You are standing on Place du Forum, in the heart of Béziers’ historic centre, a place whose name evokes Rome but in fact tells many other stories. This is not the site of the actual Roman forum: that lay a little further north, near the Market Hall and the Town Hall. But the name recalls that Béziers, a Roman colony from the first century onward, long flourished as Baeterrae, with public squares, temples and statues of emperors, some of which were found close to here. Beneath your feet runs the Embroucadou, a small watercourse that has shaped life on this hill since Antiquity. The Gauls were already channelling it in the fourth century BC, and although it has been covered over time, it still flows beneath the square today. For centuries, this space changed names according to the activities held here: Place de l’Encan, Place du Puits, Place aux Herbes, Place des Trois-Six in reference to the wine and spirits trade, and even Place de la Boucherie. In the early twentieth century, a large Post Office was built here, a bold building designed by architects Paul Harant and Paul Jumeau; its foundations were a real challenge because of the underground water table. This post office, which anticipated Art Deco style, was demolished in 2012 after a long debate between heritage preservation and urban redevelopment. After major works, the square was completely redesigned and inaugurated in 2013 during a show retracing the city’s Roman history. Today, it is an open and lively space, dominated by beautiful seventeenth- and eighteenth-century façades, animated by cafés and shops, and home to the Tourist Office. A place where you can stroll without imagining that beneath the paving stones flows the little stream that tells more than 2,400 years of Béziers history.