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Montpellier is a city
in the south of France. It is the capital
of the Languedoc-Roussillon région,
as well as the préfecture (administrative
capital) of the Hérault département.
Population of the city (commune) of Montpellier
at the 1999 census was 244,300 inhabitants,
whereas the whole metropolitan area (in
French: aire urbaine) had a population
of 459,916 inhabitants in 1999. As of February
2004 estimates, the population of the city
of Montpellier reached 244,700 inhabitants,
meaning a 1.7% population growth per year
between 1999 and 2004.
A burgeoning Montpellier
also has a youthful past. Unlike its Languedoc
neighbours Carcassonne, Béziers
or Narbonne, the city was not founded in
Antiquity but several centuries later,
in the year 1,000 to be exact. At the crossroads
of trade with Spain and Italy, close to
the Salt Route, Montpellier rapidly became
an economic and cultural capital. The brightest
talents were drawn to its Medicine Faculty,
founded in 1220 and considered the oldest
in Europe. Later, personnalities such as
François Rabelais and Auguste Comte
spent their youth on the banks of the Lez
and the Mosson.
At the beginning of
the 1970s, the La Mosson stadium is no
more than a swathe of green encircled by
some wooden stands on the banks of the
river carrying its name. Thirty years later
Montpellier can boast one of the most modern
grounds in France. The evolution was linked
closely to the growth of the small club
from Montpellier’s La Paillade suburb
which rose from the ranks of non-league
football to a place among the elite. Montpellier
Paillade Sporting Club, under its talismanic
president Louis Nicollin, pulled itself
out of anonymity and by 1977 had a relatively
decent 17,000-capacity stand.
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