Photo : Christian Ferrer / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Béziers
Béziers lies on the Orb, about twelve kilometres from the Mediterranean, in the Hérault. An oppidum was set up there as early as the seventh century BC, then the Romans founded the colony of Baeterrae there in 36 BC. In 1209, the town was sacked at the start of the crusade against the Albigensians, an episode that marks its history lastingly. It is also the town of Pierre-Paul Riquet, builder of the Canal du Midi, whose statue stands on the avenues that bear his name.
The cathedral of Saint-Nazaire, a Gothic building set on a promontory overlooking the Orb plain, was rebuilt from the mid-thirteenth century after the fire of 1209. From the Bishop's garden, you can see the Old Bridge, the canal bridge and the Fonséranes locks. These nine successive locks, which make up a drop of more than twenty metres, are inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage with the Canal du Midi.
