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Hello friends and welcome to our new home, BEZIERS. Through this little page, we'll show you around our neighborhood and around the town at large. Albeit quite artificially, you'll get to see what we see and hang out where we hang out, until you can come and see it first-hand. (View of the St. Nazaire Cathedral and the old Roman bridge, from the Orb river) |
| BEZIERS is a town of about 70000 inhabitants, situated at the heart of the warm and colorful LANGUEDOC region. We are surrounded by vineyards, as winemaking is the primary industry of the area. We are flanked to the North (a 30-40 minute car ride) by low mountains, the ESPINOUSE and further by the CEVENNES; further south-southeastward, past PERPIGNAN, we have the PYRENNEES. And of course, our feet are almost in the water of the MEDITERRANEAN, about 10 minutes from us. |
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BEZIERS has a long and fascinating history. Skipping the prehistoric period, BEZIERS's history as a viable urban center began around the 7th century BCE. Its hegemony was however set in motion by the Romans who settled there "en masse" circa 35 BCE. Privileged by its geography, as a fort city on a hill, surrounded by fertile plains, BEZIERS and the Orb river valley became a prosperous colony along the VIA DOMITIA, called COLONIA JULIA BAETERRA SEPTIMANORUM. Like any other town of the Roman Empire, BEZIERS was a place of religious tolerance and diversity. Obviously the Romans lived out their faiths and Jews settled the region. Christianity, in its own time, also became part of the religious landscape of BEZIERS. Christianity - not only the Christian faith but also the politics and the struggles that came out of the tensions between the Church and the local powers - shaped the history of BEZIERS, from the arrival of the first Christians to the drama of the Middle Ages and the Crusade to the Religious Wars among Catholics and Protestants. |
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We'll just mention here our local saint and martyr, Saint Aphrodise, dear to Ross' heart, and because we live not too far from the place of his first miracle. Legends abound on the saint and legends contradict themselves but legends are legends and we believe them not for historical reasons but for spiritual ones! So Saint Aphrodise came from Africa with his camel; he was the first bishop of BEZIERS, was martyred and decapitated, and the source of many miracles.
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| The other important event in the religious and civic life of BEZIERS was the Albigensian Crusade of the early 1200's, which destroyed and decimated many LANGUEDOC towns, walled cities and castles, such as MINERVE and MONTSEGUR. BEZIERS did not escape and was the first victim of the Crusaders in 1209, with the massacre of thousands of so-called heretics in the Church of La Madeleine and the burning down of the Cathedral of St. Nazaire (rebuilt later as a gothic structure). Many innocents died in the name of God but primarily so that the King of France could claim the South as part of his growing kingdom. |
| Rebuilding itself after the Crusade, BEZIERS continue to flourish and grow. The next biggest event in its historical, social and economic life came towards the end of the 17th century CE (1670's) with the beginning of the building the Royal Canal of the Languedoc under the Sun King, Louis XIV. The Canal would be renamed during the French Revolution, and still bears this name: CANAL DU MIDI. The goal of this majestic endeavor, proposed by BEZIERS native Pierre Paul Riquet, was to link the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, so to avoid passing through the Strait of Gibraltar (under British rule, let's not forget!). The CANAL was inaugurated in 1681 (after Paul Riquet's death) and is still in use to this day. | 
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| Like many other towns of the South, BEZIERS witnessed another period of prosperity and growth towards the end of the 18th Century and the whole of the 19th, due to the success of the winegrowing/winemaking industry. Many great buildings and sites were built during that period, showing the wealth and strength of the city: the City Hall (18th C.), the great tree-lined promenade called LES ALLEES (1827) crowned by the Theater (1844), the gorgeous PLATEAU DES POETES (1861) which houses not only tropical and exotic plants and trees but also magnificent sculptures by BEZIERS native Injalbert, and the covered market still used daily LES HALLES (1890). |
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