119 historic monuments, 28 classé

Ensemble de la promenade du PeyrouClasséHôtel de Magny ou Cabanès de PuimissonClasséAncien Hôtel de CastriesClasséHôtel HaguenotClasséAncien prieuré Saint-Pierre de MontaubérouClassé+103See all photos

Photos from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its license; names open the monument’s page.

Classé is the higher protection: any work on the building needs the State’s permission. Work on an inscrit building must be declared to the State in advance. Around both, building work in sight of the monument (usually within 500 m) needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.

Points as the ministry gives them: a monument spread over several plots has one point. 1 monument has no point on the map.

9 more, named only by their kind

9 more are named in the list only by their kind: 4 buildings (immeubles), 2 houses (maisons) and 3 others, most from the 14th century. The 7 with an address are in the list above, by it.

See all 119 on the map

A site patrimonial remarquable protects a whole area rather than one building: inside it, building work follows the area’s own plan and needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France. A PSMV (plan de sauvegarde et de mise en valeur) is the strictest plan: it covers every building, inside as well as out.

The list gives no boundaries, so the map can’t show the area.

First protected, in 1840: Église Sainte-Croix de Celleneuve. That was France’s first list of monuments historiques, drawn up in Prosper Mérimée’s time as inspector. 14 were protected in 1944 alone. 18 have been added since 2011.

Everyone born in Montpellier Birthplaces from Wikidata, checked against Wikipedia.

Immeuble, ancienne synagogue, from the 10th century, is the oldest monument in Montpellier. All told, the list holds 119 historic monuments, 28 of them classé, including Ensemble immobilier désigné comme "faculté de médecine" (ancien couvent Saint-Benoît, ancien évêché et faculté de médecine avec le musée d'anatomie). Ancien hôtel Lecourt sits at the heart of it all, with 14 of the town’s classé monuments within 400 m. In 2022 the Mission Patrimoine picked Jardin des Plantes as a monument in danger to save.

Of the whole list, 66% are houses and homes. Most of its dated monuments come from the 16th to 18th centuries: 81 of 109. Jacques Ier d'Aragon (1208), Bernard de Castanet (1240) and Bernard Délicieux (1260) are among the 216 people born here before 1900. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: it has 119 historic monuments, about typical for a town its size (the middle one has 66); per resident it sits near the middle of compared French towns; and 6.8% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 7.4% in the median compared French town.