Jean Jaurès square

You are standing on Jean-Jaurès Square, a broad plateau overlooking the city, still called the Citadel by the people of Béziers today. The name is no coincidence: over centuries, this spot was a true strategic site. As early as Roman times, an important road passed through here. Then, in the Middle Ages, the viscounts of Béziers built the Château-Neuf against the city’s eastern ramparts. Later, at the end of the sixteenth century, Henri de Montmorency erected a fortified citadel that gave the square its lasting nickname. All of this gradually disappeared in the nineteenth century: the fortifications were dismantled, the moats filled in, and the area became a large public space open to the city. Since 1924, it has borne the name Jean Jaurès, though for many it remains simply the Citadel. As you walk here, you are treading on centuries of history: recent works have even revealed traces of the old ramparts and a tower from the former citadel. Today, the square has regained a fully urban and welcoming role, with landscaped areas, a reflecting pool and a fountain that comes to life with light shows in the evening. It is a place to pass through, to meet and to breathe, where the military past fades behind a lively, open square at the heart of Béziers.