HOTEL SAINT COME

The Hôtel Saint Côme was built between 1751 and 1757 by the architect Jean-Antoine Giral with money donated by François Gigot de Lapeyronie for the college of surgeons to use as a lecture hall.

As per his wishes, the building was modelled on the Saint Côme de Paris lecture hall, to be made “more perfect if possible”. It consists of two buildings separated by a courtyard. One is an octagonal shape on the outside, housing a lecture hall for anatomy demonstrations (now the Salle Lapeyronie). The other originally contained the rooms used for surgeons’ conventions.

Following a decree in 1794, the school of surgery and school of medicine became the university of medicine. The building was abandoned until 1801, the date when the Montpellier CCI took it over.

This is one of the city’s liveliest squares, with its bars and restaurants; and also one of the oldest.