Cap d'Agde

Cap d'Agde (French pronunciation: ​[kap daɡd]) is the seaside resort of the town of Agde, France, on the Mediterranean sea in the département of Hérault, within the région of Languedoc-Roussillon. Agde can be reached by TGV SNCF train direct from Paris or Lille whilst the closest airports are Béziers-Cap d'Agde en Languedoc, with direct budget airline services to the UK and Scandinavia, or Montpellier-Fréjorgues. Public transport (taxi or bus) is available between Agde and Cap d'Agde.

Cap d'Agde is one of the largest leisure ports on the French Mediterranean. Development as a tourist resort started in the 1970s before which time the only buildings at the Cap were small houses typically used for weekends by local people.

The Musée de l'Ephèbe houses the bronze nude statue known as "l'Ephèbe d'Agde" ("the Youth of Agde"). The statue was discovered in the River Hérault and was housed in the Louvre Museum prior to suitable facilities being made available in Cap d'Agde to house it.

Agde

Agde (French pronunciation: ​[aɡdə]; Occitan: Agde [ˈadde, ˈate]) is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France. It is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi.

Location

Agde is located on the River Hérault, 4 kilometres (2 miles) from the Mediterranean Sea, and 750 kilometres (466 miles) from Paris. The Canal du Midi connects to the Hérault at the Agde Round Lock ("L'Écluse Ronde d'Agde") just above Agde and flows into the Mediterranean at Le Grau d'Agde.

History

Foundation

Agde (525 B.C.) is one of the oldest villages in France, right behind Béziers (575 B.C.) and Marseille (600 B.C.). Agde (Agathe Tyche, "good fortune") was a 5th-century BCE Greek colony settled by Phocaeans from Massilia. 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 doubtless been on their way to a villa in Gallia Narbonensis when they were lost in a shipwreck.