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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The St. Thibéry Bridge, although often referred to as "Roman", is most likely a medieval structure built between 1150 and 1250. Its attribution to the Domitian way remains hypothetical, because the exact route of this ancient road in the region is not confirmed. A theory suggests that the Old Town Grand-Rue could correspond to the Roman route, involving a crossing of the Herault further north. The first written mention of the bridge dates from 990, and it served in particular to the pilgrims of Santiago de Compostela, who stopped there to venerate the relics of the martyrs Tiberius, Modeste and Florence.

The bridge, built of volcanic stone from Mount Ramus, originally consisted of nine arches, four of which remain today. Its architecture, with avant-becs and arrière-becs, recalls that of the Roman bridges, although its construction is medieval. Often damaged by the floods of the Hérault, it collapsed partially in 1683 after an arch was carried away, definitely cutting the via Domitia at that place. A new bridge, built in 1618 between Montagnac and Pézenas, made it obsolete. Ranked a historic monument in 1862, there remains a testimony to the challenges posed by the floods in the region.

Near the bridge is the 11th century "mill in Bled", highlighting the economic and strategic importance of this area around the Hérault. The General States of Languedoc tried in 1536 to put it back into service, but the repeated floods, like the one of 1904 which carried a new arch, made it a symbol of the vulnerability of the infrastructures to the whims of the river. Today, its remains illustrate both medieval ingenuity and the limitations of the techniques of the era.

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