The 800th-anniversary faluche, a gift from the medical students, will be displayed in the lobby of the Arnaud de Villeneuve Health Campus. The unveiling ceremony will take place on November 6, 2023. This intangible cultural heritage is being passed down; student tradition has never been more alive than at the world’s oldest medical school still in operation.
Students from the Montpellier Artistic Project (MAP) association invite you to join them in analyzing a scene from Godard’s film *Contempt* during the special exhibition by artist Sylvain Fraysse at the Historic Building of the Montpellier-Nîmes Faculty of Medicine. We met with them to discuss this unique project.
How did this project come about?
The“Camille” project was launched in 2022, born out of a desire among members of the Montpellier Artistic Project to introduce students at the Montpellier-Nîmes Faculty of Medicine to new art forms. The MAP’s 2021–2022 executive board reached out to the Regional Contemporary Art Fund (FRAC) with the aim of creating a joint project, and this led to a collaboration with Sylvain Fraysse, a visual artist, and Céline Mélissent, who is in charge of public engagement and the promotion of the FRAC’s collection.
What does this artistic experience entail for visitors?
The exhibition is a sensory experience of light and sound based on Jean-Luc Godard’s film *Contempt *. The artist uses the Dissection Room in the Historic Building of the Montpellier-Nîmes Faculty of Medicine to “dissect” a scene from the film. In this iconic scene, the director lists the parts of Camille’s body—one of the main characters, played by Brigitte Bardot—in the manner of a dissection. Sylvain Fraysse recreates the scene’s color filters using gelatin sheets on the dissection room’s windows and also splits the film’s original soundtrack into 24 frequencies. In this way, he dissects the very essence of the scene.
What exactly is MAP?
The “Montpellier Artistic Project” is a nonprofit organization under the French Law of 1901, founded in August 2020 by three medical students who wanted to organize artistic activities within the faculty.
Over the past three years, the MAP board has expanded, and we now offer a variety of workshops and activities across our four areas of focus: Applied Arts, Public Speaking, Literary Arts, and Culinary Arts. To this end, we provide materials and introductory sessions for various artistic practices, and we also organize art contests on our social media platforms, as well as a public speaking contest each semester.
You can find us through our mascot, a chameleon named Léon Art, on Facebook and on our Instagram account.
Why is this project important to you?
It is important to us because it allows us to bring the Faculty’s historic building to life by opening a room that has never before been open to the public, and thus gives the association a new boost by taking us beyond our usual workshops. We’ve learned a great deal from this project, and we hope students and visitors will enjoy it. Furthermore, we’re very proud to be part of Montpellier’s bid to become the 2028 Capital of Culture and to be able to contribute to the city’s cultural life. It’s a vibrant experience that brings students together.
What kind of support have you been able to gather?
We had the opportunity to work with Sylvain Fraysse and the FRAC through Céline Mélissent, who served as our primary point of contact during the development of this project. The project was selected to be part of Montpellier’s bid for the title of European Capital of Culture 2028, which allowed us to receive financial support for the exhibition. The TaM supported us by allowing us to install posters at select tram and bus stops throughout the metropolitan area to promote the exhibition.
We also received support from the University of Montpellier (UM) through the Student Initiative Solidarity Fund (FSDIE) and the UM Arts and Culture Department—notably Eléonore Szturemski—as well as from the Montpellier-Nîmes Faculty of Medicine. We would like to extend a special thank you to Dean Isabelle Laffont and Professor Gérald Chanques for their support and logistical assistance.
Practical Information About the Exhibition
Historic Building of the Montpellier-Nîmes Faculty of Medicine
2 rue de l’Ecole de Médecine
34000 Montpellier
Exhibition open to the public from March 22 to April 18:
- Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
- Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Students participating in the guided tours during these open house days, on a self-guided tour.
On Tuesdays, guided tours will be led by students in the master’s program in cultural mediation at the Faculty of Education in Montpellier.
- Tuesday, March 28, and April 4 and 11 at 3 p.m., 4 p.m., and 5 p.m.
- Tuesday, April 18, at 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Additional mediation sessions offered by association members will be announced at a later date on the event’s Facebook page.
The 18th edition of Primavera will take place on Sunday, March 19, 2023, at the Jardin des Plantes in Montpellier. Exhibitions, lectures, and a sale of rare plants will be held there from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
1. A golden opportunity to acquire an exceptional plant
Primavera’s sale of rare plants is sure to delight botany enthusiasts and hobby gardeners alike. Just imagine: being able to admire a little piece of the Jardin des Plantes in your living room or garden every day. Green will be this spring’s top decor trend!
2. A Day of Learning
The 3 talks you won't want to miss:
- 2:30 p.m.: “Plant Nomenclature: From Pre-Linnaean Authors to the Shenzhen Code” by Pierre COULOT, pharmacist and biologist, founder and
president of the Botanical Society of Occitanie, and specialist in the Fabaceae family. - 3:30 p.m.: “The Mysteries of the Labyrinth” by Andrée LAFON. Passionate about literature, theater, and psychoanalysis, she has written several books
that place a strong emphasis on depth psychology. - 4:30 p.m.: “The Restoration Project for Pierre Richer de Belleval’s Intendance and Its Maze” by Professor Thierry LAVABRE-BERTRAND, Director of the Jardin des Plantes.
3. A blend of art and nature
Anne Tassin, a ceramic artist, invites you to visit her exhibition, “Inspiration végétale”
4. Come see the recently renovated Rabelais monument!
Sculpted by Jacques Villeneuve, the monument—dedicated to Rabelais and the pleasures of life—was unveiled on November 6, 1921, by President Alexandre Millerand. The monument was a gift from the students as part of the celebration marking the 700th anniversary of the Faculty of Medicine, where Rabelais studied in 1530.
The University of Montpellier, the Montpellier-Nîmes School of Medicine, and the Montpellier Jardin des Plantes Corporate Foundation contributed to the restoration of this monument.
5. It’s spring!
Who doesn’t love strolling through the paths of the Jardin des Plantes in the spring? It’s the perfect time to see the garden’s lush flora come back to life after winter. Primavera is an excellent excuse—if one is needed—to discover or rediscover the Jardin des Plantes in Montpellier.
Did you know? The Jardin des Plantes is home to many unique features. Among the most recent is a permaculture vegetable garden. Created two years ago on the initiative of Jean-François “Jeff” Fauveau, a member of our team of botanist-gardeners, this permaculture garden is now the winner of the prestigious national vegetable garden competition, organized by the National Horticultural Society of France ! This is a source of immense pride for our Faculty and the teams at the Jardin des Plantes. At the awards ceremony held on November 30, we met Jeff, who told us about this project.
A project born out of post-lockdown reflection
It was in 2020 that the idea of creating a permaculture vegetable garden at the Jardin des Plantes first took root in Jeff’s mind. Intrigued by current events at the time, our gardener had noticed that many people were turning to permaculture as a response to political and economic challenges.
Driven by the Jardin des Plantes’ mission to raise awareness, Jeff hopes that this garden will encourage the people of Montpellier to reconnect with agriculture and take back control of their food. To that end, he is designing his project around plant varieties that are best suited for our balconies, terraces, and gardens in our region’s Mediterranean climate.
A permaculture garden: what’s that all about?
When we ask Jean-François to explain what a permaculture garden is, he responds on two levels:
- The technical aspect: Permaculture stems from practices shared around the world that focus on observing soil chemistry in order to minimize human intervention in the soil and its structure. The goal is to combine specific plant varieties—primarily perennials—to create symbiotic systems, thereby avoiding the use of chemical inputs such as pesticides or fertilizers.
- The value system: According to Jeff, permaculture is more than just a practice; it is based on a value system aimed at “protecting the earth and people, and sharing the surplus.”
All in all, a permaculture garden is a garden designed with sustainability in mind, based on careful observation of biological ecosystems. Cultivated with respect for nature, the seasons, and people, it allows plants to be grown without the use of chemicals.
The permaculture garden at the Jardin des Plantes: a place of plant diversity, open to the public
Launched in 2020, the permaculture garden can be seen in Plot No. 4 of the School of Systematics at the Jardin des Plantes. Covering an area of nearly 200 m², the garden features more than 250 species of plants, all of which are edible. Among the species grown, Jeff tries to balance so-called “classic” plants with more “unique” ones. You’ll find tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, apples, grapes, and corn, as well as Daubenton cabbage, Rocambolle garlic, stevia, peanuts, and bissap. Edible flowers are also on hand to delight the taste buds of even the most discerning gourmets.
This permaculture garden is tended by Jeff, who also works to introduce it to the people of Montpellier through guided tours between March and November. Jeff takes this opportunity to offer advice on permaculture and share the fruits of his labor by giving visitors some fruits and vegetables to taste when the season allows!
An original project, winner of the 2022 National Vegetable Garden Contest
All of this variety and these educational initiatives have undoubtedly helped make this project one of the winners of the national vegetable garden contest!
After submitting an entry in June in Category 4, “Educational Garden or Plot,” the teams at the Jardin des Plantes hosted the competition judges in September for a two-hour visit, during which the judges asked our gardener a variety of technical questions.
A few weeks later, Jeff was delighted to learn that his garden had been selected as one of the 60 gardens in the competition to receive the Grand Prize for the best educational vegetable garden in France!
Jean-François and Emmanuel Spicq, head gardener at the Jardin des Plantes, received the award during a ceremony held on November 30, 2022, in Paris. A source of great pride for Jeff:
“This is a wonderful surprise. I’m very happy—this project and this competition allow us to step outside our usual scope. It gives us the opportunity to connect with other national institutions and reach out to the wider world. I look forward to exchanging ideas with the other participants and winners to take this project to new horizons!”
More to Come on the Garden's Projects
In addition to putting our garden in the spotlight, this contest is indeed an opportunity to develop new relationships—whether for collaboration or partnership—with other gardeners, gardens, and/or institutions and organizations.
“I hope to gain new insights from these discussions that will help me apply permaculture practices to other projects. After the vegetable garden, I’d like to work with other fellow gardeners at the Jardin des Plantes to explore the possibility of creating a new permaculture plot focused on drought-tolerant plants!” Jeff tells us enthusiastically.
The plot, which has already been identified, will be located on the Dunal Dellile hill, another parcel belonging to the School of Systematics. We therefore wish our teams at the Garden the best of luck with this new project, which may provide an opportunity to enter this competition in a different category!
Practical Information:
- Visit the Jardin des Plantes: self-guided tours are available year-round
- Guided tour of the Permaculture Garden, led by Jeff Fauveau: May through November (growing season). Book your free tour here.
A few weeks after our Advanced Practice Nurses (APNs) graduated, it’s now our medical students’ turn to attend their graduation ceremony.
A ceremony traditionally held at the Jardin des Plantes
Traditionally held at the Jardin des Plantes on the third weekend of September, this ceremony gives our students’ loved ones and families the opportunity to (re)discover the school through a private tour of the campus accompanied by our faculty members, before applauding our new graduates!
A rite of passage into postgraduate medical studies
The students attending this ceremony are completing their first two cycles of study (6 years). They are now entering the third cycle and will begin their residency in one of the medical or surgical specialties, either in Montpellier or in other cities.
We wish them all the best in their future careers! Congratulations to everyone!
A few photos
MED 2022 Ceremony -1
Graduates' Speeches
MED 2022 Ceremony -2
The organizers (ANIMN)
MED 2022 Ceremony -3
Visit to the Dean's Office
MED 2022 Ceremony -4
Promotional photo
MED 2022 Ceremony -5
Our professors stroll from the Faculty to the Jardin des Plantes
MED 2022 Ceremony – 6
Guided tour of the Vestiaire Room led by Professor Lavabre
MED 2022 Ceremony -7
A ceremony attended by the university president
MED 2022 Ceremony -8
Every year, the students' families and friends turn out in force!
MED 2022 Ceremony -9
A graduating class has an average of between 200 and 300 students
MED 2022 Ceremony -10
Speech by Dr. Cathala, President of the CDOM
MED 2022 Ceremony -11
Graduates' Speeches
This year, as part of Heritage Days, La Mission Bern, in partnership with the Fondation pour le Patrimoine and the Française des Jeux, will present the Jardins des Plantes team with a check funded by the Loto du Patrimoine! In the afternoon, a program of free guided tours awaits visitors.
The Jardin des Plantes, Selected by the Heritage Lottery
As we learned last March, the Jardin des Plantes was selected by the Mission Patrimoine—a program entrusted to Stéphane Bern by the Ministry of Culture — along with 18 other French sites to receive support from the Loto du Patrimoine. In addition to providing significant national visibility, this program will give the Jardin des Plantes administration a much-needed boost for its renovation, with work expected to begin soon.
To celebrate this occasion, the Jardin des Plantes will welcome a delegation from Mission Patrimoine and La Française des Jeux as part of European Heritage Days. An awards ceremony will take place at 10:30 a.m. this Saturday, September 17, at the Jardin des Plantes. This ceremony, attended by Mr. Lloberes, FDJ Regional Director for the Southeast; Mr. Pradel, FDJ Area Manager for Hérault Nord Aveyron; and Mr. Genet, Regional Delegate for Occitanie-Méditerranée for the Fondation du Patrimoine, will announce the Mission’s support for the Intendance renovation project.
An afternoon filled with guided tours!
To celebrate Heritage Days, our teams of gardeners and teachers are offering—for once—several guided tours. These tours are free and do not require reservations; they are conducted in small groups of 15 to 20 people. Be sure to arrive a few minutes early to secure a spot. If the weather is nice, a bottle of water and a hat are highly recommended!
See the schedule for the day below.
Note: This year, the Historic Building will not be open to the public due to renovation work.
We've talked about it
- France 3 Occitanie: 2022 Heritage Lottery: The Montpellier Botanical Garden Administration Receives 470,000 euros
- La Gazette de Montpellier: Heritage Lottery: €470,000 to Renovate the Intendance at the Jardin des Plantes in Montpellier
- Metropolitan Area: Montpellier. The Bern Mission presents a check for 470,000 € to the Jardin des Plantes
