Tag Archive for: 800 years
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.
As the final official event marking the Faculty’s 800th anniversary, the Symposium of the Montpellier Academy of Sciences and Letters will focus on the theme “Medicine and Humanism.” This article includes the program for this event, which is open to everyone upon presentation of a health pass.
Practical Information
The conference is free and open to the public. Admission is free, subject to availability. It will be held in the Rabelais Room, 27 Boulevard Sarrail in Montpellier (Tram 1-2, Comédie stop).
Conference Program
The Montpellier Academy of Sciences and Letters is organizing a two-day symposium on the theme “Medicine and Humanism,” which will be explored from multiple perspectives: historical, ethical, social, and environmental.
As part of the 800th anniversary of the Faculty of Medicine, in partnership withthe National Academy of Surgery, we will host the Academy of Surgery’s annual conference at our Arnaud de Villeneuve campus.
A symposium organized to mark the 800th anniversary of the School of Medicine.
Members of the National Academy of Surgery will meet to discuss the role of robotics and AI in 21st-century surgery and to explore the future of surgical training. A tribute will be paid to François de Lapeyronie, one of the founding fathers of modern surgery and founder of the Royal Academy of Surgery.
Conference Program, October 21, 2021, at the Historic Building
Conference Program, October 22, 2021, at the Arnaud de Villeneuve Campus
As part of the 800th anniversary celebrations of the Faculty of Medicine, in partnership with the Occitanie Center for Ethical Reflection and under the patronage of the National Academy of Medicine, we will host the symposium “Man Facing Science” at our Arnaud de Villeneuve campus.
A symposium organized to mark the 800th anniversary of the School of Medicine.
Health and healthcare are evolving, and ethical and societal questions are emerging.
Topics such as the ethical issues surrounding predictive biotechnologies, innovation in the context of a health crisis, and ethical guidelines for innovation in neuroscience will be addressed at this symposium, organized in partnership with the Occitanie Regional Ethics Center.
Open to everyone (free registration required), this event will welcome members of the Academy of Sciences as well as the National Academy of Medicine, which is sponsoring the event.
Conference Program, October 7, 2021, on the ADV campus
You probably already know this: the Jardin des Plantes is a unique place in Montpellier to relax. But did you know that it’s also a place for discovery and exchange? The gardeners and botanists take this role to heart and organize numerous events throughout the year to help you discover the garden from this perspective. This is particularly true right now with“Summer Tours.”Finally, the Jardin des Plantes serves an educational purpose year-round—a mission that’s really taking off, reconnecting with its roots (teaching botany) while using the goals and tools of today’s world. To reinforce this educational aspect, one of our staff members, Denis Nespoulous, has created “connected trails” to let you discover the garden as you’ve never seen it before!
The Origins of the Connected Trails at the Jardin des Plantes
The trail called “SMART BOTA” was created in 2018 for the Tela Botanica association’s introductory MOOC on botany.
This association, founded in 1999 and comprising a broad network of French-speaking botanists, aims to:
- to promote the exchange of information among botanists,
- facilitate projects using digital tools,
- produce copyright-free data on flora,
- raise awareness and provide training in botany.
What are "connected trails"?
The “Connected Trails” are information sheets available to everyone and spread across several routes. They can be accessed via a QR code using a smartphone or tablet. These allow you to explore the garden’s treasures at your own pace. The four different routes are posted at the entrance to the Jardin des Plantes: simply follow the guide, or—if you prefer—lose yourself in the paths.
These botanical fact sheets provide a variety of information about the plant you scan, such as a description, its uses, and its habitat. It’s a fun and engaging way to learn more about the flora around us!
The Garden's Five Connected Paths
For now, there are five connected trails within the Jardin des Plantes. These may change over time thanks to your collaboration.
The SMART’BOTA Trail
The second connected trail at the Jardin des Plantes in Montpellier—and the first with an educational focus—it was created in 2018 for Tela Botanica’s introductory MOOC on botany of which Denis serves as the course coordinator. The course is designed to introduce enthusiasts to botany. It features about sixty species and introduces you to the main plant families.
The SMART’PHARMA Trail
An extension of the first “SMART’BOTA” trail; this trail was created for students at the Montpellier School of Pharmacy. In fact, a wide variety of plants can be used for therapeutic and medicinal purposes. This trail allows students students to combine the theoretical aspects of their courses with practical ones by directly observing the plants within the Garden. This educational trail is also accessible to everyone. It features approximately sixty plant species.
The "Notable Trees" Trail
This trail, created in 2014, is the oldest trail in the Jardin des Plantes. It allows you to discover all the secrets of the Jardin des Plantes’s tall trees. It’s also the only trail you can explore without your smartphone, as it features information panels, but feel free to scan the QR codes embedded in the panels to unlock all the secrets of botany! This interactive trail features 25 tree species selected from among the garden’s most remarkable and oldest trees.
The HERBES FOLLES Trail
This trail, created for Tela Botanica’s “Herbes Folles” MOOC (the second edition is scheduled for this fall!), aims to help you rediscover these plants that are pejoratively referred to as “weeds.” They, too, have their benefits, and beyond their drawbacks—which we certainly won’t deny—they also play an important role in our environment. The wild plants in the garden invite you to reflect on issues of biodiversity. This tour will help you see these “weeds” in a new light…
The " OBSERVATOIRE DES SAISONS" Trail
The last trail is somewhat unique, as it is itself connected to a citizen science. Get involved in this CNRS program by observing the 12 species along the trail. Its goal is also to raise awareness about global warming by introducing us to phenology (the observation of periodic events, in this case involving plants). At the entrance to the Jardin des Plantes, you can ask for a form specially designed for you to record your observations. This data will help scientists better understand and monitor climate change and its associated challenges.
And for those who are curious, check out the app
If you’d like to explore Montpellier’s Jardin des Plantes further using digital tools, you can download the SMART’ FLORE app on all your Android devices. The app offers:
- Trails near you
- Plants geolocated to the nearest meter
- Access to all the botanical profiles created as part of this collaborative project
As part of the 800th-anniversary celebrations, a photography exhibition will take place from July 10 to October 10. Curated by renowned photographer CédricMATET, it will be held at the Jardin des Plantes. In 2020, this photographer also curated the exhibition “Behind the Masks,” whichfeatures200 portraits of medical personnel.
Practical Information
“People in Their Gardens”
The title of the exhibition is fundamentally linked to itscontent. In fact, for this exhibition, the artist chose to work with anatomical specimens from the Faculty’s anatomy museum. To better understand his project, we interviewed the photographer.
What is your background?
I’m originally fromSète. I attended a design school in Montpellier that is now called ESMA. After that, I enrolled at the Gobelins School of Visual Arts in Paris. Later, I went back to school to earn a master’s degree in Urban Planning and Sustainable Development because I’m interested in cities. In the meantime, I’ve been working in art direction and design at various communications agencies.
What interests me is connecting art to the city, to maps, to cartography, and to people. In my view, an artist must be rooted in their context: urban, political, and human.
Can you tell us about the “Behind the Masks” project?
It was GéraldCHANQUES, a professor at the faculty and a doctor atSaint EloiHospital, who contacted me and proposed this project. I wanted to convey a vision ofwhat healthcare providers and their commitments can be.
How would you describe yourself?
If I had to define myself and my work, I would talk abouttransdisciplinarity. I am a photographer, but I’m also a visual artist; I enjoy working with a variety of materials and collaborating with people from different fields.
Can you tell us about your new exhibition, “Man in His Garden”?
It’s been an idea of mine for quite some time to explore the Jardin des Plantes, but I have a real passion for the anatomy museum, which I visited when I was a student. Being able to talk about botany through the garden, but also about humanity and research on the human body—I think that’s fabulous. The project was a collaboration between the two of us, once again with ProfessorCHANQUES.
This project is interesting becauseit takes me out of my comfort zone;I usuallytake portraits, but that’s not the case here.
Furthermore, since all the rooms are designated as historic landmarks, I have a special relationship with the curator. She’s the third subject of this project—I can’t work without her. Usually, I direct my model,but here I can’t because of the piece’s fragility—every movement must be carried out by the curator.
It’sinteresting becausethe artwork and the garden exist independently of me.
There are three of us working on this project: Jane, who creates digital art and is a videographer; Luc, who does motion design, among other things; and me, who works with visuals and handles the artistic direction for the whole project. None of us knows what the final result will be.
How did you choose the anatomical structures?
I first sought advice from ProfessorCHANQUES and the curators to find out which pieces are emblematic of the conservatory. I didn’t choose the pieces based on their aesthetic appeal, since the goal of this exhibition is to tell a story and convey meaning.
The only exception to this is a bust we found—no one knows the identity, history, or era of the person it depicts. I found it fragile and touching, so I decided to include it. It’s the only piece I selected based on a gut feeling.
There are some pieces that,unfortunately, we were unable to include because of their fragility. I was also drawn to other pieces, but they didn’t depict the human body and therefore strayed from the subject. I’ll explore those later for another, more personal project.
Some pieces are also too heavy to move. However, that is part of the exhibition’s story.
For some pieces that we couldn’t bring out to the Jardin des Plantes, we brought the Jardin to them by using branches and foliage.
One hundred years ago, students from the Montpellier School of Medicine unveiled works of art in the Jardin des Plantes and its historic building to celebrate the 7th centennial. To recreate this symbolic gesture on the occasion of the 800th anniversary, a nonprofit organization was founded by current students in 2019.
The Founding of an Association
To carry out this project,the Association Carabine Montpelliéraine (ACM) and the Languedoc-Roussillon Interns’ Union (SIRL) have joined forces to createthe Association for a Historic Ceremony for Montpellier Medical Students (ACHEMM). The association consists of 19 members and is chaired by Allan Guilliey, a fourth-year medical student. The association’s goal is to bring the project to fruition, from concept to completion, including identifying the artists who will exhibit their works at the new Arnaud de Villeneuve Campus.
An event redesigned in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
Originally, this exhibition was to be launched with a gala organized by ACHEMM students. Numerous European institutions were to be invited to the event in late 2020, and the association had the opportunity to address the COIMBRA Group conference, initially scheduled for June 2020. Founded in 1985, this group aims to bring together and promote excellence among European universities, with a view to sustaining their high standards of teaching, research, and academic mobility on an international level, while fostering unique cultural ties.
Unfortunately, due to health restrictions that have forced a rethinking of the event, an opening reception for the exhibition will take place in July 2021 to showcase the students’ work.
A colossal undertaking
To carry out this project, the students in the association had to invest a great deal of their time and energy. To exhibit meaningful works, the students issued a call for submissions to local artists. About twenty artists submitted their work; the students then selected thirteen of them based on which pieces seemed artistically most suited to the project.
Next, the association’s members had to approach local governments to secure funding to pay the artists. These institutions were invaluable in helping to bring this project to fruition.
Ultimately, a tremendous amount of organizational work was carried out over the course of these two years to showcase this exhibition and, through it, the history of the Faculty.
Transmission as a common thread
The theme of this exhibition is transmission. Indeed, in 2017, the 800-year-old Faculty expanded with a new, state-of-the-art campus: the Arnaud de Villeneuve Campus. The works in this exhibition bridge the gap between these two sites, combining the classical with the modern, and realism with abstraction, to represent both places and, through them, both eras.
The centerpiece of this exhibition, created by Nicolas Daubanes, is, in fact, a DNA molecule—a reminder that, even though the Faculty is spread across different sites, all of these campuses share the same DNA and are part of its history.
Artists and Their Works
Visit the exhibition
Guided tours will be offered on Saturday, July 10, and Sunday, July 11, starting at 2:00 p.m. They will be conducted in accordance with public health guidelines. Registration is required:
The association would like to thank all of its partners (the DRAC, the FRAC, the Hérault Department, the Occitanie Region, Pumkin, the CROUS, the University of Montpellier, the Montpellier Metropolitan Area, and the City of Montpellier) for their support, as well as Professor Gérald CHANQUES and the faculty departments that worked to ensure the smooth running of this project.
In 2016 and 2018, Ms. Barjon and Ms. Blanc, daughters of former Dean Gaston Giraud, bequeathed their father’s archives to the University of Montpellier. Thanks to these archives, we are now able to present an exhibition on the evolution of the Faculty’s various buildings and sites since its 700th anniversary, commemorated in 1921.
An exhibition divided into several sections
This exhibition, organized by the University of Montpellier’s Archives Department (Sophie Dikoff, Antoine Redouly, and Gwendoline Perrault) in collaboration with Ms. Barjon and Professor Dedet—and with the special participation of Dean Jacques Bringer, Professor Daniel Jarry, and Mr. Serge Caminade—will focus on the evolution of the various buildings and sites that make up the Faculty: the Historic Building, the Institute of Biology, the extensions in Nîmes and on the northern site of Montpellier (the UPM and the Arnaud de Villeneuve campus building), and finally the Jardin des Plantes.
Dive into the archives
Thanks to donations from the family of former Dean Giraud, this exhibition features a wealth of photographs. You can admire photos of the old buildings and gain an appreciation of how their architecture has evolved over time. The exhibition also showcases other documents that shed light on the buildings’ development, such as architectural plans, handwritten letters, and postcards…
A large-scale project
To mark the occasion, we spoke with Sophie Dikoff, the archivist in charge of this exhibition, to learn how it was put together.
Could you tell us about your job?
My role as an archivist at the University of Montpellier is to assist all departments in managing their archives in accordance with current legislation governing public archives. I carry out this work in collaboration with the Hérault Departmental Archives, which provides scientific and technical oversight. Archives serve as a record of changes—whether architectural, societal, or otherwise…
Where do the archival materials in this exhibition come from?
Most of these items come from donations by Dean Giraud’s family. Indeed, the dean kept many documents related to his various projects—both in his capacity as dean of the Montpellier School of Medicine and in his personal capacity, as someone with a passion for the history of medicine and the Montpellier School of Medicine. The remaining archival materials come from the University’s image collection, the University’s photo library, and the photo library of the Conference of University Presidents, which were supplemented by photographs taken specifically for the exhibition.
How long did it take you to prepare this exhibition?
The exhibition was originally scheduled to take place in October 2020, but due to health restrictions, we had to postpone it. So I’ve been working on this project since around the beginning of 2020. The process is very time-consuming, as it first requires conducting research to understand the various aspects of the subject (searching archives, reading, meeting with subject matter experts), selecting the most interesting documents, obtaining permission to use photos in accordance with copyright laws, writing texts, and determining a visitor route. For the exhibition design, we enlisted the help of a professional exhibition designer, André Dumonnet. For this exhibition, the approach was to organize the presentation by building and then in chronological order. One panel presents a timeline covering all buildings and sites combined.
An exhibition open to everyone
The exhibition, which will run from June 18, 2021, at 1:30 p.m. to July 21, 2021, at 6:00 p.m., is free of charge. Self-guided tours will be available Wednesday through Friday from 1:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with guided tours on Saturdays from 1:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
The celebration of our Faculty’s 800th anniversary continues with a new, fun-filled event! Join the team at the Manoir du Crime on Saturday, June 5, and Sunday, June 6, for unforgettable evenings full of thrills…
A Full-Scale Investigation
This historic building will be the setting for a life-size game. Fans of Cluedo and mystery shows, put on your best detective outfit to solve the mysteries of theTroupe du Manoir!
The year is 1806. Gabriel Prunelle is traveling the roads of the Empire, gathering a large collection of books to build a one-of-a-kind library.
But meanwhile, in Montpellier, something sinister is brewing at the university. One of the books acquired by Mr. Prunelle is at the center of a macabre discovery.
Will you be able to get to the bottom of this story?
This “Soirée du Crime” marks the return of the Manoir du Crime Association after several months of anticipation.
And the Manoir Troupe is celebrating its return in partnership with the University of Montpellier and the School of Medicine.
To mark the faculty’s 800th anniversary, we are once again delighted to welcome you to the prestigious setting of the anatomy amphitheater in the historic building located across from the Jardin des Plantes.
A demonstration in compliance with public health guidelines
We want to ensure you have a wonderful evening in an incredible setting while adhering to health guidelines, so here are the rules to follow:
– Masks are required for everyone, including members of the Troupe.
– Hand sanitizer will be available. Please feel free to use it.
– Teams of 6 players will be formed to comply with the current “Rule of 6”
– Teams will be spread out throughout the auditorium to ensure social distancing
– The evening’s “assistants” (members of the Troupe du Manoir) will wear gloves when handing out event materials.
– Part of the evening will take place outdoors, in the main courtyard.
An event requiring registration
Two sessions are offered:
- Saturday June 5, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
- Sunday June 6, from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Flat rate: €20
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