Water Tower Place Royale du Peyrou. The Place Royale du Peyrou is a large expanse flanked by trees, at whose end stands the Arc de Triomphe in 1692 and the Château d'Eau, a water tower with hexagonal shape, ending in St-Clément Aqueduc-in Boulevard des Arceaux, whose 880 meters long and 22 high offer one of the best nighttime illuminations Montpellier. De la Place Royale comes the elitist Rue Foch, where lovers of big brands enjoy. Montpellier (Occitan Montpelhièr) is located 10 km from the Mediterranean coast, being the capital of the Languedoc-Roussillon and Hérault department. It is crossed by two rivers: the Lez east, and west Mosson, proceeding from the Latin name monspessulanus, the various meanings attributed as Bald Mountain, Mount Hill, Mount spices or stony hill. The town was founded in the eighth century as a dependent of the nearby nucleus Magalona, although frequent pirate attacks pushed the population to move inland. With the settlement of the counts of Toulouse in the tenth century, became an important commercial center, which made it the capital of the Lordship of Montpellier, first under the dynasty of the Guillermos, and subsequently incorporated into the Crown of Aragon after the wedding Peter II of Aragon and Marie de Montpellier in 1204. After the death of his successor, James I, the lordship passed to the Kingdom of Mallorca until 1349, when King James III sold the Occitania the French King Philip IV to raise money in their war against Pedro IV of Aragon, being since permanently incorporated into the kingdom of France. Montpellier was a stronghold of the Protestant Reformation, whose inhabitants, known as Huguenots, actively fought against the Catholic French crown. To break the reformist pretensions, in 1622 King Louis XIII would take after a siege of nearly two years. During the nineteenth century became an active industrial center, which emphasized the production of textiles, metallurgical and food, of which continues to be an efficient producer. The University of Montpellier is one of the oldest of the French republic, founded in 1220 by Cardinal Conrad and confirmed by a Papal Bull in 1289. The city currently has three universities, among which are the most popular among international students to study languages in France. Population: 257,092 inhabitants.