Montpellier and cycling
From the moment it first appeared on the Tour route in 1930, Montpellier drew crowds in awe of Charles Pélissier, who claimed the fourth of his eight stage victories in that edition – a record that still stands today. This success paved the way for many more visits and further historic moments. It was on the road to Montpellier that Hugo Koblet brought Fausto Coppi to his knees in 1951. Ill and pale, the ‘campionissimo’, flanked by six team-mates, reached the Hérault prefecture 33 minutes behind the pédaleur de charme. The Swiss rider, who was unbeatable that year, went on to secure his fourth stage victory of that Tour, consolidating his lead in the Yellow Jersey with a 1:32 advantage over Raphaël Geminiani. Frenchman Gilbert Bauvin, who had started the day in second place, lost twelve minutes and dropped to 4th place overall. In 2016, as on three previous occasions, Montpellier served as a springboard to Ventoux, where Thomas de Gendt won solo whilst Chris Froome was the victim of a crash that forced him to run up the summit, having lost his bike! The day before, it was Peter Sagan who had won the stage in a sprint finish. The sprinters have also left their mark on the stage, notably Robert Hunter, who in 2007 became the first stage winner from Africa.
Sights
Place de la Comédie
Construction: 1755.
History and features: this 18th-century square forms the heart of Montpellier. It is surrounded by stately buildings and bordered at one end by the Opéra Comédie, built in 1888. It is 230 metres long and 50 metres wide. In the centre stands the Fountain of the Three Graces and ‘L’Oeuf’ (The Egg), outlined on the ground with a line of red marble. It takes its name from the Comédie, the opera house situated to the south-west of the square.
Note: the square was given a facelift in 2023 with the addition of greenery.
Opéra Comédie
Built in 1888.
History and features: on 22 December 1755, Pyrame et Thisbé, an opera by François Rebel and François Francœur, inaugurated the first theatre designed by Jacques Philippe Mareschal. It comprised a performance hall flanked by a concert hall running perpendicular to it: this is a distinctive feature of Montpellier that can still be seen in the current Opéra-Comédie. During the night of 17–18 December 1785, a fire damaged the theatre. It was rebuilt exactly as it had been and reopened in 1788. During the night of 5–6 April 1881, a fire completely destroyed the building: nothing could be salvaged. A temporary theatre (built of wood in 59 days, yet nevertheless exuding a very bourgeois air of luxury) was erected on the Champ de Mars, which has since become the Esplanade, and a competition was launched for the construction of a new building. Inaugurated in 1888, the Opéra Comédie, a grand theatre in the Italian style, is the work of the architect Joseph-Marie Cassien-Bernard (1848–1926), a pupil of Charles Garnier.
Listing: listed as a Historic Monument in 2020.
Statue of the Three Graces
Construction: 1773 to 1776.
History and features: In 1770, the Montpellier city councillors decided to erect a fountain on Place de la Canourgue. Sculptor Étienne Dantoine was chosen. Designed in Carrara, the fountain was delivered in 1776, but a dispute arose between the sculptor and the city council, which felt it had not received value for money. A court ruled in favour of the artist. The fountain was installed in Place de la Comédie in 1789. In 1893, renovation work on the theatre’s steps led to the fountain being moved a few metres. Sculptor Auguste Baussan took charge of the project and designed a large, egg-shaped rocky plinth in the centre of the square. In 1976, roadworks resulted in the fountain being moved once again. In 1989, the sculpture’s deterioration due to pollution led to its replacement with a resin cast. The original marble group now adorns the foyer of the Opéra Comédie. The fountain was finally renovated in January 2003, when blue lighting was installed to highlight it.
Listing: listed as a Historic Monument in 1963.
Fabre Museum
Opened: 1828
History: the city’s main art museum, it was established following a proposal by François-Xavier Fabre (1766–1837), a painter and collector, to donate his collections to the city, on condition that a museum be built to house them. Fabre, winner of the Academy’s Grand Prix for Painting in 1787, had lived in Rome from 1788 to 1793, before settling permanently in Florence. There, he gradually built up a rich collection of paintings and drawings. After three years of renovation work funded by the city council, the museum, housed in the 18th-century Hôtel de Massilian, opened its doors on 3 December 1828. It has been enriched by numerous donations, bequests and acquisitions throughout its history, and has expanded into adjacent buildings as the collections have grown. The Fabre Museum is one of the most important museums in France.
Key features: following a refurbishment in 2007, the museum’s exhibition space tripled to 9,000 m². In 2020, the collection comprised over 2,000 paintings, 300 sculptures, 4,000 drawings and 1,500 engravings. The galleries are dedicated to Flemish art, the Italian and French masters, followed by 19th-century French painters and, finally, contemporary art, notably featuring Pierre Soulages and Claude Viallat. Among the best-represented artists are Gustave Courbet, Frédéric Bazille, Eugène Delacroix and Alexandre Cabanel. Among the most famous painters in the older collections are: Peter Paul Rubens (3 works), Veronese and Guercino.
Designation: Musée de France.
MO.CO.
Established: 2017
History: Montpellier Contemporain, or MO.CO., has been the name given since 2017 to the group comprising the Montpellier School of Fine Arts and two exhibition venues, the MO.CO. and the MO.CO. Panacée.
Characteristics: MO.CO. Esba (Montpellier School of Fine Arts) is a public higher education institution specialising in the arts, under the remit of the Ministry of Culture and Communication. MO.CO. Panacée is a contemporary art centre and a venue for gatherings, opened in 2013 and situated in the former Royal College of Medicine. It has 1,000 m² of exhibition space. It also houses a restaurant, the Café de La Panacée, a student residence, a courtyard and an auditorium. The MO.CO. and its garden is a contemporary art museum that opened in 2019. It occupies 3,500 m² of space in the former Hôtel Montcalm, near Saint-Roch station, and features a restaurant.
St Peter’s Cathedral, Montpellier
Built between 1364 and 1875.
Style: Gothic.
History: Saint-Pierre Cathedral was originally the chapel of the Monastery of Saint-Benoît Saint-Germain, founded in 1364 by Pope Urban V. It was elevated to the status of a cathedral in 1536, when the bishopric was transferred from Maguelone to Montpellier. Four towers rise at the corners of the nave, one of which was demolished during the Wars of Religion. At that time, the building was a veritable fortress. The entrance is preceded by a massive porch, consisting of two cylindrical pillars and a vault connecting the pillars to the church’s façade. These are the only surviving medieval features. During the Wars of Religion, the cathedral was the target of Protestant attacks. On 20 October 1561, a mob forced their way through a breach into the cathedral, where Catholic dignitaries, accompanied by soldiers, had taken refuge. They were massacred and the church was devastated and looted. In 1567, the cathedral suffered another assault. A tower collapsed, bringing down the entire building with it. In 1629, Cardinal Richelieu ordered the cathedral to be rebuilt. After being refurbished in the 18th century according to a design by the r Jean-Antoine Giral, Saint-Pierre was transformed into a more ambitious structure. The works, directed by Henri Antoine Revoil from 1855 to 1875, resulted in the reconstruction of the bell tower and the addition of radiating chapels within the chancel.
Listing: listed as a Historic Monument in 1906.
Anatomy Museum
The Anatomy Museum is situated on the first floor of the historic Faculty of Medicine building and houses over 13,000 specimens. This museum, originally known as the Anatomy Conservatory, was established alongside the opening of the School of Health in Montpellier in 1795, and its collection grew thanks to its students. In addition, renowned doctors and surgeons donated specimens from pathological cases observed in hospital settings. In 1851, the growth of the collections necessitated the construction of new premises. The Anatomical Conservatory then moved into a gallery designed by the architect Pierre-Charles Abric (1800–1871), built along Boulevard Henri-IV. Originally an educational resource, it has since become a museum, housing a large number of wax models, plaster models, dissection specimens (both normal and pathological anatomy), as well as numerous medical and surgical instruments. It also contains dissected anatomical organs and rare specimens. A large part of the collection, listed as a historic monument, consists of anatomical specimens donated by medical professors and students in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The main attraction is the teratology collection: abnormal foetuses and other ‘monsters’ preserved in jars. The museum’s holdings were enriched by collections donated by various scholars during the 19th century.
Galileo Planetarium
Within the Odysséum complex, visitors can admire the mysterious stones, the giant starlight crossword, the constellation wall, the solar system, asteroids floating in space, a scale model of the moon, and meteorites scattered across the floor.
Mende and cycling
Mende will never forget its Tour de France debut, nor will the Tour forget Laurent Jalabert’s breakaway on 14 July 1995. The capital of Lozère was then still uncharted territory for the peloton, which is now accustomed to grinding its way up the slopes of the Croix Neuve climb. Spaniards Marcos Serrano (in 2007), Joaquim Rodríguez (in 2010) and Omar Fraile (in 2018) all made their mark there. Britain’s Steve Cummings seized his chance there against Romain Bardet and Thibaut Pinot in 2015. And in 2022, during the Tour’s last visit to Mende, it was Australia’s Michael Matthews who emerged victorious from a fierce battle amongst the breakaway riders, whilst Jonas Vingegaard held off Tadej Pogacar’s attack.
Christophe Laurent, who competed in the Tour in 2004 and 2006, was born in and still lives in Mende. The town is also the headquarters of the Tour du Gévaudan.
Sights
Gothic Cathedral of Our Lady and Saint Privat in Mende
Construction: 1368
History: built on the initiative of Pope Urban V, who was based in Avignon and hailed from Gévaudan, it was first consecrated a century later. The bell towers were erected in the early 16th century.
Features: Inside, visitors can admire early 18th-century Aubusson tapestries depicting scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary, some beautiful 16th-, 17th- and 18th-century paintings, 17th-century woodwork (the former rood screen and the canons’ stalls), a 12th-century Black Madonna and remarkable 17th-century organs.
Trivia: the large bell tower once housed the ‘Non Pareille’, which in its day (1517–1579) was the largest bell in Christendom; its clapper can still be found inside the cathedral. During the Wars of Religion, the bell was destroyed, along with part of the building.
Listed as: Historic Monument since 1906
Mende plateau and aerodrome
The Mende plateau, which overlooks the town, is covered in forest and home to a leisure centre (mountain biking, via ferrata, adventure park, play areas), as well as numerous hiking trails. It is a veritable green lung close to the town centre. At its summit stands the Mende-Brenoux aerodrome, which was the filming location for the final scene of Gérard Oury’s film La Grande Vadrouille.
Town Hall
Built: 18th century
Features: a former 18th-century townhouse, remodelled with modern elements, it boasts a beautiful slate roof, a fine interior staircase with a hanging keystone, and Aubusson tapestries. It became the town hall in 1851.
Listed as: Historic Monument since 1944
Notre-Dame Bridge
Built: 12th century
Features: dating from the 13th century, this bridge was for a long time the town’s only stone bridge. Spanning the River Lot, the main pointed arch vault has a span of 20.30 metres and a height of 7 metres. The second, smaller span is a semi-circular arch. This charming site is also well worth a visit for the superb roofs shaped like inverted ship hulls, which stand on either side of the bridge and are found in great numbers in the upper Lot valley.
Listed as: Historic Monument since 1889.
Urbain V Trail
The Urbain V Trail, which traces the life of one of Lozère’s most famous figures (Pope Urban V), runs from Nasbinals to Avignon. It passes through the town of Mende, where it follows the Way of the Cross, which has been restored by the local council. The French Hiking Federation officially recognised the Urbain V Trail as a long-distance hiking route in 2014.
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