Exploring Montpellier’s centre - 23 May 2008
As 23 May was a day without visitors, I had a chance to consider Montpellier as it is today. Montpellier is situated on hilly ground, 10 km from the Mediterranean coast on the River Lez. It is the capital city of the Languedoc-Roussillon region. These two distinct provinces stretch from the foothills of the Pyrenees on the Spanish border to the mouth of the Rhône.
The population, which swelled dramatically in the 1960’s when many French settlers left independent Algeria and settled here, is just under a quarter of a million. It’s just over half a million if you count the greater metropolitan area - with a quarter of the population being under 25 because it’s a university city.
Montpellier’s city centre is part of the old town. It’s fairly small, compact and architecturally homogeneous, full of charm and was teeming with life when I was there in May and June. Apparently it’s much quieter in July and August when the students are on holiday and everyone else is at the beach. And it’s almost entirely pedestrianised so you can walk the narrow streets without looking anxiously over your shoulder.
Montpellier is a cultural, scientific and artistic crossroads. At the hub of the city’s life, joining the old to the newer parts, is Place de la Comédie or “L’Oeuf” to the initiated, because it is the shape of an egg. This colossal, oblong square, paved with cream-coloured marble, has a fountain at its centre called the Three Graces, (taken on another lovely fine day!) with cafés either side.
The southern end is closed by the Opéra, an ornate nineteenth-century theatre.
The northern end opens onto an esplanade, a beautiful tree-lined promenade which ends in the Corum concert hall and conference centre with a huge exhibition space, dug into the hillside and topped off in pink granite. There are splendid views from the roof but photos of those will have to wait for another time because the weather was unseasonally appalling and there were days when photos were not easy to take with one hand, while holding an umbrella with the other. The Corum building is at the very end of the avenue you can see here (with Adam in front of the inevitable fountain – when he was here with me) and was opened in 1988.
In the middle of this avenue of trees down a street to the left is the city’s most trumpeted museum, the Musée Fabre, a lovely Art Gallery with a very absorbing book store inside and a lovely outdoor café on its left. The building occupies a former Jesuit college and displays a large and historically important collection of 17th to 19th century French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Flemish and English paintings.
The city centre stretches all the way to the new Antigone quarter to the east, which is modelled on St Peter’s in Rome. Its development followed the philosophy of the city’s Mayor who wanted the city to develop towards the river Lez, which was responsible for its expansion in medieval times. This picture doesn’t really do justice to the sheer space and vastness of the whole area with its theatrical references to classical architecture, like oversized cornices and columns supporting only sky and, of course, fountains everywhere, but you might get some idea. As you can see from the boards below the trees on either side of the avenue, there are countless cafés where one can stop and watch the world go by.
The plans for the Antigone District began in 1977. It’s built on the site of the former barracks between the old city centre and the River Lez. It features grand neo-classical design and boasts giant classical motifs. It’s failed to attract the crowds away from the Place de la Comédie and is very quiet by comparison. Some might find that very peace and quiet attractive! The buildings in this area mainly include middle to low-income housing and public amenities, but you wouldn’t guess that from looking at it’s grandeur. At the end of the Antigone by Place de l’Europe (where there's a tram stop) is the Piscine Olympique, which is an unbelievable size for a comparatively small city and, facing it, an absolutely stunning, and enormous library.
Traffic is very heavy in and around the city and 425 million euros is being invested in a second metro line that will cut across this most pedestrian-friendly of cities where more than 12,000 parking spaces around the centre encourage motorists to leave their cars behind. The tram and bus system within the city is already excellent and it'll be interesting to see how they improve upon it.