The Béziers Méditerranée agglomeration has signed a thirty -year concession agreement with the company Kléber Rossillon for the exploitation of the future Park “Béziers Anique”. This experimental archaeological site, located on a field of 19 hectares, aims to reconstitute the city of “Baeterrae”, the Roman Béziers, as it could have existed around the year 30. The call for tenders was closed on February 28, 2025.
Supervised by a scientific committee, the project provides for the use of construction techniques from Roman antiquity. The program includes making an amphitheater, an imperial forum, a domus (patrician house), a ludus (gladiator training camp), craft workshops, reception equipment, urban houses, agricultural land and a tavern.
The site will be articulated in three phases: from 2025 to 2030, the first works will concern in particular the routes, the amphitheater and the workshops; From 2031 to 2040, the site will be gradually extended with accessible buildings and historical animations; Finally, between 2041 and 2055, the entire site will reach its final form, with large -scale events. Opening to the public is scheduled for 2027.
The estimated cost of the first phase amounts to 13 million euros, for a target of 90,000 visitors the first year and an estimated cruising rate at 250,000 annual visitors. Kléber Rossillon undertakes, within the framework of the continuity of the public service, to ensure the maintenance, financing and development of the site.
A scientific committee, led by historian Éric Teyssier and made up of municipal archaeologists, inrap researchers and conservatives, will ensure the scientific coherence of the project. “It is not a film setting, it is a city building itself and which lives, with its manufacturers, its builders, its craftsmen”he told theHérault Tribune.
The materials will be extracted locally, and the constructions carried out according to the Roman processes, from the transformation of the raw materials to the finishes. This principle will apply to tiles, mosaics, scaffolding and other architectural elements. The objective is also to introduce Roman culture through its agricultural, wine and culinary know-how. Historical shows, including gladiator fights based on scientific research, will also be offered.
Founded in 1995 by Kléber Rossillon and today chaired by his daughter Geneviève Rossillon, the company manages twelve cultural sites in France and Belgium, which welcome 2.5 million visitors per year. Among them are the Cosquer cave in Marseille, the Montmartre museum in Paris, or the Marqueyssac gardens in Dordogne.
The “Béziers ancient” project is in line with the medieval site of Guédelon, in Yonne. Launched in 1997, it reconstitutes a 13th century castle using techniques of the time, in a scientific and experimental approach. Installed in a career near a forest, the site extends over 7 hectares, mobilizes 35 craftsmen and welcomes 300,000 visitors per year. Its success illustrates the public’s interest in this type of approach and the economic prospects it can offer to Kléber Rossillon as in Béziers Méditerranée.
