Bessan
Encyclopedia
Bessan is a commune
in the Hérault
department in the region
of Languedoc-Roussillon
in southern France
.
, Bessan is a mainly agricultural village, known for its wine. In the past, wines and spirits were shipped from its port.
Located a few kilometres from the sea, Bessan today attracts tourists in search of calm. It is also appreciated for its charming historical centre, a thousand years old, for its rich Christmas traditions, for summer meals at the Guinguette and under the poplars, or for tours of the Ricard
distillery and Cactus Park.
Its position at an exit of the A9
motorway has brought companies and increased prosperity into the area.
of Monadière to trade.
In 218 BC
Hannibal
, Carthaginian general, crossed the region with his army and war elephants to attack the Romans, passing between Bessan and Montblanc
.
In 408-409 AD Béziers
, Agde
and the region were ransacked by an army of Germans (Burgundians
, Suevi, Vandals
), Slavs (Alain) and other tribes.
In 737, Charles Martel
entered the province at the head of the French, temporarily pushing the Saracens, destroying Beziers, Agde and the surrounding countryside so that they could not return to fortify them.
To 1050-1100, building began of the fortified village of Bessan.
In 1209, the Crusader army, led by Simon de Montfort
, seized the region under the pretext of hunting the Cathars, and ten years later the castles of Bessan and Touroulle and become the property of his son Amaury.
In 1278, the Bessans had already obtained from their seigneur
the right to elect consuls (mayors) to deal with political affairs.
In 1348, plague killed a large proportion of the population. It returned several times thereafter.
On the 30 October 1587, Antoine Scipio, the new Duke of Joyeuse
and leader of the Catholics, took advantage of the governor of Languedoc
's absence in the Tarn with his army, seized and looted Bessan.
In 1851, during the coup of Napoleon III, a cannon was pointed at the Grand'rue and thirty republic Bessanais were deported.
In 1907, the Bessanais were actively involved in the Midi wine revolt.
In November 1942, German troops entered and occupied Bessan. They fled in August 1944, after the Allied landing in Provence.
was added in 1847 for a clock. The extra weight of the bell tower necessitated the strengthening of the existing vault creating arcades.
The municipal council sits in the old ramparts tower, now known as a room for meetings and marriages. Within this room is a bronze Marianne
by Georges Saupique.
by the Bishop of Agde
, to undergo works. Around 1100, the following bishop gave the church to the abbots of La Chaise-Dieu
. They immediately started the construction of a new church with the apse
composed of five stretches of wall with semi-circular collonettes
s in the Auvergnat
style.
The abbots of Saint-Thibéry
who received tithes from Bessan were not happy. After a trial lasting almost forty years, during which the pope, passing through the region, would have visited Bessan, they managed to recover the church while still under construction.
The tower seems to have been built later, perhaps in the second half of the 14th century, following the sacking of Bessan by the governor of Languedoc
. The side chapels were built as or when needed or desired. Those of the choir date from 1338 and 1341. The adjoining chapels are from 1360 and 1475. The four other chapels, nearer the entrance are from 1624, 1628, 1652 and 1662.
Originally, the Romanesque
openings, were narrow. Larger windows were installedin 1764 in the upper part of the nave. They are now enhanced with stained glass by Louis Victor Gesta who had his workshop at Toulouse
between 1850 and 1880.
In 1993, with a new restoration of the church, the brick vault of the nave, dating from 1760, was demolished. The work revealed the original woodwork structure, with coloured rafters and beams with sculptures of human heads at their extremities, as well as the existing opening in the vault of the choir.
The Romantic organ, constructed by Baptist Puget in 1879 in his Toulouse
workshop, was restored in 1986 and 1994. The wooden bell tower supporting the main bell, being in poor condition, was to be restored in 2004 under a partnership between village, state, région and departément.
was damaged by lightning in 1886. It was scheduled to be demolished because of the danger it posed, but this was not done until 1938, after a piece of iron fell during a storm in 1936. As the current steeple was being installed, the opportunity was taken to demolish the room containing the clock and to install its bell at the top of the bell tower.
At the start of the 18th century, the tower had five bells. Today, no more than two remain: the décadaire bell, cast
1567 (and recast for its tercentenary), and the bell once used to strike the hour, cast in 1388. The latter is known to be the oldest in Hérault.
The other three bells were lowered in 1791 and sent to Béziers
to be turned into cannons.
Emerging into the rue de la République, it was fitted with a gate protected by a square tower now serving as the meeting room of the council. Beyond this line, which continues along rue de l'Hospice or de l'Olivier, the presence of many dead-ends suggests there was a first line of ramparts covering only part of the historic centre. During the Albigensian crusade
, the order was apparently given to the fortified villages in the region to demolish their walls. In the 1340s, amid rumours that the English were about to invade the Languedoc, the Bessanais rebuilt or repaired their walls, an operation which was resumed between 1365 and 1369.
In 1587, Montmorency requested that repairs be made to the drawbridge
at the Saint-Pierre gate, a gate which today is the jewel of the forgotten ramparts.
In 1856, the municipality decided to transform the land into a public walkway at the bottom of which was built, a few years later, an old people's home or nursery school.
In 1893, the Promenade was redeveloped. The former parapet of the old pitch was demolished and replaced by wide pavements for the benefit of street vendors on market days.
In the late 1950s, the retirement home, abandoned, was destroyed. It was replaced by a community centre in 1956. The building consists of a large main dance hall without bar and a huge balcony for performances taking place on the stage. This balcony was transformed into a meeting room in the early 1980s, and at the same time, Fernandez Brenes painted the murals located on each side of the stage.
, was embellished in 1894 with a monumental fountain. The place was renamed Place de la République.
In 1973, the municipality demolished the fountain whose limestone was in poor condition. It was replaced with a concrete monument decorated d with a small bronze bust of Marianne
.
In 1988, the concrete structure was removed and replaced with an imitation of the monumental fountain with basins and planters. The area was paved with cobblestones.
In 1827, the water source being insufficient in summer, the municipality dug a well, in the middle of the square, and built a monumental fountain.
In 1944-1945, the Liberation Committee ordered the demolition of the fountain, whose stones had been eroded by moisture, and built public toilets underground. The disused hospice, on the back of the Place de la Fontaine, was demolished from 1963. The surrounding houses were bought and demolished to enlarge the square and toallow the construction of a modern building comprising office, shops and housing. The project was approved in 1967 and work was completed in 1970. Paul Azema, a Bessan artist, completed the main facade with ceramics.
Place de la Fontaine, very friendly, is now a place of relaxation and welcome part of the traditional market on Sunday.
If you believe the company that restored the cross in the 1980s, the base basalt dating from the time of Louis XIV, but the wrought iron cross and the Holy christ would be less old. As to that cockerel used to weathercocked already at the top of the cross in the nineteenth century, it will be stolen in April 1999.
. Several of the letters, dating from 1921, we learn that he has made two sketches for Bessan but it lacks the time to start the work. Beginning 1923, to begin the monument Béziers, he thinks he can lead the two front yards. But, tired of waiting, the city turns to Auguste Azéma which, in 1922, is responsible for the erection of a shrine to the dead for the homeland, or war memorials in the cemetery. This building will be completed in 1924.
The following year, it will be Augustus Azéma asked to build a memorial to children Bessan died for France, or the Victory Monument, to be completed in 1926.
On these two works are engraved the names of Bessans died for France in 1914-1918, that of Victory will be added those of other wars: 1939-1945, Indochina war, war in Algeria.
According to some, it protects Bessan of agricultural disasters that have devastated some nearby villages (hail, frost).
. This church is built around the first half of the eleventh century on the site of an ancient Roman villa, but also along a path ancient road called Mercadal, who joined the oppidum Monadière to port said the Canaleta, located between the beach Portiragnes
and Vias.
The presence of two very large blocks of basalt suggests that this was, originally a pagan temple. Transformed, it seems, in the twelfth or thirteenth century, La Chapelle Saint-Laurent is probably abandoned, along with the rest of the village, during the Wars of Religion.
In 1938, during excavations by Father Thomas, a sarcophagus
is found in the chapel. A sarcophagus containing a skeleton and two small Roman burial urns. IT will be transported in the garden of the presbytery of Bessan where it is.
The chapel has avoided little destruction during the passage of the expressway connecting the toll highway in Cap d'Agde, but part of its Visigothic cemetery is destroyed. She will undergo another outrage in 2001, this time due to looters stones.
Note that there are many other chapels in the territory of Bessan: Affrie, Saint-Claude, Penitents gray, Saint-Martin de Caillan, Father Grange, Castle chapel Brignac ...
Bladier of Bessan lies on the banks of the river Hérault on the outskirts of the village. It is neo-Romanesque, Gothic preacher. It is fortified by openings machicolation
and niches
which is accessed by a walk. Two walls with balistraria
s and a spiral staircase that starts just two meters from the ground to impede the attackers, complete the defense system.
The mill used to grind wheat, that Bessans Viassois and bring on a donkey or on a cart pulled by a mule, thanks to six grinding wheels operated by a system of vertical wheels.
The mill activity slows with the development of the vineyard. It will serve for the last time to 1855 to crush blocks suffers imported from Sicily and intended to treat the vine against the mildew
.
Prevailed in part 1977, in a flood of Herault, it is completely disfigured in 1994 during the construction of the dam conducted at the request of the pumping station André Filliol of Florensac
and the union of Lower Languedoc, station that supplies drinking water much of the department.
In 1998, the municipality organizes an exhibition and tours of the mill and, aided by the Heritage Foundation, managed to attract regional television.
, sometimes with the speed, tapered shape of bombs that may have the size of a nucleus of olive or weigh tens of kilograms.
During the last eruption, there are about 650,000 years of lava flowing from cracks located at the foot of mountains, forming a plateau basalt of one kilometre radius and a dozen meters thick, including a end is with the craft and the other dominates St. Thibéry.
Of the three mountains, said only that "Saint-Claude", which is the smallest and closest Bessan, is over. In 1973, the central cone with a windmill called the "Tour" is razed, and pozzolan which is extracted serves as a highway embankment under construction. The third cone, located at the edge of Bessan on the territory of Saint-Thibéry is operated long used its stones to build houses and walls closing the village until the early twentieth century. As the shelf, it provides for centuries basalt necessary for the construction, stone streets ...
The plateau basalt Mountains Ramus is operated at several locations on the town. At the career of Languedoc, you can still discover a quirk of nature, namely a "pink stone" that must be the way the lava
has cast itself.
Many activities are also proposed: electric boat ride, rent a pedal boat and fishing It is equipped with a bank empierrée, floating pontoons, toilets, stage, dance floor, lighted parking.
Recreation area of poplar
The leisure area of poplar Victor Goudou is located on the road to Marseillan, near the city center. It is a place of leisure for all which includes games for children and a foot - basketball and roller. There are also bowling municipal, local Bessanaise the ball and a dance where meals are organized around the bar associations.
Until 1980, the anetol (in the product Ricard) is purchased on the French market. For the sake of quality, the company decides to produce anetol Bessan from gasoline anise from China or Vietnam, and fennel
grown in the Tarn. A column correction installed on site. The same is true for the rule who first bought powder is then bought stick in the south of Italy, Turkey, Lebanon and crushed into chips Bessan then plunged into an alcoholic solution to extract juice used in the Ricard. Bessan becomes the global preparation of commodities for the manufacture of Ricard, which is kept secret manufacture of concentrated aromatic group.
Since the 1990s, many factories are closed Ricard and development center Bessan sees its forecast production increase. In 2000, the new channel, fully automated, will leave 80,000 bottles per day. A production should quickly exceed the 100,000 bottles that can be stored in the new premises created in 2000.
The company Ricard launched in 1999 in the industrial tourism and guided tours are offered to the public. They are being abandoned because of technical and security related to increased production.
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
in the Hérault
Hérault
Hérault is a department in the south of France named after the Hérault river.-History:Hérault is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
department in the region
Régions of France
France is divided into 27 administrative regions , 22 of which are in Metropolitan France, and five of which are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...
of Languedoc-Roussillon
Languedoc-Roussillon
Languedoc-Roussillon is one of the 27 regions of France. It comprises five departments, and borders the other French regions of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Rhône-Alpes, Auvergne, Midi-Pyrénées on the one side, and Spain, Andorra and the Mediterranean sea on the other side.-Geography:The region is...
in southern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Geography
Built in the midst of vineyards in the heart of the department in the Monts Ramus, and on the banks of the Hérault riverHérault River
The Hérault is a river of southern France. Its length is . Its source is in the Cévennes mountains. It reaches the Mediterranean Sea near Agde...
, Bessan is a mainly agricultural village, known for its wine. In the past, wines and spirits were shipped from its port.
Located a few kilometres from the sea, Bessan today attracts tourists in search of calm. It is also appreciated for its charming historical centre, a thousand years old, for its rich Christmas traditions, for summer meals at the Guinguette and under the poplars, or for tours of the Ricard
Pernod Ricard
Pernod Ricard is a French company that produces distilled beverages. The company's eponymous products, Pernod Anise and Ricard Pastis, are both anise-flavoured liqueurs and are often referred to simply as Pernod or Ricard...
distillery and Cactus Park.
Its position at an exit of the A9
A9 autoroute
The A9 autoroute is a motorway in southern France. The road forms part of the European route E15, as does the Scottish "A9" ....
motorway has brought companies and increased prosperity into the area.
History
Around 600 BC, Greeks settled in Bessan on the oppidumOppidum
Oppidum is a Latin word meaning the main settlement in any administrative area of ancient Rome. The word is derived from the earlier Latin ob-pedum, "enclosed space," possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *pedóm-, "occupied space" or "footprint."Julius Caesar described the larger Celtic Iron Age...
of Monadière to trade.
In 218 BC
218 BC
Year 218 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scipio and Longus...
Hannibal
Hannibal Barca
Hannibal, son of Hamilcar Barca Hannibal's date of death is most commonly given as 183 BC, but there is a possibility it could have taken place in 182 BC. was a Carthaginian military commander and tactician. He is generally considered one of the greatest military commanders in history...
, Carthaginian general, crossed the region with his army and war elephants to attack the Romans, passing between Bessan and Montblanc
Montblanc, Hérault
Montblanc is a commune in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France.-See also:*Communes of the Hérault department...
.
In 408-409 AD Béziers
Béziers
Béziers is a town in Languedoc in southern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the Hérault department. Béziers hosts the famous Feria de Béziers, centred around bullfighting, every August. A million visitors are attracted to the five-day event...
, Agde
Agde
Agde is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France. It is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi.-Location:Agde is located on the river Hérault, 4 km from the Mediterranean Sea, and 750 km from Paris...
and the region were ransacked by an army of Germans (Burgundians
Burgundians
The Burgundians were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr , and from there to mainland Europe...
, Suevi, Vandals
Vandals
The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....
), Slavs (Alain) and other tribes.
In 737, Charles Martel
Charles Martel
Charles Martel , also known as Charles the Hammer, was a Frankish military and political leader, who served as Mayor of the Palace under the Merovingian kings and ruled de facto during an interregnum at the end of his life, using the title Duke and Prince of the Franks. In 739 he was offered the...
entered the province at the head of the French, temporarily pushing the Saracens, destroying Beziers, Agde and the surrounding countryside so that they could not return to fortify them.
To 1050-1100, building began of the fortified village of Bessan.
In 1209, the Crusader army, led by Simon de Montfort
Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester
Simon IV de Montfort, Seigneur de Montfort-l'Amaury, 5th Earl of Leicester , also known as Simon de Montfort the elder, was a French nobleman who took part in the Fourth Crusade and was a prominent leader of the Albigensian Crusade...
, seized the region under the pretext of hunting the Cathars, and ten years later the castles of Bessan and Touroulle and become the property of his son Amaury.
In 1278, the Bessans had already obtained from their seigneur
Lord
Lord is a title with various meanings. It can denote a prince or a feudal superior . The title today is mostly used in connection with the peerage of the United Kingdom or its predecessor countries, although some users of the title do not themselves hold peerages, and use it 'by courtesy'...
the right to elect consuls (mayors) to deal with political affairs.
In 1348, plague killed a large proportion of the population. It returned several times thereafter.
On the 30 October 1587, Antoine Scipio, the new Duke of Joyeuse
Joyeuse, Ardèche
Joyeuse is a commune in the Ardèche department in the Rhône-Alpes region in southern France.-Geography:Joyeuse lies in the historic region of Bas-Vivarais, in the valley of the Beaume, a tributary of the Ardèche River.-Population:-Personalities:...
and leader of the Catholics, took advantage of the governor of Languedoc
Languedoc
Languedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² .-Geographical Extent:The traditional...
's absence in the Tarn with his army, seized and looted Bessan.
In 1851, during the coup of Napoleon III, a cannon was pointed at the Grand'rue and thirty republic Bessanais were deported.
In 1907, the Bessanais were actively involved in the Midi wine revolt.
In November 1942, German troops entered and occupied Bessan. They fled in August 1944, after the Allied landing in Provence.
Population
Town Hall
After the old building being was deemed too small, they decided to build a new Hotel de ville (town hall) on the site of one of rampart towers and part of the moats. This was done by 1777. The current town hall is located in the very heart of the village. A bell towerBell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...
was added in 1847 for a clock. The extra weight of the bell tower necessitated the strengthening of the existing vault creating arcades.
The municipal council sits in the old ramparts tower, now known as a room for meetings and marriages. Within this room is a bronze Marianne
Marianne
Marianne is a national emblem of France and an allegory of Liberty and Reason. She represents the state and values of France, differently from another French cultural symbol, the "Coq Gaulois" which represents France as a nation and its history, land, culture, and variety of sport disciplines in...
by Georges Saupique.
St. Peter's Church
St Peter's Church (Église Saint-Pierre ) already existed in 990, then called Saint-Pierre-aux-Liens. It was in poor condition when, in 1070, it was given to the abbey of Saint-ThibérySaint-Thibéry
Saint-Thibéry is a commune in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France.-See also:* Roman Bridge* Via Domitia* Communes of the Hérault department-References:*...
by the Bishop of Agde
Agde
Agde is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France. It is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi.-Location:Agde is located on the river Hérault, 4 km from the Mediterranean Sea, and 750 km from Paris...
, to undergo works. Around 1100, the following bishop gave the church to the abbots of La Chaise-Dieu
La Chaise-Dieu
La Chaise-Dieu is commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France.-Geography:La Chaise-Dieu occupies a 1082 m butte which dominates a plain between the mounts of Livradois and Velay...
. They immediately started the construction of a new church with the apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
composed of five stretches of wall with semi-circular collonettes
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s in the Auvergnat
Auvergne (province)
Auvergne was a historic province in south central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne. It is now the geographical and cultural area that corresponds to the former province....
style.
The abbots of Saint-Thibéry
Saint-Thibéry
Saint-Thibéry is a commune in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France.-See also:* Roman Bridge* Via Domitia* Communes of the Hérault department-References:*...
who received tithes from Bessan were not happy. After a trial lasting almost forty years, during which the pope, passing through the region, would have visited Bessan, they managed to recover the church while still under construction.
The tower seems to have been built later, perhaps in the second half of the 14th century, following the sacking of Bessan by the governor of Languedoc
Languedoc
Languedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² .-Geographical Extent:The traditional...
. The side chapels were built as or when needed or desired. Those of the choir date from 1338 and 1341. The adjoining chapels are from 1360 and 1475. The four other chapels, nearer the entrance are from 1624, 1628, 1652 and 1662.
Originally, the Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
openings, were narrow. Larger windows were installedin 1764 in the upper part of the nave. They are now enhanced with stained glass by Louis Victor Gesta who had his workshop at Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
between 1850 and 1880.
In 1993, with a new restoration of the church, the brick vault of the nave, dating from 1760, was demolished. The work revealed the original woodwork structure, with coloured rafters and beams with sculptures of human heads at their extremities, as well as the existing opening in the vault of the choir.
The Romantic organ, constructed by Baptist Puget in 1879 in his Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
workshop, was restored in 1986 and 1994. The wooden bell tower supporting the main bell, being in poor condition, was to be restored in 2004 under a partnership between village, state, région and departément.
The oldest bell in Hérault
Rebuilt in 1787, the point of the brick steepleSteeple (architecture)
A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, often topped by a spire. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure...
was damaged by lightning in 1886. It was scheduled to be demolished because of the danger it posed, but this was not done until 1938, after a piece of iron fell during a storm in 1936. As the current steeple was being installed, the opportunity was taken to demolish the room containing the clock and to install its bell at the top of the bell tower.
At the start of the 18th century, the tower had five bells. Today, no more than two remain: the décadaire bell, cast
Casting
In metalworking, casting involves pouring liquid metal into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowing it to cool and solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process...
1567 (and recast for its tercentenary), and the bell once used to strike the hour, cast in 1388. The latter is known to be the oldest in Hérault.
The other three bells were lowered in 1791 and sent to Béziers
Béziers
Béziers is a town in Languedoc in southern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the Hérault department. Béziers hosts the famous Feria de Béziers, centred around bullfighting, every August. A million visitors are attracted to the five-day event...
to be turned into cannons.
Walls and Saint-Pierre gate
By studying the cadastral map of 1835 and going on the ground, local historians have tried to find the location of the ramparts which were largely destroyed or covered in houses in the second half of the 18th century. From the Saint-Pierre gate, the wall seems to follow the facades of the rue des Soleillers. It was reinforced with a tower at the rue de la Brèche; this tower, ruined, was demolished to build the street. Traces of the ramparts are found in the rue porte Douille where, as its name suggests, there was a gate. The ramparts then form the back of large buildings and shops overlooking the boulevard de la Liberté. It is then visible at the bottom of the impasse de Labeille where it is reinforced with a square tower, and at the bottom of the impasse des Mijoulanes.Emerging into the rue de la République, it was fitted with a gate protected by a square tower now serving as the meeting room of the council. Beyond this line, which continues along rue de l'Hospice or de l'Olivier, the presence of many dead-ends suggests there was a first line of ramparts covering only part of the historic centre. During the Albigensian crusade
Albigensian Crusade
The Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade was a 20-year military campaign initiated by the Catholic Church to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc...
, the order was apparently given to the fortified villages in the region to demolish their walls. In the 1340s, amid rumours that the English were about to invade the Languedoc, the Bessanais rebuilt or repaired their walls, an operation which was resumed between 1365 and 1369.
In 1587, Montmorency requested that repairs be made to the drawbridge
Drawbridge
A drawbridge is a type of movable bridge typically associated with the entrance of a castle surrounded by a moat. The term is often used to describe all different types of movable bridges, like bascule bridges and lift bridges.-Castle drawbridges:...
at the Saint-Pierre gate, a gate which today is the jewel of the forgotten ramparts.
Architectural heritage of old Bessan
The book Bessan au fil du temp lists all of the interesting architectural heritage of Bessan history, including:- Medieval stone sink 13th century at 15 rue Ancienne Poste
- Window mullionMullionA mullion is a vertical structural element which divides adjacent window units. The primary purpose of the mullion is as a structural support to an arch or lintel above the window opening. Its secondary purpose may be as a rigid support to the glazing of the window...
from the late GothicGothic architectureGothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
(around 1480) in the rue de la République. - Restored medieval house in the rue des Cours
- Door and balcony of about 1830 in the rue du Four
- The interior of a 1770 mansion in the rue de l'Opéra (staircase and patio)
Place de la Salle promenade and Christmas
In the 16th century, because of a lack of space inside the ramparts, Bessanais athletes met on the Jeu de Ballon (pitch) at the foot of the walls.In 1856, the municipality decided to transform the land into a public walkway at the bottom of which was built, a few years later, an old people's home or nursery school.
In 1893, the Promenade was redeveloped. The former parapet of the old pitch was demolished and replaced by wide pavements for the benefit of street vendors on market days.
In the late 1950s, the retirement home, abandoned, was destroyed. It was replaced by a community centre in 1956. The building consists of a large main dance hall without bar and a huge balcony for performances taking place on the stage. This balcony was transformed into a meeting room in the early 1980s, and at the same time, Fernandez Brenes painted the murals located on each side of the stage.
Place de la République
To create an open space between the church and the town hall, in 1857 the municipality bought a block called Ile Saint-Jaume and demolished it to create the Place de Peyrou. A cast iron statue of the Republic, commissioned in 1885 and previously placed at the entrance to the Promenade to replace a tree of libertyLiberty pole
A liberty pole is a tall wooden pole, often used as a type of flagstaff, planted in the ground, which may be surmounted by an ensign or a liberty cap. They are associated with the Atlantic Revolutions of the late 18th century.-American Revolution:...
, was embellished in 1894 with a monumental fountain. The place was renamed Place de la République.
In 1973, the municipality demolished the fountain whose limestone was in poor condition. It was replaced with a concrete monument decorated d with a small bronze bust of Marianne
Marianne
Marianne is a national emblem of France and an allegory of Liberty and Reason. She represents the state and values of France, differently from another French cultural symbol, the "Coq Gaulois" which represents France as a nation and its history, land, culture, and variety of sport disciplines in...
.
In 1988, the concrete structure was removed and replaced with an imitation of the monumental fountain with basins and planters. The area was paved with cobblestones.
Place de la Fontaine
In the early 19th century, the waters of the Fontvieille spring flowed in a paved ditch to a basin located on the Place de la Fontaine, on the edge of the rue des Caves. This source is now in the rue Petite Fontvieille and flows in a large drain built on the site of the ditch.In 1827, the water source being insufficient in summer, the municipality dug a well, in the middle of the square, and built a monumental fountain.
In 1944-1945, the Liberation Committee ordered the demolition of the fountain, whose stones had been eroded by moisture, and built public toilets underground. The disused hospice, on the back of the Place de la Fontaine, was demolished from 1963. The surrounding houses were bought and demolished to enlarge the square and toallow the construction of a modern building comprising office, shops and housing. The project was approved in 1967 and work was completed in 1970. Paul Azema, a Bessan artist, completed the main facade with ceramics.
Place de la Fontaine, very friendly, is now a place of relaxation and welcome part of the traditional market on Sunday.
Cross Mission
The mission is a period of three weeks to one month during which preachers come to recruit new parishioners. Sometimes, during a mission, a cross is raised. As its name suggests, the cross at the end of rue de la Porte Saint-Pierre was raised on the occasion of a mission. Which remains elusive. It seems that originally it was located near the church. It will then be moved to current location in 1785.If you believe the company that restored the cross in the 1980s, the base basalt dating from the time of Louis XIV, but the wrought iron cross and the Holy christ would be less old. As to that cockerel used to weathercocked already at the top of the cross in the nineteenth century, it will be stolen in April 1999.
War memorials
By the end of the 1914-1918 war, the town plans to build a monument in honor of the dead Bessans for France, and contacts with the famous sculptor Jean Antoine InjalbertJean Antoine Injalbert
Jean Antoine Injalbert was a much-decorated French sculptor, born at Béziers.- Life :The son of a stonemason, Injalbert was a pupil of Augustin-Alexandre Dumont and won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1874. At the Exposition Universelle of 1889 he won the Grand Prix, and in 1900 was a member of...
. Several of the letters, dating from 1921, we learn that he has made two sketches for Bessan but it lacks the time to start the work. Beginning 1923, to begin the monument Béziers, he thinks he can lead the two front yards. But, tired of waiting, the city turns to Auguste Azéma which, in 1922, is responsible for the erection of a shrine to the dead for the homeland, or war memorials in the cemetery. This building will be completed in 1924.
The following year, it will be Augustus Azéma asked to build a memorial to children Bessan died for France, or the Victory Monument, to be completed in 1926.
On these two works are engraved the names of Bessans died for France in 1914-1918, that of Victory will be added those of other wars: 1939-1945, Indochina war, war in Algeria.
Notre Dame des Vignes
Notre-Dame des Vignes, financed by public subscription, is located at the intersection of Victor Hugo streets and old school in 1982 at the request of the priest Raymond Combes. Work of J. S. Hartmann and E. Boissier, it was inaugurated by the bishop of Montpellier on 5 December 1982.According to some, it protects Bessan of agricultural disasters that have devastated some nearby villages (hail, frost).
Saint-Laurent Touroulle
The chapel of Saint-Laurent is a part, the medieval, the former village of Touroulle, located between Bessan and ViasVias, Hérault
Vias is a commune in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon southern France.It is a popular holiday destination with many camp and caravan sites...
. This church is built around the first half of the eleventh century on the site of an ancient Roman villa, but also along a path ancient road called Mercadal, who joined the oppidum Monadière to port said the Canaleta, located between the beach Portiragnes
Portiragnes
Portiragnes is a commune in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France....
and Vias.
The presence of two very large blocks of basalt suggests that this was, originally a pagan temple. Transformed, it seems, in the twelfth or thirteenth century, La Chapelle Saint-Laurent is probably abandoned, along with the rest of the village, during the Wars of Religion.
In 1938, during excavations by Father Thomas, a sarcophagus
Sarcophagus
A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...
is found in the chapel. A sarcophagus containing a skeleton and two small Roman burial urns. IT will be transported in the garden of the presbytery of Bessan where it is.
The chapel has avoided little destruction during the passage of the expressway connecting the toll highway in Cap d'Agde, but part of its Visigothic cemetery is destroyed. She will undergo another outrage in 2001, this time due to looters stones.
Note that there are many other chapels in the territory of Bessan: Affrie, Saint-Claude, Penitents gray, Saint-Martin de Caillan, Father Grange, Castle chapel Brignac ...
Moulin Bladier on Hérault
The millGristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
Bladier of Bessan lies on the banks of the river Hérault on the outskirts of the village. It is neo-Romanesque, Gothic preacher. It is fortified by openings machicolation
Machicolation
A machicolation is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones, or other objects, could be dropped on attackers at the base of a defensive wall. The design was developed in the Middle Ages when the Norman crusaders returned. A machicolated battlement...
and niches
Niche (architecture)
A niche in classical architecture is an exedra or an apse that has been reduced in size, retaining the half-dome heading usual for an apse. Nero's Domus Aurea was the first semi-private dwelling that possessed rooms that were given richly varied floor plans, shaped with niches and exedras;...
which is accessed by a walk. Two walls with balistraria
Balistraria
An arrowslit is a thin vertical aperture in a fortification through which an archer can launch arrows....
s and a spiral staircase that starts just two meters from the ground to impede the attackers, complete the defense system.
The mill used to grind wheat, that Bessans Viassois and bring on a donkey or on a cart pulled by a mule, thanks to six grinding wheels operated by a system of vertical wheels.
The mill activity slows with the development of the vineyard. It will serve for the last time to 1855 to crush blocks suffers imported from Sicily and intended to treat the vine against the mildew
Mildew
Mildew refers to certain kinds of molds or fungi.In Old English, it meant honeydew , and later came to mean mildew in the modern sense of mold or fungus....
.
Prevailed in part 1977, in a flood of Herault, it is completely disfigured in 1994 during the construction of the dam conducted at the request of the pumping station André Filliol of Florensac
Florensac
Florensac is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France....
and the union of Lower Languedoc, station that supplies drinking water much of the department.
In 1998, the municipality organizes an exhibition and tours of the mill and, aided by the Heritage Foundation, managed to attract regional television.
Ramus
The first eruption of volcanoes Bessan - St. Thibéry begins with projections of ash that are deposited in layers thin and brittle, called tuff. Then, violent explosions plan in the air particles of debris mixed with gas, which are accumulating in the three mountains. These stones holes because of gas bubbles, called pozzolanPozzolan
A pozzolan is a material which, when combined with calcium hydroxide, exhibits cementitious properties. Pozzolans are commonly used as an addition to Portland cement concrete mixtures to increase the long-term strength and other material properties of Portland cement concrete, and in some cases...
, sometimes with the speed, tapered shape of bombs that may have the size of a nucleus of olive or weigh tens of kilograms.
During the last eruption, there are about 650,000 years of lava flowing from cracks located at the foot of mountains, forming a plateau basalt of one kilometre radius and a dozen meters thick, including a end is with the craft and the other dominates St. Thibéry.
Of the three mountains, said only that "Saint-Claude", which is the smallest and closest Bessan, is over. In 1973, the central cone with a windmill called the "Tour" is razed, and pozzolan which is extracted serves as a highway embankment under construction. The third cone, located at the edge of Bessan on the territory of Saint-Thibéry is operated long used its stones to build houses and walls closing the village until the early twentieth century. As the shelf, it provides for centuries basalt necessary for the construction, stone streets ...
The plateau basalt Mountains Ramus is operated at several locations on the town. At the career of Languedoc, you can still discover a quirk of nature, namely a "pink stone" that must be the way the lava
Lava
Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
has cast itself.
Recreation at the Guinguette
Place of leisure excellent, the basis of Guinguette is located on the banks of the River Herault. Each summer, dances were held and a bar and restaurant is open to anyone who wants to have a good time on the river.Many activities are also proposed: electric boat ride, rent a pedal boat and fishing It is equipped with a bank empierrée, floating pontoons, toilets, stage, dance floor, lighted parking.
Recreation area of poplar
The leisure area of poplar Victor Goudou is located on the road to Marseillan, near the city center. It is a place of leisure for all which includes games for children and a foot - basketball and roller. There are also bowling municipal, local Bessanaise the ball and a dance where meals are organized around the bar associations.
Dock and wharf Marius
Near the bridge across the Herault and the leisure of Guinguette, a relaxing meal was built in 2000. The Quai Marius is also equipped with a landing on the Herault allowing fishermen access to the river and the launching of small pleasure craft.Global Development Center Ricard
In 1959, the Mills Midi, near the wine cooperative, are redeemed by Paul Ricard, which continues the production of grape juice, marketed under the trademark "Bendor". The grape juice has not been satisfactory in terms of marketing, Bessan leaders to save the factory, moved to Paul Ricard, which can not satisfy a big demand, producing Ricard. The 1 () er June 1965, the first bottle of Ricard fate of the plant bessanaise.Until 1980, the anetol (in the product Ricard) is purchased on the French market. For the sake of quality, the company decides to produce anetol Bessan from gasoline anise from China or Vietnam, and fennel
Fennel
Fennel is a plant species in the genus Foeniculum . It is a member of the family Apiaceae . It is a hardy, perennial, umbelliferous herb, with yellow flowers and feathery leaves...
grown in the Tarn. A column correction installed on site. The same is true for the rule who first bought powder is then bought stick in the south of Italy, Turkey, Lebanon and crushed into chips Bessan then plunged into an alcoholic solution to extract juice used in the Ricard. Bessan becomes the global preparation of commodities for the manufacture of Ricard, which is kept secret manufacture of concentrated aromatic group.
Since the 1990s, many factories are closed Ricard and development center Bessan sees its forecast production increase. In 2000, the new channel, fully automated, will leave 80,000 bottles per day. A production should quickly exceed the 100,000 bottles that can be stored in the new premises created in 2000.
The company Ricard launched in 1999 in the industrial tourism and guided tours are offered to the public. They are being abandoned because of technical and security related to increased production.