Tour de la Babotte, Medieval tower and astronomical observatory in Montpellier, France
The Tour de la Babotte is a 26-metre tower of light tan, rough-cut stone, one of the surviving towers of Montpellier's 12th–13th-century town wall. A large arched gateway with a metal grille opens at its base; above, a projecting balustraded balcony holds a flagpole, and the smoother upper section, added in the 1740s, has two arched windows and three small square windows near its flat top.
The tower was one of twenty-five towers in Montpellier's late-12th-century "commune clôture" wall. In 1739 the Royal Academy of Sciences received permission from Marshal d'Asfeld to install an observatory; the tower was raised above the balustrade and work finished in 1745. The observatory operated until 1793, then served the Chappe telegraph in 1832 and a pigeon society later in the century.
The tower's name comes from the Babotte district of the old ramparts. Since 1981 it has housed the Fédération d'astronomie populaire amateur du Midi, and today it holds the Montpellier chess club and the Société Astronomique de Montpellier, which keeps the observatory tradition alive.
The tower stands in the historic centre of Montpellier, a short walk from the Place de la Comédie. The vaulted first-floor room reaches 6.90 metres in height and once lodged the Chappe telegraph director. The building now houses the Montpellier chess club and the Société Astronomique de Montpellier, so access depends on their activities.
In 1832 the tower housed a Chappe optical telegraph, a relay in a network of signal stations that sent coded messages across France by movable arms. The tower later served the Société colombophile de l'Hérault, which kept carrier pigeons there at the end of the 19th century.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,899 contributors worldwide.
