Buildings of yesterday and today
The Hérault region is the stronghold of circulade villages, medieval architecture in which the circle forms the basis of the plot organization. Reflecting Romanesque urban planning, these villages were built in a circle around a church or a fortified castle. The département boasts 22 communes that meet these criteria, each offering magnificent testimonies to the past. Balaruc-le-Vieux, Poussan and Gigean are examples of villages built in circles.
In Poussan, between garrigue and pond, the built heritage is remarkable. A Roman village occupied since Antiquity, it is crossed by the famous Via Domitia - a road built by the Romans to link Italy to Spain via Gaul. Poussan boasts several Gallo-Roman villas.
Around the Thau Archipelago, you'll also find winegrowers' and middle-class houses, Renaissance facades, ramparts, fortified gates and castles. In Loupian, the Gallo-Roman villa is a little jewel of the past that can be visited as a museum, where you'll discover thousand-year-old mosaics.
As you wind your way through the garrigue, it's not uncommon to come across capitelles. These small circular dry-stone huts are an astonishing architectural heritage. Fragments of agricultural and pastoral memory, they can be seen while hiking the hills of La Moure in particular, and are now home to walkers rather than shepherds or winegrowers.
On the Île Singulière, just a stone's throw from the port of Sète, the famous Théâtre de la mer stands out. A fortified amphitheatre facing the sea, it was originally Fort Saint-Pierre which, along with the semaphore, formed a defensive complex designed to protect the population and the port of Sète from land and sea attacks. Equipped with gun batteries, it operated in tandem with Fort Richelieu. The two buildings could crossfire. It served as a barracks, prison and hospital before being converted into a theater in 1959. The acoustics are exceptional, and cultural events now take place here in a magical setting.
On Mont Saint-Clair, the marine cemetery is one of the Archipelago's must-see sites. Named after Paul Valéry's famous poem, it was created around 1680 to house the first workers to die on the construction site of the Môle Saint-Louis. The view is sublime, and between the aisles you can admire the architectural beauty of some of the chapels. The slopes of Mont Saint-Clair are also home to a number of fine residences and architects' houses.
In Sète, a number of modern architectures blend into the scenery, attracting our curiosity.
The Musée Paul Valery, surrounded by gardens, sits on the slopes of Mont Saint-Clair. Designed by architect Guy Guillaume in the early 1970s, it follows in the footsteps of Le Corbusier's buildings.
CRAC takes advantage of the quays: redesigned by Lorenzo Piqueras, this art center was originally a frozen fish warehouse. Its raw, industrial architecture preserves the memory of the city's economic activity linked to the sea.
The MIAM, meanwhile, was refurbished in a former wine storehouse by architect Patrick Bouchain to become a laboratory open to artists.
On Quai des Moulins, the Manitas de Plata Conservatory, designed by Rudy Ricciotti, is a tribute to the industrial and port heritage of this unique island.
Religious buildings
Valmagne Abbey in Villeveyrac
In Villeveyrac, in the heart of 75 hectares of vineyards, rises this pure Cistercian jewel from the 12th century. Raymond Trencavel, Viscount of Béziers, founded Valmagne Abbey in 1139. It has undergone many architectural changes over the centuries, and today its architecture is Gothic, although its foundations are in fact Romanesque. Listed as a Monument Historique, it is one of the best-preserved Cistercian abbeys in France. Events, concerts...: there's no shortage of opportunities to showcase this remarkable heritage. The farmhouse restaurant serves dishes from the estate's vegetable garden, and the wine tasting room is the perfect place to sample the estate's wines.
Abbaye Saint-Félix-de-Montceau in Gigean
Perched on a rocky massif nicknamed "the jewel of the Gardiole", Saint-Félix-de-Montceau is an ancient Benedictine abbey. Like a stone vessel, this women's abbey stands in a sea of garrigue. Founded at the very beginning of the 12th century by nuns (and consecrated by the Bishop of Maguelone, Godefroid, around 1104), it was first Cistercian, then Benedictine. Despite the ravages of time and the use of the church as a stone quarry after it was abandoned in the 16th century, the ruins remain imposing. Most of the church is built in Pignan stone (soft limestone), with only the buttresses in cut stone. It actually comprises two churches: one, the smaller, dates back to the founding of the abbey; the other, more majestic, dates back to the Gothic period. The beautiful portal is located on the north side of the building. The three windows that light up the nave are a fine example of Gothic architecture. On the south side, a blend of Romanesque and Gothic architecture provides a clear view of the former buildings on which the church was built.
Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette, Sète
Located at the summit of Mont Saint-Clair, this lovely chapel was built in 1861 on the site of the former Montmorencette fort built by Louis XIII. A place of pilgrimage, you can see the stations inscribed all along the Chemin de Saint-Clair. The church is remarkable for its interior frescoes, painted by Jacques Bringuier in 1952, and its ex-voto donations from fishermen's families.
Église Sainte-Cécile in Loupian
Listed as a historic monument since 1949, the church of Sainte-Cécile seems to be the link between Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Built in the 14th century, Sainte-Cécile parish church is impressive in its majesty and sobriety, in the Languedoc Gothic style. Its exterior has the austerity of a fortress, unlike the airy buildings of northern Europe. This squat, monolithic appearance, punctuated by massive buttress walls, is characteristic of the Languedoc Gothic style. The southern facade, main portal and side door are completely undecorated. The interior, on the other hand, features a splendid nave of perfect proportions. Decoration is limited to leafy capitals, reinforcing the impression of volume and balance.
Chapelle Saint-Pierre, Montbazin
The 12th-century Chapelle Saint-Pierre is best known for its Byzantine-influenced Romanesque frescoes. The haloed, full-length apostles can be seen on the sides of the vault. The building is an integral part of the castle and its defensive system. Its location on the promontory of the commune's territory makes the facade unusually imposing in relation to the interior volumes of the nave and choir. The Saint-Pierre chapel, purchased by the town council during the French Revolution, has been a listed historic monument since 1964. It is currently a venue for concerts, cultural events and exhibitions.
Église Saint-Paul in Frontignan
A listed church built between the 12th and 14th centuries, it has witnessed the history of Frontignan-la-Peyrade. A place of worship and contemplation, this communal building is an essential part of the town's life in more ways than one. It is regularly visited by the Association des Amis du Musée de Frontignan. It is also the venue for numerous cultural and traditional events, such as music, sea and miquette festivals, as well as choirs and classical music concerts.
Nurturing architecture
If the Thau Archipelago is punctuated by the sea and the lagoon, its architecture is also organized around its waters.
In this landscape, you can't miss the atypical grid of oyster beds on the largest of the Languedoc lagoons. With 7,500 hectares dedicated to oyster farming, this area accounts for 10% of national production.
In Marseillan, Loupian, Mèze or Bouzigues, the oyster farms are authentic installations with their wooden pontoons from which the precious shellfish arrive, and which welcome the curious on gourmet tours.
Life here also revolves around the fishing, commercial and yachting harbors. In Sète, Mèze, Marseillan, Bouzigues, Balaruc and Frontignan-la-Peyrade, the harbors are nerve centers that, through the ages and in all seasons, have attracted people, trade, the economy, tourism, leisure activities and the supply of freshly caught foodstuffs.
Canals and movable bridges map the city and its accesses as you float along the singular island. Aboard a traditional rowing boat, a waterbus, a Venetian cab or even a kayak, the city's past is revealed, with colorful buildings and a multitude of small moored boats.
At Marseillan's pointe des Onglous, the Canal du Midi opens onto the Thau lagoon. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Canal du Midi is an engineering feat conceived by Pierre-Paul Riquet during the reign of Louis XIV. Among other things, the lock-laden structure helped revive the wheat and wine trade. Today, it is dedicated to pleasure boating.
Les Halles de Sète, a temple to local produce inaugurated in 1890, was originally built in the Baltard style by Montpellier architect Léon-Etienne Rosiès. In the 1970s, they were demolished to make way for a four-storey concrete building. The building had not aged well, so in 2011 the halles were renovated in a very contemporary style by architect François Fontès.
It's in Frontignan that we can observe a building whose style is still derived from the architect Victor Baltard. The story of Les Halles de Frontignan began in August 1897, when it opened its doors for the first time. Renovated in 2017, the original structure has been preserved, but completely openworked to showcase the remarkable architecture of this gourmet venue, made of a metal framework complemented by brick and glass.
