In the heart of Béziers, Place de la Victoire is a major crossroads where the Allées Paul-Riquet, the main avenues of the city centre and the routes leading to Saint-Nazaire Cathedral converge. Its history reflects the city’s transformations: once home to the Carmes Gate in the old ramparts, it became in the nineteenth century a modern urban space lined with Haussmann-style buildings and elegant façades, witnesses to Béziers’ wine-producing prosperity. Its name, given in 1924, commemorates the Allied victory of 1918, after several earlier names over the centuries, from Place Napoléon to Place de la République or Place de l’Égalité. Today, a flowered roundabout, a fountain and seasonal installations bring this space to life, alongside cafés, shops and restored buildings. If you look just above the fountain, you’ll see a large trompe-l’œil dedicated to Jean-Marie Cordier, the engineer who made it possible to bring water from the Orb to the city centre. The square is also a key connecting point in the pedestrian routes linking the Allées, the Plateau des Poètes, the cathedral, the Pont-Vieux and the Nine Locks of Fonseranes, making it part of a living heritage open to the city.