Faculty of Medicine of Montpellier

We promised to take you to the must-see attractions… but what if we showed you something truly unique? An undisputed treasure of the city, the Faculty of Medicine of Montpellier is the oldest medical school in the Western world still in operation. Thousands of students have passed through these doors since its creation. It celebrated its 800th anniversary in 2020. That’s 800 years of history, wisdom, innovation, and above all, influence that have greatly contributed to the reputation of this institution affectionately nicknamed the “gifted one.” The genesis of this cradle of education began on August 17, 1220, when Cardinal Conrad of Urach, representing the pope, grouped Montpellier’s medical schools under the same status of “universitas medicorum,” or “university of physicians.” Each of these units had been informally created by Languedoc merchants who, during their travels to the Levant, had acquired a foundation of valuable knowledge in herbal medicine and general medicine. At the crossroads of Eastern and Western civilizations, as well as Jewish, Arabic, and Christian medical cultures, the newly formed institution embraced a very promising beginning. The quality of teaching and the expertise of professors were hailed as first rate by all. Students read, commented on, and debated classical Greek and Arabic medical texts directly at the homes of the regents. Additionally, they had free choice regarding their teacher and their examination date. Praised for its excellence and its secular and international recruitment, the Montpellier Faculty of Medicine rose to an even higher level in 1340, with the establishment of its prestigious anatomy course. Theory and practice now went hand in hand, as in other remarkable Italian medical universities, such as those of Bologna and Padua. Over time, several famous personalities taught or studied at the faculty, such as Arnaud de Villeneuve, an illustrious physician of the Middle Ages; Lapeyronie, the first surgeon and confidant of King Louis XV; and Paul-Joseph Barthez, consulting physician to King Louis XVI, the Duke of Orleans, and Bonaparte. The latter two are honored with their statues on either side of the building’s entrance. Nostradamus, dismissed for disobedience, and François Rabelais, a humanist author, were also among its ranks. Located in the former residence of the archbishops from the Revolution to this day, the Faculty of Medicine of Montpellier maintains its status as a true sanctuary of the discipline, perfectly blending tradition with ultra-modern technologies. You can take a guided tour of this historic place. The program includes 11,000 anatomical specimens, several hundred medieval manuscripts, 100,000 printed volumes in all fields of knowledge, 1,000 original drawings by masters (Rubens, Titian, Tintoretto, Fragonard…), and one of the oldest herbariums in France, all of which will help perfect your knowledge. That’s a lot to see and learn, but thats what it takes to continuously advance science!