Montpellier’s Faculty of Medicine is a unique place, not only because it is the oldest still in existence but also because it adjoins Montpellier Cathedral.
Let us guide you…
Enter this historic site. As soon as you walk in, the great room will surprise you with its monumental staircase.
The School of Health, to the left, is located in the old private apartments of the Bishop. In this cloakroom, you can admire the many portraits of alumni physicians, all dressed in the traditional colour of physicians, red, in contrast to the surgeons who are clothed in black.
The Salle des Actes (Assembly Room) is the students’ viva voce room, in the former Bishop’s Chapel. During the ceremony, the students all had to wear the famous “gown of Rabelais” and take their oath under the statue of Hippocrates, a tradition which is still in place today. Can you find the lone female doctor amongst the portraits in this room?
The Faculty of Medicine also possesses an extensive library, with 100,000 volumes in print, 900 ancient manuscripts, and each and every thesis defended at the faculties of Montpellier since the 17th century, some by famous doctors.
The inner courtyard holds the cloister belonging to the former Benedictine monastery and the anatomical amphitheatre.
