Beziers, France
Tourism

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Allée Paul-Riquet. The church of the Madeleine, originally Romanesque but later altered in Gothic and then Baroque style, was the scene of one of the massacres of the Albigensians in 1209. Farther north is the church of St-Aphrodise (11th-15th C.), which contains a third C. sarcophagus.

In the center of the old town is the 18th C. Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall). The former cathedral of St- Nazaire, situated on higher ground, is a fortified church of the 12th-14th centuries with massive towers and a large rose window on the west front. The Gothic cloister now houses a Musée Lapidaire, with old tombstones and capitals. From the terrace in front of the church there are fine views.

A short distance away is the Musée des Beaux-Arts (pictures, Greek vases). To the southeast, housed in a former Dominican church, is the Musée du Vieux Biterrois et du Vin, a folk museum.

At the south end of the town is the church of St-Jacques, which dates in part from the 12th C. It has a richly decorated choir.

4km/9mi west of the town is the Oppidum d'Ensérune, with the excavations of an Ibero- Greek settlement of the fourth and third centuries B.C. There is a museum displaying finds from the site.