Béziers

Béziers () is a commune in the Hérault département in the Occitanie region in southern France. It is a subprefecture of the department and also the capital of the arrondissement of the same name.

Béziers is one of the oldest cities in France. Research shows that Béziers was built by Greeks in the 6th century BC. Some archaeologists think that Béziers could be the oldest town of France, even before Marseille.

History 

The site where is Béziers has been occupied since Neolithic times, before the arrival of Celts. Roman Betarra was on the road that linked Provence with Iberia. The Romans refounded the city as a new place 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. The city was occupied by the Moors between 720 and 752.

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 got to the town on 21 July 1209 and burned the cathedral of Saint Nazaire. A few parts of the Romanesque cathedral survived, and repairs started in 1215. The restoration, along with that of the rest of the city, continued until the 15th century.

After the Louis Napoléon's coup d'état in 1851, troops killed protesters in Béziers. Others were condemned to death or taken to the Guiana.

Geography 
The city is in the southeastern of the department, in the plain of Hérault (the plaine héraultoise). It is on a small cliff on the eastern side of the Orb river, a tributary of the Hérault river.

The commune has an area of , the largest commune in the department, and is at an altitude of about  above sea level. Béziers is at  to the southeast of the city of Montpellier and at  from the Mediterranean Sea.

The commune of Béziers is surrounded by the communes Boujan-sur-Libron, Maraussan, Lignan-sur-Orb, Villeneuve-lès-Béziers, Corneilhan, Sauvian, Colombiers, Cers, Montady, Maureilhan, Bassan and Vendres.

Climate
The climate of Béziers, in the Köppen climate classification, is Csa - Mediterranean climate with hot summers.

Population
The inhabitants of Béziers are known, in French, as Biterrois (women: Biterroises), from Baeterrae, the Latin name of the city.

With a population of 75,701, Béziers has a population density of  inhabitants/km2.

Evolution of the population in Béziers

Béziers forms with other four communes the urban area of Béziers with a population of 89,243 inhabitants (2013) and an area of . This urban area is the centre of the metropolitan area of Béziers, formed by 40 communes with a population of 168,960 inhabitants (2013) and an area of .

Administration 
Béziers is a subprefecture of the Hérault department, the capital of the arrondissement of Béziers and the administrative centre () of three cantons: Béziers-1, Béziers-2 and Béziers-3.

It is part of the intercommunality Béziers Méditerranée ().

Sister cities 
Béziers is twinned with:
  Chiclana de la Frontera, Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain, since 1993
  Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, since 1965
  Stavropol, Stavropol Krai, Russia, since 1982
  Stockport, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, since 1972

Sites of interest 
 Saint-Nazaire Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Nazaire), from the 14th century.
 Pont Vieux, a stone bridge over the Orb, from the Middle Ages.
 Canal du Midi, a canal (17th century).

Gallery

Related pages
 Arrondissement of Béziers
 Communes of the Hérault department

References

Other websites

 Ville de Béziers website 
 Communauté d'agglomération Béziers Méditerranée website 
 Béziers in Méditerranée Tourism Office

Subprefectures in France
Communes in Hérault