Faculté de médecine de Montpellier, Medical school in Montpellier, France

The Faculty of Medicine of Montpellier occupies a light beige stone building with a curved facade, its top edge ringed by projecting corbels. Three levels of tall rectangular windows, barred at ground level, sit above a round-arched doorway with dark green double doors and a relief carved "FACULTÉ DE MÉDECINE". Bronze statues of Paul Joseph Barthez and François de Lapeyronie flank the entrance, and a stone plaque to the right shows a sundial inscribed "HILARIUS BARTHOLINUS".

Medical teaching in Montpellier began outside any institutional framework in the early 12th century. In 1181 Guilhem VIII, Lord of Montpellier, granted anyone the right to run a school of medicine. In 1220 Cardinal Conrad of Urach, legate of Pope Honorius III, granted the universitas medicorum its first statutes, founding the university.

The building houses one of Europe's oldest medical collections, showing how physicians passed knowledge across centuries through hands-on study. These spaces were where learners gathered to study the human body through direct observation and practice.

The building sits centrally in Montpellier and is easily reached by public transport. Visitors should plan ahead since tours and access times may be limited.

The Conservatory of Anatomy preserved thousands of wax-modeled body parts that physicians used for teaching across generations. This collection shows a forgotten method of medical learning before modern technology changed education.