Montpellier

Montpellier was founded relatively late, in the tenth century, as a trading town rather than a Roman one, and it grew around teaching: its medical faculty received statutes in 1220 and has taught continuously since, making it the oldest medical school in Europe still operating. Rabelais studied there. The Jardin des Plantes, laid out in 1593 for the faculty, is the oldest botanical garden in France. The Ecusson, the medieval core, is a knot of narrow lanes hiding seventeenth and eighteenth-century mansions with courtyards and stairs. The Musee Fabre holds a strong painting collection, and the city is a third students by term time.

History

Pirate raids drew settlement inland from the bishop's town of Maguelone, and Montpellier, first mentioned in 985, was founded by the local Guilhem dynasty, who joined two hamlets inside walls; its name probably comes from the Latin for "woad mountain", after the dye plant grown here. A law school was active by 1160, William VIII granted freedom to teach medicine in 1180, and in 1220 Cardinal Conrad of Urach gave the faculties of law and medicine their statutes, the medical school becoming one of the great centres of medicine in Europe. Through the marriage of Peter II of Aragon and Marie of Montpellier in 1204 the city passed to the kings of Aragon, who confirmed its freedoms and its twelve elected consuls, and it grew into the main centre of the spice trade in France, with some 40,000 people before the Black Death, until James III of Majorca sold it to Philip VI of France in 1349; the bishop moved here from Maguelone in 1536 (Wikipedia, Montpellier).

What's there

• The medical faculty - Europe's oldest continuously working medical school.
• The Jardin des Plantes - France's oldest botanical garden, from 1593.
• The Ecusson - medieval lanes concealing grand private courtyards.
• The Musee Fabre - a substantial fine art collection.

When to go

April to June and September to October; summer is hot and the students are gone, which changes the character. The medical faculty's anatomy museum keeps very limited hours.

Good to know

Private mansion courtyards are mostly closed except on guided tours or heritage days. The old lanes are confusing and poorly signed. Summer heat is heavy inland from the coast.

Nearby

Saint-Guilhem-le-Desert lies northwest; the coast is ten kilometres south.

Key facts