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Versailles of the Languedoc! This is what people call
PEZENAS. It was once the residence of the
parliament States in Languedoc and later that of the governor. The small palaces
make the visitor forget for a short while that Pezenas is in fact a small place.
And restoration is in full bloom, happily.
So we have to talk about Molière. He was not born here, neither did he die here,
butt worked here for some time. It’s quite a normal thing but it is a fact: even
the hairdresser of Moliere would have a remembrance plaque!! The
theater-writer-producer-director-actor had his first successes at the court of
governor Armand de Conti.
The tourist office has very intelligently marked out by arrows a handy route
along the most picturesque spots of Pezenas. The most evident attractions are de
nobility and bourgeois “hotels” in the area that the parliament and the
governors of the province had their own “Paris” or even earlier, when Pezenas,
like other cities, became wealthy with the garment industry. The tour starts on
the place GAMBETTA, surrounded by pretty house in grey brown stone, with wrought
iron balconies. On of the most beautiful hotels is the 16th century
HOTEL LACOSTE, housing a bank today. It worth to have a look on the inner
courtyard. By the way, many of the hotels have beautiful courtyards. Le the
Renaissance HOTEL DE WICQUE and the HOTEL FLOTTES DE SEBASAN.
Pezenas had also a Jewish ghetto, that could be closed by a gate, and which is
still visible.
 The MUSEE VULLIOD-SAINT
GERMAIN is situated in the 16th century hotel Saint-Germain, rebuilt
in the 18th. Inside, a collection of antique tapestries, furniture
and, of course, objects reminding Moliere. He performed in the HOTEL D’ALFONCE
(17th century). It is one of the most beautiful of Pezenas. Finally
there is still the 18th century CHURCH SAINTE-URSULA. This baroque
church has a 13th century black Madonna.
In the great outskirts of Pezenas, 15 km northeast, passed Montagnac, lays the
ABBEY OF VALMAGNE. This abbey was founded in 1138 by the count Trencavel. A few
years later the abbey rallied the order of the Cisterciens, which goal was to
have a more austere cloister life. The cloister church is very special. One of
the very few churches in the Languedoc having a northern gothic style and also
the oldest. One must imagine that this style was preferred above the Roman. It
is quite a building: brothers and pastors maybe vowed poverty, but the cloister
must have had some very wealthy nobility sponsors. |
