The St. Peter Church of Bessan, 20 km east of Beziers, was built in the early twelfth century after a first former building, in poor condition, was given to the abbots of La Chaise-Dieu. However, the latter having just completed the apse in a style decidedly Auvergne (it was composed of five sides with columns, half-round) that the monks of the Abbey of Saint-Thibéry (a few km north of Bessan), who received tithes, showed their discontent. A trial began which lasted forty years, the abbots of Saint-Thibéry being given in the end the right to "recover" the church and therefore to complete the job.
This is why the tower is later (XIV) and the various chapels were added from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century. In terms of the aisle, narrow Romanesque windows were enlarged in the eighteenth century and the nineteenth with stained glass workshop of Master Louis Gesta of Toulouse.
More recently, during restoration work in 1993, the original frame including having carved beams at the ends of human heads were unearthed. It was hidden from the realization in 1760 of a brick arch.
Finally, note that the romantic style organ dates from the nineteenth century and the wooden belfry of the church tower was restored in 2004. It houses a bell cast in 1388, considered the oldest in the Hérault department.
The church Bessan to the unique history is protected as historical monuments. To visit during a step in this locality heritage interest and close to the coast. Information +33 4 67 00 81 81.
