Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Musée du Vieux Montpellier is housed in the Hotel de Varennes, a 17th century mansion located in Place Petrarque. This municipal museum, dependent on the Archives de Montpellier since 1982, preserves works from public collections and Languedoc castles. Its spaces illustrate the urban and social evolution of the city, from the Middle Ages to the contemporary era, through objects, documents and works of art representative of each period.

The museum's collections include emblematic pieces such as the Black Virgin and her tabernacle, or the Plan Dillon (18th century), a cartographic document for the Archbishop of Narbonne. The thematic rooms, such as the procession room with its religious statuettes and confraternity sticks, or the 18th-century lounge decorated with woodwork and period furniture (pendula, mother-of-pearl cabinet), offer an overview of the decorative arts and local cultural practices. The room of the Revolution also exhibits stones from the Bastille, medals and clothing, while a space is dedicated to Mr. Pagézy, mayor who transformed Montpellier under the Second Empire.

Among the particularities of the museum are e-mail games, a traditional Montpellieran sport close to the croquet, as well as watercolours and prints illustrating important events such as the See of Montpellier. The architecture of the Hotel de Varennes, with its French ceilings and gypsum shops, completes this immersion in local history. The museum benefits from the label Musée de France and remains a key place to understand the Languedoc heritage.

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