Bédarieux

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Administration
Commune of Bédarieux
Location
Longitude	03° 09' 35" E
Latitude	43° 37' 01" N
Country	France
Region	Languedoc-Roussillon
Department	Hérault
Arrondissement	Béziers
Canton	Bédarieux
Mayor	Antoine Martinez
Statistics
Altitude	184 m–520 m (avg. 196 m)
Land area¹	27.82 km²
Population² (1999)	5,962
- Density (1999)	214/km²
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	34028/ 34600
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 mi² or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel).

Bédarieux, (in Occitan Bedarius) is a commune of the Hérault département, in the région of Languedoc-Roussillon, France. The 5,962 inhabitants are called Bédariciens.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Sites
4 Personalities linked to the commune
5 See also
6 External links
7 Sources

[edit] Geography

As the crow flies, Bédarieux is 56 km (35 miles) west of Montpellier and 30 km (19 miles) north of Béziers. The commune is in the Orb valley, the river flowing north-south into Bédarieux and east-west downstream.

[edit] History

The Saint-Nazaire de Lodéran chapel (now disappeared) was mentioned in 1153. In the 17th century, Bédarieux had important cloth factories.

[edit] Sites

Several streets in Bédarieux retain their 17th century architecture.
The former castle, La Bastide dates from the 14th century. It has machiolations, arrow slits and a 16th century well.
The Promenade de la Perspective (1742), a dyke built to protect the town from Orb floods, is lined with 200 year old plane trees.
16th century bridge over the Orb
19th century railway viaduct with 37 arches
Church of Saint-Alexandre built in the 17th/19th century (though recorded in 1189)
Maison des arts Museum in the former hospice, created in 1976 to collect together regional heritage: painting, folklore, archaeology, geology, botany, popular arts and traditions.

Mairie at Bedarieux

[edit] Personalities linked to the commune

Paul Rabaut (1718-1794 ): protestant pastor.
Louis-Annibal Escalle (1737-1799) : Adjudant-Général, one of Napoleon's lieutenants during his campaigns in Italy and Egypt, died at the siege of Acre.
Ferdinand Fabre (1827-1898) : writer, novelist, mixing lots of Occitan vocabulary with French in his works (Les Courbezon 1861, Mon oncle Célestin 1881, Toussaint Galabru 1887). Ferdinand Fabre dies five days before his election to the Académie Française.
Pierre Auguste Cot (1837-1883) : French romantic painter (Le Printemps (Spring) is one of his best-known works).
Eugène Vaillé (1875-1959) : French postal history expert and first curator of the French Postal Museum (musée postal de France), later the Museum of the Post Office (musée de La Poste).
Vincent Candela (born 24 October 1973), French footballer who played for many years in Italy, 40 appearances for his national team, including the World Cup in 1998.