Heritage Attractions

Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert: A Jewel of Romanesque Art

For twelve hundred years the ancient, narrow streets of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert have run alongside the Verdus stream. The village is an historic, spiritual and cultural focus to be reckoned with…
It developed around the Abbey of Gellone, founded in 804 by Guilhem, the legendary cousin of Charlemagne, made famous by troubadours throughout the middle ages. The Abbey Church (9th to 11th centuries), is a masterpiece of early Languedocian Romanesque art and is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela.

And also… Guided tours of the village, Abbey and cloister can also include a visit to the Abbey Museum and the Village of Yesteryear Museum.
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Aniane: The First Monastic Settlement in the Valley

Aniane is the settlement begun by Saint-Benoît, who reformed the Benedictine order and founded the Abbey of Aniane around the year 780. The Abbey was to become exceptionally famous.
The present Abbey dates from the 17th and 18th centuries and was built in the heart of the village. During the French Revolution it was sold as a national asset and was to be re-used many times for a variety of purposes.
You can also visit: the tannery quarter, the market halls, the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, the town-hall, the fountains…

And also… The Coffee-roasting Museum, the « Moulin et traditions » oil-pressing mill, a famous vineyard (Co-operative winery and private estates)
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Saint-Jean-de-Fos: A Village reflected in its glazed pottery

On14 December 804, Guilhem gave the village to the Abbey of Gellone. This “circulade” is famous because of the important glazed pottery industry that developed there from the 15th century onwards.
It was actually the presence of a large clay deposit close to the village that was to favour the use of this raw material. The industry declined from the 19th century onwards but, over the last twenty years or so, the village has renewed its links with this tradition.

You can also visit: The Clock Tower, the church of Saint-Jean which has a highly unusual mullioned corner window.

And also… Pottery workshops, the municipal pottery museum, a co-operative winery and vineyards
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Saint-Pargoire: The Birth of Southern Gothic Architecture

The church of Saint-Pargoire is at once the symbol and the glorification of the beginnings of southern rural Gothic architecture. It is the largest Gothic church in the
Gignac canton and one of the most beautiful late medieval buildings in the Herault department. Saint-Pargoire, originally named Miliac became a possession of the Abbey of Gellone in 807. In the 12th century, its square was fortified with solid ramparts and the bourg of Saint-Pargoire took on its present circular shape, rather like a snail, spiralling round the church.

And also… Co-operative winery and private estates
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Gignac: At the Crossroads

Gignac really is the crossroads for the mid-Hérault Valley. In the middle ages it occupied a strategic position and was the second most important town in the Béziers diocese.
It is a land of miracles, where legends abound. Gignac puts its faith in the intervention of the Mother of God but is also devoted to the Ass which saved them at the time of the Saracen invasion.
You can also visit: The Sanctuary of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and its Way of the Cross that overlooks the wine-growing plains, the church of Saint-Pierre-aux-Liens, the Tower, ramparts and former gates of the town…

And also… Co-operative winery and vineyards Museum of Water Power…
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Le Pouget: The Trump Card in the Heart of the Hérault Valley

Le Pouget is the department’s classic “circulade”. Its historic centre took shape in the 12th century as a result of the building of two successive circular ramparts around a keep.
The village houses two treasures of medieval religious art. The church of Saint-Jacques, built in the purest Romanesque style, and Sainte-Catherine d’Alexandrie, a church built in the southern Gothic style and dating from the late 13th century.
Because of the diverse nature of its heritage and the beauty of the surrounding landscape, Le Pouget is a place not to be missed for anyone who wants to understand the history and culture of the Hérault Valley.

And also… The Dolmen de Gallardet, the Fontaine Fraîche the Fontaine de Patari, the dovecote…

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Puéchabon: A Perfect Circle

Mentioned as one of the first possessions of the Abbots of Aniane in the area, the Château de Montcalmès (which has now disappeared) was long thought to be the original site of Puéchabon.
This “circulade” is arranged around an 11th-century keep on a rocky outcrop, ideal for the building of a fortified village. The village is at the heart of the garrigue and its inhabitants have lived for centuries on what its soil can produce and from forestry and from animal-rearing.

And also… The churches of Saint-Pierre and Immaculée Conception. The church of Saint-Sylvestre des Brousses.

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Vendémian: The Chequerboard

The heart of the present-day village, situated just beneath the first foothills of the Causse d’Aumelas, where the wine-growing plain meets the garrigue, was built in the 14th century at the instigation of the French kings.
The historical centre, occupying a level site, is rectangular, flanked by four corner towers. Its name proclaims its links to wine-growing (Latin, vendemia: the wine harvest) and the village still maintains its age-old traditions, but has now begun to specialise in dessert grapes. It also has one of the best tambourin teams in the region. Tambourin is a rackets game popular in the area.

And also… the Horts Well, the washhouses...

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