Agde

{{clear left}}

File:Map commune FR insee code 34003.png

Agde is located on the Hérault river, {{convert|4|km|0|abbr=off}} from the Mediterranean Sea, and {{convert|750|km|0|abbr=off}} from Paris. The Canal du Midi connects to the Hérault river at the Agde Round Lock ("L'Écluse Ronde d'Agde") just north of Agde, and the Hérault flows into the Mediterranean at

{{ill|Le Grau d'Agde|fr|Le Grau d'Agde}}. Agde station has high-speed rail direct connections northbound to Paris, Lille, Geneva, southbound to Perpignan as well as Spain. Agde has regional services to Narbonne, Montpellier, Nimes and Avignon.

File:Agde-fountain-DSCF1121.JPG

File:Agde-amphitrite-DSCF1186.jpg in the place de la Marine at the river, by Léon François ChervetThe sculpture rebaptised Amphitrite formerly stood on the façade of the Palais du Trocadéro, built for the Exposition Universelle (1878) and demolished to make way for the Exposition of 1937. She was preserved and offered to the city, where she now symbolizes Agde's maritime vocation. {{Base Palissy|IM34001912|Statue: Amphitrite}}]]

File:Musée Agathois Jules Baudou - Joutes agathoises 09.jpg shield]]

{{main|Greeks in pre-Roman Gaul}}

Agde (525 BCE) is one of the oldest towns in France, after Béziers (575 BCE) and Marseille (Massilia; 600 BCE).{{cite web|language=fr|author=Ludovic Trabuchet |url=http://www.midilibre.fr/2013/03/11/beziers-la-grecque-des-fouilles-au-livre,658082.php |title=Des révélations sur le passé grec de Béziers |publisher=Midilibre.fr |website=Midi Libre|access-date=2013-03-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130315050352/http://www.midilibre.fr/2013/03/11/beziers-la-grecque-des-fouilles-au-livre,658082.php |archive-date=2013-03-15 |url-status=dead }}

Agde (Agathe Tyche, "good fortune") was a 5th-century BCE Greek colony settled by Phocaeans from Massilia.

2,500 years ago, the Hérault river had three arms : "grau de Vias", "grau d'Agde", "grau d'Ambonne"; a delta was formed in the middle of {{ill|Agde volcanoes|fr|Volcan d'Agde}}, and the eastern arm was leading to the Bagnas pond (occitan name Banhas), which was largely drained in the Middle Ages when mills were built with constant flow on the main arm (the bishop's mill still remains).{{Sfn|Monfort|1999|p=11}}

The Greek name was Agathe ({{langx|grc|Ἀγάθη}}).Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, §A11.1[https://books.google.com/books?id=HsdAAAAAcAAJ&dq=muller+geographi+graeci&pg=PA196 Pseudo Scymnus or Pausanias of Damascus, Circuit of the Earth, § 208] The symbol of the city, the bronze Ephebe of Agde, of the 4th century BCE, recovered from the fluvial sands of the Hérault, was joined in December 2001 by two Early Imperial Roman bronzes, of a child and of Eros, which had possibly been on their way to a villa in Gallia Narbonensis when they were lost in a shipwreck.

The inlet in the Hérault river, Grau d'Agde, became from the Antique to the Eighteenth century period the most important port in this occitanian region of the Mediterranée for trade.

From the beginning of the fifth century (until the French Revolution), the city of Agde developed in the upstream area that was not subject to flooding and was the seat of a bishopric.{{sfn|Félix|Palouzié|2023|p=17}}Musée Agathois Jules Baudou But "It was subjugated by the Roman Empire, the Visigoths [from Italy] and the Saracens [from Spain] before becoming definitively Christian in 759."{{sfn|Monfort|1999|p=14}}

Around the beginning of the 13th century, the town was administered by consuls, a forerunner of modern municipalities. Development took place on the main rock, sheltered from flooding, and urban districts appeared, with the concept of the urban island, named after the person who paid the highest tax to the king and the bishopric.{{sfn|Camps|1999|p=III-IV}} The town was divided into two parts: the part on the rock and the part around the rock, where farmland was divided into hamlets of properties around churches.{{sfn|Camps|1999|p=III-IV}}

The fortifications appeared in the 12th century around the rock, in the 14th century extended around the town; During the French Revolution of 1848 the fortifications were demolished except for the small part next to the current Tourist Office.{{sfn|Monfort|1999|p=14}}

At the end of the 16th century the lieutenant-general of Languedoc Joyeuse built Fort Brescou. Later Cardinal Richelieu undertook the construction of a roadstead for an Harbour, a strategic point in the Mediterranean area. The work, made difficult by the gradual silting up of the coastline, was abandoned after the death of the Cardinal. Fort Richelieu remains in place.

The paths and squares are named in Occitan, with French added over time, streets have existed since the French Revolution, when the population and birthplaces were registered.{{sfn|Camps|1999|p=IV}}

Until the French Revolution, Agde was owned by the bishopric: through the wars of religion all seigniorial possessions become the property of the episcopate.{{sfn|Monfort|1999|p=30-31}} And until then ViasVias, which includes a large part of protected natural spaces, was not included in the Mission Racine (the development of new housing estates is due to Mayor Richard Monedero 2022 Falkirk Council election

) was part of the commune

and until the seventeenth century, the part of the Étang de Thau up to and including Sète was part of the diocese; further north it is the diocese of the bishop of the most important {{ill|Maguelone cathedral|fr|Cathédrale de Maguelone}}.{{cite book|author=Archives Municipales d'Agde

|title=992-Les Evêques d'Agde, seigneurs temporels et spirituels de la ville

|date=2013

|type=document

|url=https://www.ville-agde.fr/la-mairie/archives-municipales/les-dossiers}}

{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.etudesheraultaises.fr/publi/un-prelat-valetudinaire-au-xviiie-siecle/

|title=A valetudinarian prelate in the 18th century

|first=Xavier

|last=Azema

|date=1984}} Today only the chapter house remains in Agde.{{sfn|Monfort|1999|p=41}}

At the end of the 18th century, when tall sail ships gave way to motor merchant ships, Agde changed its activity towards the exploitation of the land, market gardening, olives and fruits. The local viticulture then experienced is one of its greatest moments of prosperity until the phylloxera.{{cite web|ref=ville-Adge|url=https://www.ville-agde.fr/culture-patrimoine/histoire/une-histoire-nee-de-la-mer

|language=fr

|title=Une histoire venue de la mer

|website=ville-agde.fr}}{{cite web|url=https://port-capdagde.com/berges-de-lherault/

|language=fr

|title=Berges de l'Hérault

|website=port-capdagde.com}}

With the transition to the steam engine, the port of Agde became a shipping point for foodstuffs, it was connected to the railway on a state planning decision concerning the Canal du Midi;{{cite book|author=Archives Municipales d'Agde

|title=2200-La gare d'eau

|date=2016

|type=document

|url=https://www.ville-agde.fr/la-mairie/archives-municipales/les-dossiers}}

The floating bridges before the suspension iron bridge 1836 are the solution to the overflow of the Hérault (the entry carries a tax for 9 years).{{sfn|Camps|1999|p=27-28}}

The episcopal palace is cut in two for the passage of the bridge - the right part became the actual Hôtel de la Galiote, the left part the gendarmerie and the prison (which were demolished in 1982) -.{{sfn|Monfort|1999|p=30 & 41}}

In the 19th century the old 17th century ice houses of Agde became reservoirs allowing the distribution of water by pumping through cast iron pipes.{{cite book|author=Archives Municipales d'Agde

|title=1442-L'alimentation en eau. Des fontaines aux robinets

|date=2015

|type=document

|url=https://www.ville-agde.fr/la-mairie/archives-municipales/les-dossiers}}

But because of the sometimes brackish water pumped into the town from the Hérault river (depending on the season and the drought), the municipal water supply sometimes failed; In 1966, an alluvial resource from the bed of the coastal river was installed 4 km upstream from the town. This was necessary because of the new development of the modern seaside resort.{{cite web|ref=INA|url=https://fresques.ina.fr/rivages-heraultais/fiche-media/HERAUL00005/travaux-d-adduction-d-eau-potable-a-agde.html

|language=fr

|title=1966 Travaux d'adduction d'eau potable à Agde

|website=ina.fr}}

Public lighting using electricity (from the Moulin des Evèques) in Agde was planned in 1890 (electricity in a low head dam was also installed by Laurens in his Château). In 1929 the Compagnie de Distribution Electrique du Midi took over the municipal and private contract. In 1946 Électricité de France manages the electricity factory (production stops in 1951).{{cite book|author=Archives Municipales d'Agde

|title=990-Le moulin des Evêques

|date=2013

|type=document

|url=https://www.ville-agde.fr/la-mairie/archives-municipales/les-dossiers}}

During the late 19th century Belle Epoque, at the Mediterranean shore, the development of the French Riviera with the Train Bleu,{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.nicematin.com/histoire/plongez-dans-lepoque-des-trains-de-luxe-de-la-fin-du-xixe-siecle-a-monaco-829280

|title=Plongez dans l'époque des trains de luxe de la fin du XIXeS à Monaco

|website=Nice Matin

|access-date=16 May 2024}}{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2010/09/24/913545-train-moscou-nice-voyage-luxe-travers-paysages-europe.html

|title=Train Moscou Nice voyage de luxe à travers les paysages d'Europe

|website=La Dépêche du Midi

|access-date=16 May 2024}} instituted winter aristocratic cosmopolitan tourism starting in 1880 around Monaco and its grand hotels;This also introduced the pleasure of motoring with car races. An Agde native, Emmanuel Laurens,The family of Emmanuel Laurens is composed of "Maîtres maçons" (architects) in Agde since the 18th century. His father was an engineer, and his uncle the Agde town architect, in Félix & Palouzié 2023, p. 35. an heir to a fortune, bought the "St Gervais Villa" in Saint-Raphaël, Var (1898).{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/merimee/IA83000590

|title=Holiday home (villa) known as Villa Saint-Gervais, then Villa Beaulieu, then Hôtel de Voyageurs Hélios, now a building

|website=Base Mérimée}}{{sfn|Félix|Palouzié|2023|p=35}} At the same time he built in Agde "Belle-Isle" the "Château Laurens", the marquant concrete Art Nouveau building in Occitania, with its private train station.{{sfn|Félix|Palouzié|2023|p=17}}

In the old town center, the 1960s municipality had to rebuild the entire infrastructure due to decrepitude and population growth.{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.ville-agde.fr/culture-patrimoine/histoire/pierrick-lapeyre

|title=Mayor Pierrick Lapeyre 1965-1971

|website=ville d'Agde(official)

|quote=After the war, the Municipality realigned streets and authorized the demolition of ruined buildings, giving rise to today's Place Gambetta. This was used by the Halles fairground, which was rebuilt in 1970. In 1969, the municipal abattoirs were closed by prefectural decree "on the opening date of those in Béziers", forcing butchers in Agatha to buy supplies 25 km away. Lapeyre put in place the elements essential to the hygiene of the town, some districts of which still see sewage running into the street, and where the water is not drinkable with the sewers rapidly extended, as the town is growing very fast. In January 1967, a municipal sewerage plan was drawn up to plan all the work in stages, with particular urgency for Le Grau and La Tamarissière, which continued to discharge their wastewater directly into the Hérault. To reduce costs, a tax was introduced on subdivisions, and in October 1967, the wastewater treatment plant (in the Prunette sector) was built. Financed by SEBLI. A new artesian well was dug at Grau d'Agde in 1965 (siphons passing under the Canal du Midi and the Hérault).}} 1969,the local abbatoirs are closed.

After immediate World War II the summer mass tourism was created in campsites and in 1960s' some very large and high residences were integrated in the "new urbanism".Such as famous André Minangoy's "Marina-Baie des Anges" pyramid in Villeneuve-Loubet.

Actual shore development in Occitania began in the 60's following first waterfront in Grau d'Agde with numerous campsites.{{cite web|ref=héraulttribune|language=fr|url=https://www.herault-tribune.com/articles/le-grau-dagde-une-retrospective-dhier-a-aujourdhui-et-des-photos-inedites/

|title=LE GRAU D'AGDE - Une rétrospective d'hier à aujourd'hui et des photos inédites !

|website=www.herault-tribune.com}}

The Mission Racine aimed to revitalize the economy of the region between Béziers and Sète, and make Cap d'Agde "the holiday port of Toulouse", the decrepit little town of Agde fully depends on Béziers.{{cite book|author=Archives Municipales d'Agde

|title=2377 Naissance et histoire du Cap

|date=2016

|type=document

|url=https://www.ville-agde.fr/la-mairie/archives-municipales/les-dossiers}}

The main marina (Port) was designed next to the location of the cape small fishing port (Cap d'Agde). It replaces the former salt marsh, in use 1912-1916.Two pictures {{cite book|language=fr|first=Alain|last=Carles|title=Agdes des remparts à la mer|publisher=Aldacom|date=2006|pages=126}} The fishing port of the Hérault river has been modernised with its professional fish market hall.{{ill|Fish processing hall|fr|Halle à marée}}, fish sold with deceasing price in the European directive manner The river's shipyards, which are mixed with pleasure boats and small fishing boats, succeeded the wooden boat yards. "1960: The president's plan is actually to make from the coast of Occitania the "French Florida".{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://archik.fr/architecture-balneaire/

|title=Seaside architecture

|first1=Fabienne

|last1=Berthet

|first2=Pascale

|last2=Bartoli

|date=2020

|quote=A societal context:
The 1950s saw the emergence of new lifestyles. Post-war social advances, and in particular paid vacations, meant that tourism was now accessible to all. Both a result of and a catalyst for the social upheavals of the "Trente Glorieuses", tourism promoted social progress and a desire for individual freedom outside working hours. In practice, rising incomes generated a new attraction for vacations, which naturally focused on seaside and coastal resorts. Under the gentle name of heliotropism, encouraged by a culture that values shellfish, whole crowds flock to the coast, eager to sample the pleasures of the beach. Aware of the economic stakes involved in tourism, the public authorities introduced a policy to encourage this major expansion, which was mainly focused on 3 regions: Languedoc-Roussillon, Alpes Maritimes and Var, each of which developed its own model based on its history, appeal and assets.
Three models:
On the Languedoc coast, the changes accompanied in 1963 by the interministerial Racine mission recognized the principle of six tourist units along 180 km of coastline. Saint-Cyprien, Leucate - Le Barcarès, Gruissan, Cap d'Agde, La Grande Motte and Port Camargue, separated by vast natural areas, were created. The aim is to build, over 20 years, the infrastructure and 500 tourist beds needed to develop an economy that is lacking in this part of the country. Nearly a million holidaymakers are expected in what will be nicknamed the Florida or French California, and is now the emblem of popular tourism sites.}}

The heads of the inter-ministerial mission developed collective facilities to attract the greatest number of tourists: holiday centres and camps of the nationalised PTT, EDF, SNCF; holiday village houses with Belgian, Netherlands, German investments. Campsites are created, one with the first naturist settlement in France. About leisure, tennis courts, discotheques, amusement parks (an aquatic park) are built. The National Forestry Office with arboriculturists (e.g. Vilmorin) contributed to the creation of green spaces in the resort, and reforestation. Hundreds of thousands of seedlings are then distributed free of charge to individuals.

{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.francebleu.fr/emissions/bleu-littoral/herault/le-cap-d-agde-plongez-dans-l-histoire-du-port

|title=Le Cap d'Agde : une histoire née de la mer et des hommes

|first=Gilles

|last=Moreau

|date=3 April 2017}}

The naturist campsite became an important tourist complex outside the city, and in its vicinity the tennis courts was the major theme for the development of housing estates.

File:Agde Cap d'Agde chantier des immeubles du nouveau Centre-Cap 2019.jpg

Since 2007 the Sodéal (Economic development society of Agde and the coast (70% of capital owned by the town) ammenages the marinas on the Hérault river and the shore, main one Le Port de Cap d'Agde.{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.midilibre.fr/2023/01/17/agde-coup-dur-pour-les-plaisanciers-qui-vont-devoir-mettre-la-main-a-la-poche-10931786.php

|title=Agde coup dur pour les plaisanciers

|date=17 January 2023

|quote=Delegate of the management of the marinas of Cap d'Agde and the sites on the Hérault river for a period of 20 years, Sodéal will discuss this Wednesday morning, during the first meeting since 2017 of the Local Committee of Permanent Users of the Ports of Cap d'Agde (Clupp), an increase in its tariffs of around 12%.}}

Urban sprawl has been taking place for first twenty years of the 21th century between Le Cap and Grau d'Agde, and this latter place is densifying from its postwar existing hollydays habitat on small plots among large empty ones. In the 21st century, green spaces are reduced to housing and are no longer accessible to the public.

After the installation of basic urban networks, going further, in the same time, cycling infrastructure is reamenaged because of car traffic jams in the 2010s. And municipal car parks receive solar panels in 2017 2019.{{cite web|url=https://www.ville-agde.fr/actualites/economie/actualites/les-parkings-catalogne-et-coquilles-equipes-d-ombrieres-photovoltaiques

|title=LES PARKINGS CATALOGNE ET COQUILLES ÉQUIPÉS D'OMBRIÈRES PHOTOVOLTAÏQUES

|website=ville-agde.fr

|date=22 November 2017}}[https://locapdagde.fr/location-appartement-cap-dagde/parkings-du-cap-dagde/parking-gratuit-p23-catalogne-gallois/ free carpark Catalogne-Gallois, beach Môle and campsite]

2021-2024 Project for extended railway station and the new marina{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.agglo-heraultmediterranee.net/accueil/les-grands-projets/tourisme/amenager-le-port-fluvial-dagde/|title=Major projects: developing Agde's inland port

|website=Official Agglo-Hérault-Méditerranée

|date=12 May 2024

|quote=Scheduled to open in 2026, this landscape harbor is part of a program to rehabilitate the old town center, with a dock and berths for 150 houseboats and transit boats.}} on the Canal du Midi started with destroying the retail buildings around Hôtel Riquet, the Agde offices of the canal's founder.

Access to the city tunnel under the railroad line was opened in 2023, after two years of construction,{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.agglo-heraultmediterranee.net/wwp-actu/amenagement-du-quartier-de-la-mediterraneenne-a-agde/

|title=L'AGGLO Hérault Méditerranée : aménagement du quartier de la méditerranéenne

|date=2 April 2021

|quote= ECONOMICS The demolition of the buildings located on the 8.5 hectares industrial wasteland in the Mediterranean [is done in 2023]. The GGL-Proméo consortium will be responsible for the development of this space. The creation of this new centre of attractiveness will be a major challenge in the context of the urban project to enhance the heart of the city of Agde and accompanies the other operations carried out in parallel, namely the creation of the river port on the Canal du Midi, the restoration of Château Laurens and the creation of a multimodal interchange hub at the railway station [...] A functional mix of permanent housing, tourist accommodation and a programme of offices, shops and services on 35,000 m² [...] A training centre, the future headquarters of the agglomeration and the centre for conservation and studies in archaeology [...] Requalification of the Hôtel Riquet along the Canal du Midi and the hangar located to the south along the railway tracks, into a vast, multi-functional hall, at the centre of the flows of the district and the train station [...] Flood risk particularly impacting the site: the floating habitat and the suspended city. Floating habitat: the creation of a body of water is planned. The city suspended: all new constructions, excluding the rehabilitation of buildings deemed heritage and preserved, are planned on stilts with the first surfaces developed from the 1st floor [...] A development planned by 2024 [...] The balance sheet of the transaction is balanced at approximately €11.5 million excluding VAT. The selected consortium also undertakes to pay a contribution of €1 million to the local authority for the financing of the railway footbridge that the agglomeration community must build to link the Agde station, the future Multimodal Interchange Hub, to the Mediterranean quarter, so that the district is a real gateway to the territory from the regional and national rail network.}} while the most central space, the Promenade and its market, is transformed with the digging of a scheduled car parking lot that began in 2023.{{cite magazine |last=D'Ettore |first=Gilles |date=February 2024 |title= Agde le MAG|magazine=Official municipal news magazine |url= |language=fr |issue=122 |page=5}}

In the history of Roman Catholicism in France, the Council of Agde was held 10 September 506 at Agde, in Saint-André church, under the presidency of Caesarius of Arles. It was attended by thirty-five bishops, and its forty-seven genuine canons dealt "with ecclesiastical discipline". One of its canons (the seventh), forbidding ecclesiastics to sell or alienate the property of the church from which they derived their living, seems to be the earliest mention of the later system of benefices.{{cite web |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01206b.htm |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Council of Agde |publisher=www.newadvent.org |access-date=2009-10-08 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091029212521/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01206b.htm| archive-date= 29 October 2009 | url-status= live}}{{cite web |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/506agdechurchslaves.html |title=Medieval Sourcebook: Council of Agde: Concerning Slaves of the Church, 506 |publisher=www.fordham.edu |access-date=2009-10-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090331160110/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/506agdechurchslaves.html |archive-date=2009-03-31 |url-status=dead }}

Agde's inhabitants are called Agathois.

{{Historical populations

| align = none

| cols = 2

| percentages = pagr

| source = EHESS{{Cassini-Ehess|145|Agde}} and INSEE (1968-2017)[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-34003#ancre-POP_T1 Population en historique depuis 1968], INSEE

| graph-pos = bottom

|1793 |6744

|1800 |6744

|1806 |7639

|1821 |7726

|1831 |8202

|1836 |8230

|1841 |8251

|1846 |8884

|1851 |9115

|1856 |9439

|1861 |9747

|1866 |9586

|1872 |8829

|1876 |8251

|1881 |8170

|1886 |8446

|1891 |7389

|1896 |8478

|1901 |9533

|1906 |8435

|1911 |9265

|1921 |8325

|1926 |9360

|1931 |9605

|1936 |9242

|1946 |7592

|1954 |7897

|1962 |8751

|1968 |10184

|1975 |11605

|1982 |13107

|1990 |17583

|1999 |19988

|2007 |21104

|2012 |24651

|2017 |28609

}}

10% permanent residents, the population goes up to 200,000 inhabitants in the summer (fourth of a year)Meaning 1 /10 tax-payer may vote in mayor election, deciding the communal budget and urban projects.

[[File:Electric wine pump "Catalane".jpg|thumb|left|Electric wine pump "Catalane"

Agde Model, (1891-92) {{cite web|language=fr|url=https://archives-pierresvives.herault.fr/archive/fonds/FRAD034_000000607/n:34

|title=pump and silo for grapes

|quote="The engineer-architect Paul Brès patented this system for his reinforced concrete silo tank, he would have considered this silo to be a kind of "cathedral" because it was visible from afar. Excerpts from the label of the exhibition LA CAVE COOPÉRATIVE D'AGDE, DE SA CRÉATION À NOS JOURS", Office du Tourisme, Agde, 09/2020."}}]]

{{multiple image

| align = right

| width = 110

| footer = " À la Belle Epoque "

| image1 = Agde - Port01.jpg

| alt1 =

| caption1 = Old port in city-center (Background old bridge over Hérault river)

| image2 = Agde.Pont.1907.jpg

| alt2 =

| caption2 = Old suspension bridge (on it trucks of wine barrels for shipping)

}}

File:Agde - Vignes01.jpg

File:Agde - Cave coopérative01.jpg

The vineyards in Agde are among the oldest in France.{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.occitanie-tribune.com/articles/18751/herault-cap-d-agde-mediterranee-present-a-la-laquo-fete-des-vendanges-raquo-de-montmartre

|title=Hérault - Cap d'Agde Méditerranée présent à la " Fête des Vendanges " de Montmartre

|website=occitanie-tribune.com

|date=2 October 2019}} Viticulturists, winegrowers experienced the problems of viticulture in the 19th century with diseases. However, while Aramon was able to save the production situation (see the electric pump) in the region by cultivation near the sea,See Vias by the sea on sand and Lézignan-la-Cèbe with the Minervois AOC on pebbles inland with other grape varieties the intensive production of wine in the colony of Algeria caused both the low profitability and the low quality of Agde wines among Languedoc zone. Production began to decline. And production has plummeted since the sea-resort was planned, as housing needs space. The Richemer Cellars were born from the merger of the cooperative cellars of Agde (1936){{cite web|author=Ville d'Agde|language=fr

|url=https://www.ville-agde.fr/culture-patrimoine/histoire/jean-felix

|title=Jean Félix Mayor of Agde from 1919 to 1944

|date=2024

|website=Official

|type=document

|quote=Jean Félix in 1926 founded the cooperative distillery “L’Agathoise”. He was also Vice-President of the Professional Union of Winegrowers of Hérault and administrator of the Confederation of Winegrowers of the South. He “denounces all injustices, takes charge of the defense of the most humble and of wine interests”. Félix was, with Edouard Barthe, an "enlightened and effective" defender of southern viticulture: Winemaker, having all the necessary equipment (tunners, presses, etc.) he thought of those who did not have any, he decided to create in 1937 the Agde wine cooperative of which he will be president. The building, built by the Caruso company, had a capacity of 23,000 hectoliters when it was created.}}

and Marseillan (1934).{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.herault-tourisme.com/fr/fiche/producteurs-du-terroir/les-caves-richemer-caveau-d-agde-agde_TFODEGLAR034V503C2X/

|title=LES CAVES RICHEMER – CAVEAU D'AGDE

|quote="The Richemer Cellars were born from the merger of the cooperative cellars of Agde and Marseillan. They bring together 350 winegrowers on a vineyard of 1500ha and an annual production of 100,000hl with 65% white wines, 25% rosés and 10% red wines. They owe their name to a legend: Henri de Richet, a winegrower from Marseillan who is said to have made his fortune in the wine trade, thanks to maritime trade. He was soon nicknamed "Henri de Richemer". They bring together 350 winegrowers on a vineyard of 1500ha and an annual production of 100,000hl with 65% white wines, 25% rosés and 10% red wines. They owe their name to a legend: Henri de Richet, a winegrower from Marseillan who is said to have made his fortune in the wine trade, thanks to maritime trade. He was soon nicknamed "Henri de Richemer."}} However, tourist festivals are still present in the 21st century,{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.midilibre.fr/2023/10/23/fete-des-vendanges-a-agde-engouement-populaire-et-tradition-au-rendez-vous-11538156.php

|title=Fête des vendanges à Agde : engouement populaire et tradition au rendez-vous

|first=Arnaud

|last=Fauli

|website=Midi Libre

|date=23 October 2023}} including the Vinocap trade show, which brings together a hundred winegrowers.105 winegrowers, mainly from the Hérault region, plus a few from Bordeaux (2024 15th edition) {{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.vinocap.fr/ |title=Vinocap |website=vinocap.fr |date=8 May 2024}} and gathering majors{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.midilibre.fr/2024/05/09/salon-vinocap-au-cap-dagde-a-lheure-de-linauguration-politiques-et-institutionnels-jouent-groupes-au-sein-dun-vinopack-11940406.php|title=salon Vinocap au Cap d'agde à l'heure de l'inauguration : politiques et institutionnels jouent groupés au sein d'un vinopack|trans-title=Vinocap trade show in Cap d'agde at inauguration time politicians and institutions play together in a vinopack}} Stores supply wine for tourists.https://levindemerde.com/ levindemerde.com [shitwine.com] And if the last vineyard of Bagnas is now very small below Château Maraval{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.herault-tourisme.com/fr/fiche/itineraires-touristiques/randonnee-le-domaine-de-maraval-cap-d-agde_TFOITILAR034V52DI4K/

|title=RANDONNEE LE DOMAINE DE MARAVAL

|website=herault-tourisme.com}} with the Meyer distillery in ruins, walking in is a planed tourist-office leisure nowadays; its wine is better for "connoisseurs", old grape varieties producing piquette have been abandoned.{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.herault-tribune.com/articles/herault-qui-sont-les-8-vins-du-departement-medailles-au-mondial-des-vins-blancs-de-strasbourg/

|title=Hérault : Quels sont les 8 vins du département médaillés au Mondial des Vins Blancs de Strasbourg ?

|website=herault-tribune.com

|date=10 April 2024

|quote="Hérault dept.: What are the 8 wines from the department that have won medals at the Mondial des Vins Blancs in Strasbourg? The Richemer cellars, located in Marseillan in the Hérault, were particularly rewarded, with two gold medals for their IGP Pays d'Oc Richemer Viognier 2023 and the Souvenir Cap d'Agde IGP Côte de Thau 2023."}}

{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.herault-tribune.com/articles/agde-belle-epoque-a-la-fete-des-vendanges-de-montmartre/

|title=AGDE BELLE EPOQUE à la FETE DES VENDANGES DE MONTMARTRE [Paris]

|first=Danielle

|last=MATHIEU

|quote=Présidente d’AGDE BELLE EPOQUE

|website=herault-tribune.com

|date=18 October 2017}} This "Wine tourism" has been in full development for several years.

The wine-growing area of the Bagnas reserve was reduced in 2019 with the urbanization of the border running from Château Maraval down to the naturist camp: the most expensive detached villas in the town are here, as well as those at the top of the Mont St Martin with panoramic sea views, which also had vineyards starting at Richelieu beach that disappeared with the urbanisation of 1970.

{{clear}}

File:"Mary Didou" - Agde, 2015.jpg

File:Rochelongue 082 Agde.JPG

• Professional fish market.{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.herault-tribune.com/articles/grau-dagde-reouverture-du-belvedere-de-la-criee-une-fenetre-sur-le-monde-de-la-peche/

|title=La criée}}

• Shipchlanders facing dry dock on the Cap d'Agde marina.
• Shopping centers.
• Système U {{cite web|language=fr|url=https://hyperuagde30ans.fr/

|title=Hyper U fête ses 30 ans}}

• Intermarché - {{cite web|url=https://www.herault-tribune.com/articles/agde-intermarche-et-la-galerie-marchande-sagrandissent/

|title=2022 extension}}

• Netto {{cite web|url=https://www.midilibre.fr/2023/05/31/au-cap-dagde-les-enseignes-netto-et-carrefour-deboulent-sur-le-centre-port-11232088.php

|title=Netto et Carrefour au Cap 2023}}

• Groupe Casino
• Carrefour
• Lidl

• East of town, an area for the old wine traffic via the Canal du Midi and its old railway traffic, more recently there were stocks for the trade in building-materials.
• On road towards Sète, since the 1970s, a specific area for building-materials stocks.

Since 2000, many allotments of houses reaches those {{ill|Economic Activity Zone{{!}}Economic Activities Zones|fr|Zone d'activité économique}}.

{{clear}}

File:"Espérance 1881" - Cap d'Agde, 2015 (2).JPG on August 1, 2015. It was built in 1881 at Agde]]

File:Agde - SNS 242.jpg

File:Cap d'Agde - Zone technique01.jpg

File:Cap d'Agde été 2007 201.jpg

The Port of Cap d'Agde (main marina) was excavated following the Mission Racine in the old salt marsh, the Luno lagoon.

The marina is delimited by the buildings that border it, each one with 100 apartments and around those the housing estates of 200 villas, and in the 2 cases hotels added.This spirit of development stems from Government's Plan, with "Neighbouring urban complexes and sub-urban units", the urban theory of the leading corbusean architect André Wogenscky. {{ill|Jean Balladur|fr|Jean Balladur}} acted this plan in La Grande-Motte.

The marina has a single entrance, due to the south–north marine currents that silt it up. It is made up of two distinct parts, built around accessible and non-accessible islands.

The part between accessible Ile des Loisirs and non-accessible Ile St Martin is the part of the harbor where the boat's mooring ring to the quay is private and sold with the villa or apartment.

The part between Ile St Martin and accessible Ile des Pêcheurs is the part of the harbor where the boat's mooring ring is rented to the harbor master.{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://port-capdagde.com/port-principal/

|title=CAP D'AGDE MAIN PORT PRESENTATION

|website=port-capdagde.com

|quote=Ideal base for Mediterranean cruises to Spain (50 miles), the Balearics (200 miles) or Corsica (230 miles). 3100 moorings:
* 10 sheltered basins around a 35 hectares body of water.
* 6 sanitary blocks (toilets, showers, washbasins) with reserved access (electronic key).
* Reserved parking for yachtsmen.
* Fresh water and electricity (220 V mono and 380 V tri) at quayside.
* Secure pontoons (electronic key access): berths are equipped with catways and, for larger units, with piles or deadbeds.
* Special berths for multihulls.
* 2 slipways (Avant Port).
* European-standard waste disposal center.
* Harbour dredged to 3 m.}}

There's also a second marina, Port Ambonne, a remnant of the dried-up eastern arm of the Hérault delta, known as Port Lano (old name Lano pound).{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://fresques.ina.fr/rivages-heraultais/fiche-media/HERAUL00109/l-amenagement-du-cap-d-agde.html

|title=Development of Cap d'Agde

|website=INA

|date=4 September 1970

|access-date=17 May 2024}} This is a port for the naturist camp. It is close to a heliport for safety operations at sea. Les Berges de l'Hérault are the historic riverbanks of the Hérault.{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://port-capdagde.com/

|title=3 Marinas in Cap d'Agde

|website=port-capdagde.com}}

Overall the car must be available for yachtsmen, and some of the places to live are built with an underground garage.

{{clear}}

File:Fort de Brescou - panoramio.jpg|Fort de Brescou and lighthouse at the end of the pier

File:Cap d'Agde - Le port et le mont Saint-Loup.jpg|Houses on Ile St-Martin below buildings on Mont St-Martin and the green Mont St-Loup on the right

File:Cap d'Agde - Le port02.jpg|Main landmark in the marina : the campanile of the former Cap center 1970

File:Cap d'Agde - Capitainerie01.jpg|Harbormaster office (Avant-Port)

File:Cap d'Agde - Centre nautique01.jpg|Nautical center ending Richelieu beach side

File:Cap d'Agde (AGDE,FR34) (3077910396).jpg

File:Méditerranée Cap d'Agde France port à sec Lano hors-bords marina Village naturiste.jpg

{{Main|Cap d'Agde}}

After the creation of a camping in the farm for nudists receiving Belgian, German and Dutch families, the beach was officially designated as a naturist beach in 1973.{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7kleka

|title=Oltra brothers saw WWII army occupation : german nude bathers on beach

|website= Dailymotion / France 3

|date=8 September 2019}}

The first development was the construction of apartments, stores and swimming pools in a paid-entry area. These massive concrete buildings did not comply with town-planning regulations, and the huge buildings have global form O and Y. Nudity was legal on the beach. A small commercial area was built before the entrance, the one that makes the camp self-sufficient after it, and housing estates grew up on the seafront, filling the land up to the vacation villages of 1975.

This complex is aside Port Lano and its marina.

{{clear}}

File:Musée de l'Éphèbe d'Agde - Amphore 27.jpg

File:Agde-DSCF1131.JPG

File:Agde - Chapelle de la Genouillade03.jpg

File:Hérault River, Agde 01.jpg

File:Hérault River, Agde, Hérault 01.jpg

File:Agde borne octroi de mer IMG 2144.jpg

File:Pont Saint-Joseph, Agde, Hérault 02.jpg

File:Hérault River, Agde 09.jpg

File:Agde rempart2.jpg

File:Agde Grau d'Agde station du Christ IMG 2119.jpg

File:Cap d'Agde passerelle de la Flanerie au Port, arrière plan centre annexe.jpg

File:Cap d'Agde passage piéton Clape Port Lano La Roquille.jpg" style, (1970s)]]

[[File:Agde - Pont de la rocade sur l'Hérault.jpg|thumb|220px|right|Concrete bridge over the Hérault route 612, (1976)The bridge will be doubled to avoid traffic jams, project 2020.{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.herault-tribune.com/articles/agde-le-projet-de-la-passerelle-pietonne-et-le-doublement-du-pont-en-bonne-voie/

|title=AGDE - The pedestrian bridge project and the doubling of the bridge are well underway!

|website=herault-tribune.com

|date=14 June 2020}}]]

File:Musée de l'Ephèbe Archéologie Sous-Marine.jpg

File:Agde - Lycée Auguste Loubatières01.jpg

File:Agde - Palais des sports01.jpg

File:PalaisDesCongrèsCapdAgde.jpgAgde is known for the distinctive black basalt used in local buildings such as the cathedral of Saint Stephen, built in the 12th century to replace a 9th-century Carolingian edifice built on the foundations of a fifth-century Roman church.

Bishop Guillaume fortified the cathedral's precincts and provided it with a 35-metre donjon (keep). The Romanesque cloister of the cathedral was demolished in 1857.

The sanctuary of Notre-Dame-du-Grau was once an ancient temple, for dévotion in the Antique. The Agenouillade (Kneel) is built after a miraculous prayer by Our Lady (Mary, mother of Jesus) to avoid flooding in Agde in the Sixteenth century.{{cite web|url=https://www.capdagde.com/otca-experience/decouvrez-le-patrimoine-religieux-de-lancienne-cite-episcopale/

|title=Découvrez le patrimoine religieux de l'ancienne cité épiscopale d'Agde

|language=fr

|website=capdagde.com}}

Near by the Agde Round Lock, aside the rail-way (with a special station for a private stop), Château Laurens is a splendid furnished villa, dandy residence. Inside is a gothic style "salon de concert" with original 19th century stained glass windows from Bézier's school.

{{cite web|url=https://www.agglo-heraultmediterranee.net/accueil/nos-competences/patrimoine/la-villa-laurens-a-agde/

|title=Le Château Laurens à Agde

|publisher = Communauté urbaine d'Agde}}

All like some wine châteaux of Bordeaux were built in classic style due to winery riches, this one coming from an Agde vineyard income is in eclectic style.{{cite web

| url = https://www.connaissancedesarts.com/monuments-patrimoine/chateaux/le-chateau-laurens-un-envoutant-chef-doeuvre-art-nouveau-aux-couleurs-de-reve-11185328/

| title = Le château Laurens, un envoûtant chef-d'œuvre Art nouveau aux couleurs de rêve

| last = Daubrée

| first = Anne

| date = March 2023

| website = connaissancedesarts.com

| publisher = Connaissance des arts

| access-date =

| quote = Monuments et Patrimoine

}} it is the most beautiful concrete building in Occitania from Belle Epoque.{{sfn|Félix|Palouzié|2023|p=35}}

But if it includes an electric power plant, it does not include a producer wine cellar.

The urban planning of the 60s in France for the new towns separates car traffic and pedestrian-cyclist traffic with some footbridges. For French resorts architecture, "Mediterranean style" sets the mood.{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.rhinov.fr/conseils-deco/room_style/bord-de-mer/

|title=Seaside style: a breath of escape

|website=rhinov.fr

|quote=Introduced in the 1920s this Mediterranean look [...] creates the atmosphere of a vacation home where life is good. The seaside style first appeared in the United States between 1920 and 1930. The wealth and leisure obsession of the Roaring Twenties led to a boom in seaside resorts. The unique aestheticism, exoticism and relaxing aspect of the seaside style seduced Americans, leading it to become the style used for the development of these resorts and the dominant style of Californian and Floridian homes.}}{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.marieclaire.fr/maison/le-style-bord-de-mer-fait-souffler-un-vent-d-evasion,1181072.asp

|title=The seaside style is a breath of fresh air

|website=Marie Claire}} This vision of the popular vacation with its french social side is associated with the real estate. In this area, the way was given by the neighbor town Sète for its after-war development, mainly with the retail area of its harbour.{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://thau-infos.fr/index.php/patrimoine/histoire/histoire-de-sete

|title=Sète history

|website=thau-infos.fr

|quote=Some long-term forecasts that seemed favorable to the port never came true. Some, like Professor Galtier, defined Sète as a "medium-sized" port, in continuous expansion from 1938 to 1954. While Gilles Salvat, a cultural attaché at the town hall, speaks of a structural crisis that began in the late 1930s, linked to the "poor development" of the Languedoc region. Like all French ports," points out G. Galtier, "Sète is an importing port: in 1964, incoming goods accounted for 78% of traffic. This is the same order of magnitude as Marseille and Le Havre.}}

The Bishops's Mill is now (2010) a cultural exhibition center, it was " a 13th-century building and former flour mill rehabilitated in the last century as a hydraulic factory and then as a "sardine factory".{{cite web |date=8 April 2010 |title=AGDE - Le Moulin des Évêques a ouvert ses portes au public |url=https://www.herault-tribune.com/articles/agde-le-moulin-des-eveques-a-ouvert-ses-portes-au-public/ |website=herault-tribune.com}}

The cooperative winery is created in 1936, but merged in 1998 with the one of Marseillan,

activity in Marseillan, traffic on Béziers-Sète road.[https://www.herault-tribune.com/articles/agde-patrimoine-la-cave-cooperative-dagde-de-sa-creation-a-nos-jours/ Mission Patrimoine du Littoral exhibition in Ilot Molière] It is transformed into offices and apartments in 2021.{{cite web |date=7 March 2024 |title=AGDE - cave coopérative |url=https://www.cavescooperatives.fr/article-32807736.html |website=cavescooperatives.fr}}

Former National and Municipal Police Station is founded in the old building of National Police in the town-center in 2004, the new one is an extension.

And the new establishment replacing the old one in Cap center is open in 2020 (cost 1,2 million€). {{cite web|url=https://www.herault-tribune.com/articles/le-cap-dagde-le-nouveau-centre-de-securite-publique-bientot-en-service/|title=LE CAP D'AGDE - Le nouveau Centre de Sécurité Publique bientôt en service|date=31 October 2020}}{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/societe/un-nouveau-centre-de-police-mixte-pour-la-ville-d-agde-1541761368

|title=Un nouveau centre de police mixte pour la ville d'Agde

|last=Pocher

|date=23 Nov 2018

|website=France Bleu Hérault

}}

The Musée de l'Éphebe was inaugurated in 1987 after a series of clandestine archaeological excavations of the Roman villa in front of the arena, culminating in the first official underwater archaeological museum.[https://www.museecapdagde.com/ Ephebe Museum] Anniversary exhibition 2015

The modernist movement in the town design can be seen in social housing as well as institutional buildings such as retirement homes, hospital and hôtels.(some building dates and architects){{cite web|url=https://www.archi-guide.com/VL/Fra/agde.htm

|title=Archiguide AGDE

|website=site officiel de la ville d'Agde}} During the "Trente Glorieuses", high schools were built for baby boomers, with their stadiums, gyms and swimming pools. In Agde, for example, the historic 1975 Sunflower swimming pool has been transformed into a yoga and gymnastics hall.{{cite magazine |last=D'Ettore |first=Gilles |date=February 2024 |title= Agde le MAG|magazine=Official municipal news magazine |language=fr |issue=122 |page=41|quote=Pop culture and italian based design with plastic and metal.}}

In the 2000s the International Style is associated with wealth, and it appears in new construction sites with glass facades or rhythmically perforated metal facades, this becomes the decided new rule for the appearance of buildings to improve the value of the city with the aim of attracting more prosperous people to live there.

{{cite journal |url=https://journals.openedition.org/appareil/287|pages=39–81, 129

|last=Amy

|first=Sandrine

|author-link=

|date=30 June 2008

|title=Les nouvelles façades de l'architecture

|journal=Appareil

|issue=Numéro spécial

|doi=10.4000/appareil.287

}}

The new municipal and departmental swimming pool L'Archipel, cité de l'eau, is created in 2011, a wooden structure, glass roof.{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.midilibre.fr/2015/10/13/l-archipel-la-cite-de-l-eau-un-voyage-aquatique-en-agde,1226562.php

|title=L'Archipel la cité de l'eau, un voyage aquatique en Agde

|website=Midi Libre

|date= 13 Oct 2015}}

The new Cap d'Agde Center was designed with first its casino and second its congress center. The designer is Jean-Michel Wilmotte (architect), with its twin Spanish-style esplanades (Barcelona) (2018 the first one, 2020 the twins), tall circular buildings with large crenellations on the upper floors plus interior gardens, a new annex of the town hall, a new post office, a new congress centre (architect Philippe Bonon and Hervé di Rosa), a new tourist office, ground floors a shopping area (housing starts from 2020 to 2024).{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.batirama.com/article/50845-la-premiere-tranche-du-projet-iconic-au-cap-d-agde-inauguree.html

|title=La première tranche du projet Iconic, au Cap d'Agde, inaugurée

|last=Wood

|website=Batirama

|date=6 June 2022}}{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.herault-tribune.com/articles/le-cap-dagde-un-nouveau-pole-shopping-de-2-500-m2-au-coeur-du-projet-immobilier-iconic/

|title=Le Cap d'Agde : un nouveau pôle shopping de 2 500 m2 au cœur du projet immobilier Iconic

|last=Greffin

|date=26 Oct 2021

|website=herault-tribune.com}}

Circular Casino Barrière (architect Philippe Bonon), is the first built with the today redevelopment of the Ile des Loisirs.

{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://actu.fr/occitanie/montpellier_34172/projet-ce-que-sera-le-cap-dagde-a-la-fin-du-xxieme-siecle_22390751.html

|title=Projet : ce que sera le Cap d'Agde à la fin du XXIème siècle. REAMENAGEMENT.

|last=Belkacem

|date=15 June 2017}}

The Maison des Savoirs, former Agde high school transferred to Paul Emile Victor school in Cap d'Agde site, is a Médiathèque, it is the transformation of the old school (built in the 19th century), the first phase was designed in 2000 by Denis Milhé, the second phase is that of Philippe Bonon, opened in 2020.{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.midilibre.fr/2019/12/16/agde-le-chantier-de-la-mediatheque-comme-si-vous-y-etiez,8607945.php

|title=La Maison des Savoirs rouvrira ses portes au printemps prochain

|first=Olivier

|last=Raynaud

|website=Midi Libre

|date=16 Dec 2019}}

The theatre, associated with the media library of the Maison des Savoirs has been rehabilitated since 2020,{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.herault-tribune.com/articles/agde-3-jours-pour-decouvrir-le-nouveau-theatre-agathois/

|title=Agde : 3 jours pour découvrir le nouveau Théâtre AGathois

|first=Elodie

|last=Greffin

|date=19 Sep 2022}} the whole renovation of the esplanade starting from the Hérault and ending at the theatre will end in 2024.

{{clear}}

File:Ecluse Ronde Agde 1.jpg|Agde Round Lock

File:Agde - Pont fer01.jpg|Iron frame bridge in the centre of Agde after the Belle Epoque suspension bridge before contemporary concrete bridge

File:Agde Villa Laurens vitrail.jpg|Chateau Laurens glass window with floral pattern in private living room

Vitrail agde.JPG|Stained glass window of the Tourist Office, represents microscopic structure of carbon

Mont Saint Loup Agde 06.jpg|Watchtower over wineyards, known as the "Tour des Anglais" ("Tower of the Englishes"),Sartre, Patrice. [https://www.cairn.info/revue-etudes-2009-3-page-295.htm "La piraterie en mer"] (in French). Études 2009/3 (Tome 410). pp. 295-304. "The fledgling United States fought its first war, from 1798 to 1801 in the West Indies, against the privateers of the young French Republic plundering American merchant ships. Building on the successes of this French Naval War (Engraved on the monument to the Marines in Arlington), the United States will pursue in the Mediterranean the Muslim "barbarians" who negotiated for ransom the merchant ships they had captured and their crews, one of the motivations for the capture of Algiers by France a few years later." current establishment of the Army

Agde - Collège PE Victor01.jpg|High school Paul Emile Victor, 2006, reminding Aztec pyramid (P.E. Victor studied them) in the continuation of 70's pyramidal architecture with brutalism

Cap d'Agde Port passage sous les immeubles reliant les boutiques.jpg|Cap d'Agde Port traboule in the buildings, between boutiques and restaurants

Agde Cap d'Agde passerelle au dessus de la rocade Beziers Sète.jpg|Cap d'Agde iron bridge over road Beziers-Sète

File:Cap d'Agde La Roquille restaurants et sandwicheries à l'aube.jpg|Beach La Roquille, "front de mer" restaurants and sandwicheries, architecture 1970

{{empty section|date=April 2024}}

{{empty section|date=April 2024}}

It is assumed that a Jewish community was established in the town around the sixth century AD. During the Council of Agde, assembled by the Catholic church in 506 AD, Christian laymen and ecclesiastics were prohibited from eating with Jews or hosting them. This prohibition suggests that the town Jews held good relations with their town neighbours. It is also assumed that the Jewish community was never large, since it did not own a cemetery and buried their dead in Béziers, three miles away.{{Cite web |url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/890-agde |title=AGDE - JewishEncyclopedia.com |access-date=2014-10-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306220716/http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/890-agde |archive-date=2016-03-06 |url-status=dead }}

The Jewish name of the city was Agdi, or Akdi (אגדי).[http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-2587500521/agde.html Agde - Encyclopaedia Judaica | Encyclopedia.com]

{{clear left}}

Agde was one of the Internment camps in France, 1936-1946, for the "dangerous people".

{{cite web|url=https://theses.hal.science/file/index/docid/362523/filename/DenisPeschanski_2000_TEL_TheseEtat.pdf

|title=Les camps français d'internement (1938-1946) [Abstract : French Internment camps 1938-1946]

|first=Denis|last=Peschanski

|date=18 Feb 2009

|pages=952

|website=HAL (open archive)

|quote=[facsimile hors ill. & cart., 2000, Thèse de doctorat d’État en Histoire, direction AntoineProst, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, 3 vol., 948 p., bibliogr. pp. 898-948, index.. Num. national de thèse 2000PA010665]}}

"In February 1939, Agde had a population of 9,000 when the army decided to build a camp at its gates to accommodate 25,000 Spanish “Retirada” republicans. When war was declared, they were replaced by soldiers from the Czechoslovak army, joined a year later by workers from Indochina. In May–June 1940, the town welcomed a large number of French refugees, as well as Belgians, Poles and Czechoslovakians, (including Jews), many of whom were interned in the camp."{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.ville-agde.fr/la-mairie/archives-municipales/camp-agde

|title=Agde camp

|website=archives municipales Agde

|date=28 September 2021

|quote="After the Battle of France, the town mourned its soldiers who had died at the front, while concern grew for those who were now prisoners in Germany. At the town hall, Marshal Pétain's regime made its mark, the mayor was maintained and the town council was modified, while living conditions for the people of Agatha became tougher. At the time of the roundup in August 1942, the Agde camp was the assembly point for Israelites from the Hérault region. During these painful days, Sabine Zlatin was present, and obtained the release of around a hundred Jewish children.
When the German occupying forces left, all that remained on the site were the pozzolan paths, which were soon covered by housing developments, but the memory of the people who lived there would live on.
An essential memorial to the town's 20th-century history, the Agde camp monument stands today at the intersection of route des 7 Fonts and rue Jean Moulin, near the René Cassin secondary school. Inaugurated in 1989, it symbolically marks the entrance to the camp and pays tribute to all the nationalities who lived there."}}

During World War II, about two thousand Jews from Germany and Austria were sent to the camp near the town; most were deported on 24 August 1942.{{cite web|url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=GVRL&userGroupName=imcpl1111&tabID=T003&searchId=R1&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=1&contentSet=GALE%7CCX2587500521&&docId=GALE%7cCX2587500521&docType=GALE|title=- Gale - Enter Product Login|work=galegroup.com}}

File:Agde banner Cap d'Adge.jpg

File:Agde terrain de golf vu du Mt St Martin.jpgFile:Centre aquatique de l'Archipel centre nautique Agde 2017 (architecture molle bois lamellé-collé).jpg

The seaside resort of Agde has 14 km of sand for 10 beaches including 15 seasonal private beaches between Grau d'Agde and Port Ambonne.

; Bagnas natural reserve since 1984 : [https://www.herault-tribune.com/articles/agde-une-journee-de-fete-pour-la-celebration-des-40-ans-de-la-reserve-du-bagnas/ Bagnas]

; Boat show for traders since 1999 : [https://www.capsalon.com/ Salon nautique]

; Tennis since 1973 : [https://www.lequipe.fr/Tennis/Article/1973-le-camp-barthes-au-cap-d-agde/931160 1973, le Camp Barthès au Cap-d'Agde]

; Vinocap since 2009 : [https://www.vinocap.fr/ Vinocap]

; Deuch' since 2022: [https://www.herault-tribune.com/articles/agde-marseillan-le-sympathique-rassemblement-de-2-cv-et-mehari-sera-de-retour-au-printemps/ La folie Deuch']

; E-mobility : [https://icisete.fr/evenement/cap-dagde/evenements/salon-e-cap-au-cap-dagde/ e-mobility]

In 1973 "Cap-d'Agde was the temple of the yellow ball in the camp created by Pierre Barthès, before being the Mecca of naturism".{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.lequipe.fr/Tennis/Article/1973-le-camp-barthes-au-cap-d-agde/931160

|title=1973, le Camp Barthès au Cap-d'Agde

|first=Bruno

|last=Garay

|website=L'Equipe

|date=17 August 2018}}

In 1993 the Mediterranean Games began in Cap d'Agde. To celebrate the memory of first 1601 historic tournament in town, in 2001 the city of Agde organised major festivities bringing together all the jousting societies of the region.{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.ville-agde.fr/sports/joutes/presentation

|title=Les joutes, une tradition sur Agde depuis 1601 !

|quote="On the occasion of the arrival of the Duke of Montmorency, Henri I, Constable of France, a sumptuous tournament of jousts was organized in Agde. At that time, the jousts traditionally took place on the feast of Pentecost."

|website=ville-agde.fr

}}

File:Agde joutes - Archives départementales de l’Hérault - FRAD034-2FICP-01137-00001.jpg

File:Le fronton du Racing Club Agathois, en 1929.jpg

Agde has a football club RCO Agde who play at the Stade Louis Sanguin.{{cite web|url=https://int.soccerway.com/teams/france/racing-club-olympique-agathois/5569/|title=France - RC Olympique Agathois - Results, fixtures, squad, statistics, photos, videos and news - Soccerway|work=soccerway.com}} They currently play in the Championnat de France amateur 2.

Agde also has a rugby club, [http://www.rugby-agde.com/ Rugby Olympique Agathois] (ROA), who play in the French Federale 1 competition.

{{clear}}

File:Carte Agde-Urbanisation.svg

Since the 1960 Racine plan for national mass tourism, the town of Agde has been divided into 3 entities: Agde, Cap d'Agde and Grau d'Agde. However, there is only one town with no arrondissements, managed by a single council and a single mayor. Consequently, there is only one zip code.

In 2024, the town's responsibilities include town planning, building permits, social housing, parks, gardens and stadiums, and local roads. Police powers remain the responsibility of the municipalities even if Agde was one of the prototypes of the gathering in the same premises its municipal police, and the national police (2020),{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.midilibre.fr/2020/11/09/a-agde-les-nouveaux-locaux-seront-mutualises-avec-la-nationale-9190206.php

|title=In Agde the new premises will be shared by the police

|website=Midi Libre

|date=9 October 2020

|access-date=12 May 2024}} and that the mayor is responsible for directing and planning emergency. One of the main problems since 2020 is the drinkable water supply on a too old network (1970) that leaks,{{cite web|language=fr|url=

https://www.midilibre.fr/2022/09/01/agde-importante-fuite-deau-sur-le-boulevard-du-soleil-la-circulation-modifiee-10517666.php

|title=Important leak on network

|date=2022}} with the climatic problem of drougth.

The budget for all actions within this framework is provided mainly by local taxes on housing and industrial and commercial activity, (plus the garbage collection tax, for the "Sictom" waste collection center in Pézenas since 2014 for Agde{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.ccomptes.fr/sites/default/files/2023-10/OCR2021-11.pdf

|title=Garbage collection in Agde: a contract signed in 2014

|website=Chambre Régionale des Comptes Occitanie

|date=2023}}).

File:34003-Agde-Sols.png in north-east).]]

Since 2003, an Agglomeration of communities for the administration of 20 communes (with Agde 24,651 inhabitants and Pézenas 8,317 inhabitants (2012) as the main towns) has been founded under the name "Agglomération Hérault Méditerranée". "With a total population of 2,294 permanent residents and around 350,000 in season, this represents a surface area of 371 km2, 20km-long coastline."{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.agglo-heraultmediterranee.net/accueil/

|title=Agglo Hérault-Mediterranée

|website=Official

|access-date=12 May 2024}}

The declared competencies and responsibilities in place of the municipalities of the agglomeration are :

"Agriculture, Quality of life, Water and wastewater treatment, Budget management, Environment, Housing, Leisure and Arts and Crafts (Media libraries, Swimming-pool), Heritage, Public transport (Cap'Bus)."{{cite web|language=fr|url=https://www.lepetitjournal.net/34-herault/2018/12/04/un-guide-pratique-pour-mieux-connaitre-les-competences-de-lagglo/

|title=A practical guide to better understand the skills of the Agglo

|website=Le petit journal

|date=4 December 2018

|access-date=13 May 2024}}

For Agde's old town, an urban contract for social cohesion (CUCS) was signed between the Hérault-Méditerranée agglomeration community and the French government in 2007.

Since January 1, 2018, the law has assigned the block of competencies relating to Water Environment Management and Flood Prevention (GEMAPI) to the agglomeration [and not to town halls]. The territory is particularly exposed to a double risk, of flooding on the one hand, with a rich hydrographic network including the Hérault river and its watershed, and on the other, of marine submersion.

The Agglomération is responsible for the maintenance and monitoring of several urban flood protection dykes in Agde territory.

Developing dry gardens, encouraging the planting of perennials, pruning trees and mowing stadium lawns with the pooling of equipment and machinery: the Agglomération's 100 employees keep public spaces clean. Their job is to clean streets and sidewalks, parking lots, squares and public gardens. I.e, there are 70 km of hedges in Cap d'Agde.

The first project of its kind in France is to irrigate the golf course (a private area). It is materialized with the construction by the Agglomeration of the storage reservoir and a first launch in 2018, avoiding the use of 200,000 m3 drinking water. "Eventually, part of Agde's green spaces will be able to be irrigated by treated water from the "POSIDONIA" wastewater treatment plant".

{{clear}}

Agde is twinned with:

• {{flagicon|ESP}} Antequera, Spain{{cite web|url= https://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:NmIdPynYagwJ:www.femp.es/index.php/femp/content/download/4974/41927/file/070202%2520con%2520EUROPA%2520v2.pdf+ciudades+hermanadas+Antequera+Agde&hl=es&gl=es&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgpqq6OjDbTNRmmHYQAo-Ygy2znCzuWEWpKrqQXrjL-4KqHY5AWOi4bR1Mlf_cUctPJ0FI2WVQBkWRd8QCnaKa27iSzhFoud0nqyZd7SW9kpAbhXAm7wKbq6tIDqgSH6yuHfovY&sig=AFQjCNEn-KhxZifTi7TMhwnBeRL1MJWLbA|title = Spanish local corporations twinned with Europe|publisher = Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces|access-date = October 30, 2009}}

• Cap d'Agde, the main seaside resort of Agde
• {{ill|Le Grau d'Agde|fr|Le Grau d'Agde}}, the Hérault river and seaside resort of Agde
• Ancient Diocese of Agde
• List of traditional Greek place names
• Communes of the Hérault department

• {{cite book |language=fr|last=Camps |first=Christian |author-link= |date=1999 |title=Agde d'hier à aujourd'hui |url= |publisher=les Éd. de la Tour Gile|page=296 |isbn=978-2-87802-357-2}}
• {{cite book |language=fr|last=Monfort|first=Hervé|author-link=|date=1999|title=Agde, un autre regard sur la ville|publisher=Ed DU LYS|page=95|isbn=978-2-951-47320-1}}
• {{anchor|Château Laurens}}{{cite book|first1=Laurent|last1=Félix|first2=Hélène|last2=Palouzié|display-authors=et al.

|date = 15 June 2023

|title=LE CHÂTEAU LAURENS

|publisher={{ill|Le Cherche midi|fr|Le Cherche midi}}

|pages=200

|quote=Laurent Félix, head of the heritage department of the Hérault Méditerranée urban community. Hélène Palouzié, Regional Curator of Historic Monuments.}}

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{in lang|fr}} [http://www.ville-agde.fr/ Agde (official site)]
• {{in lang|fr}} [http://www.villagenaturiste-agde.com Agde has one of the biggest naturist centres of Europe]
• [http://icarus.umkc.edu/sandbox/perseus/pecs/page.77.a.php Richard Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopædia of Classical Sites, 1976:] "Agatha (Agde) Hérault, France"
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930151118/http://www.culture.fr/fr/sections/regions/languedoc_roussillon/organisme/MUSEO-3400302 Recent undersea find of bronzes]

{{Hérault communes}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Communes of Hérault

Category:Massalian colonies

Category:Judaism in France

Category:Languedoc

Category:Hérault communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia

Category:Phocaean colonies