péri River Orb viewed from Beziers.JPG, View from Béziers to the river Orb showing a weir and the Ancien Moulin de Bagnols Beziers Fonseranes 2.JPG, alt=Fonserannes Lock on the Canal du Midi, Fonserannes Locks on the Canal du Midi

References

Sources

External links

Official tourist office website for visiting Béziers
(In English)
Official website city of Béziers.

Website of Béziers and Biterrois

Béziers Congrès
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beziers 30s BC establishments Communes of Hérault Languedoc Subprefectures in France Cities in Occitania (administrative region)