Beziers

Early History

Beziers is one of the oldest cities in France, founded allegedly in the 7th century BC. e. The city has many historical monuments: the ancient amphitheater, the Cathedral of St. Nazarene (mentioned from the VIII century), the Church of St. Madeleine (XI century), the South Channel (XVII century). The population of Beziers is about 70 thousand people.

Albiguian Crusade

In mid- 1209, about 10,000 armed crusaders gathered in Lyon ^[1] . In June, Raimund VI of Toulouse , suspecting something was amiss, promised the Catholic clergy to begin military action against the Cathars . Some time after this promise, his excommunication was withdrawn ^[2] . Meanwhile, the crusaders approached Montpellier . The lands of Raimund-Roger Trankavel around Albi and Carcassonne , on which the Cathar communities lived, were in danger of ruin. Like Raimund Toulouse, Raimund-Roger tried to negotiate with the leaders of the crusaders, but he was refused a meeting, and he hurried back to Carcassonne to prepare the city for defense ^[3] . In July, the Crusaders captured the small village of Sevier and approached Beziers ^[4] . They demanded that all Catholics leave the city. They refused, and after the capture of Beziers, its entire population was slaughtered. Modern sources estimate the death toll in the range between seven and twenty thousand. The last number, probably very high, appears in the report of the papal legate Arnold Amalric ^[5] .

The city has 6 colleges (three of which are private), where students receive general secondary education, as well as 5 lyceums, including 2 private ones, after which students receive a bachelor's degree, which provides the right to enter higher education institutions.

Currently, two higher education institutions are open in Beziers: the University. Fields Valerie (Montpellier III) and Institute of Technology.

There is also a conservatory of arts, a center for professional retraining for adults.

Georges Brassans Museum

The Georges Brassans Museum is a museum located opposite the Le Py cemetery, on bd Camille-Blanc. This museum has a lot of diverse information that relates to the French poet and composer Georges Brassans, including about creativity, music, friends, girlfriends, poetry. Here are the posters of his first performances, there are rare documents and photographs that rarely appear somewhere. The museum demonstrates video materials with musician concerts, and Brassans voice sounds in the headphones of the audio guide ^[6] .

Nadale

Nadal is the name of the holiday week before Christmas, during which various interesting events take place in the city. Translated from Occitan, “nadale” means “little Christmas” ^[6] .

Feast of St. Aphrodis

The feast of St. Aphrodis falls at the end of April. On this day, a camel leads through the streets of Beziers. According to existing legend, Saint Aphrodis came from Egypt on a camel, and after his death, the inhabitants of the city took care of his camel ^[6] .

Gateway Festival

Gateway Festival takes place in June. At this time, festivals, processions, contests are organized. During the holiday, the inhabitants of Beziers go towards Fonsecaire to see how the opening of the South Channel ^[6] occurs.

Feria

Feria takes place in mid-August. This bullfighting festival, which lasts four days and four nights. During it, carnivals are held, fireworks are launched, bullfights are organized. This holiday is considered the oldest holiday in the region ^[6] . You can participate in this event by running away from the bulls along the narrow streets of Beziers. Or look at the performance in the arena. A similar event provokes protests among animal defenders ^[7] . There is a special place in the city where bullfighting takes place - it was built in 1897, 1897 people worked on its construction, and even before the completion of construction the first bullfighting was held here. The construction of the facility was completed in 1905. It is located at 1 Avenue Jean Constans ^[8] .

Young Wine Festival

The festival of young wine takes place in late October. This is a celebration of young Occitan wines, during which tastings take place, accompanied by folklore dances ^[6] .

Cathedral of Saints Nazarius and Celsius

The Cathedral of Saints Nazarius and Celsius is one of the ancient cathedrals of the center of Beziers ^[9] . The cathedral was built in the XIII-first half of the XIV century, XVIII century. In 1992, it was recognized as a historical monument of France ^[10] .

Church of St. Madeleine

Church of St. Madeleine - a church in the city of Beziers, which was built in the XI century ^[11] . The first mention of it dates back to 1092. Located in Madeleine Square. The tragic events of 1209 in the city are connected with this church ^[12] .

• Pierre-Paul Riquet is an engineer, entrepreneur, initiator and builder of the Languedoc or South Channel .

•   Heilbronn ( Germany , since 1965)
•   Stockport ( United Kingdom , since 1972)
•   Stavropol ( Russia , since 1982)
•   Chiclana de la Frontera ( Spain , since 1993)

• Tatyana Burdakova, Ilya Kusy, E. Levitskaya, Mark Sartan, Y. Sartan, L. Kunyavsky, Julia Larionova, Victoria Bakir, Anna Pozhidaeva, Victoria Bazoeva, E. Gromova, E. Merkulova. France. - Moscow, 2012.
• Andrew Whittaker What are the French thinking? 1236 facts from a baguette to the Lumiere brothers. - Ripol Classic, 2016 .-- 303 p. - ISBN 9785386096120 .
• Yuri Andrushkevich, Evgenia Liverovskaya, Irina Sluka. 1000 of the best travels that can change your life. - Moscow: Eksmo, 2017 .-- 504 p. - ISBN 978-5-699-79807-0 .

• Official website of the city (French)
• Official tourist office website for visting Béziers (English) (French) (German) (Spanish)
• Official Portal for visting Béziers (French)
• The Old Cemetery of Béziers-Art Photos (Fr.)