Louis XIV whose statue you can still admire in the 'Peyrou' garden made Montpelier the administravive capital of the 'Haut-Languedoc'. The XVII and XVIII century were times of great architectural changes with famous architectes such as Daviler and the Giral family redisigning the town.

They built the Peyrou, the Esplanade and many fountains. Many private residences and churches (Saint Denis) were also built buy highly placed civil servants and merchants during this period.


During the XIX century viticulture developed at an increased pace. The cashflow produced by it enabled the city to build the Palais de Justice (Court), the train station, various new churches (Saint Anne and Saint Roch) and rebuild the theatre. The viticulture still prosperous today in the region also had its dark hours as a consequence of surproduction and Phylloxera.


The town of Montpellier in the 20th sees a major growth in its population with the arrival of the first Pieds Noirs coming back from Algeria and then, at the end of the century the town expended by building new industries around the town center. The Paillade quartier was built as a result of the expending population.
Major renovating works took place in the old districts and new residential areas were built emphasing the new caracter of the city.

The Antigone district starts at the 'Place de la Comedie' and the mall le 'Polygone' to join the new Hotel de Region. It is a modern district inspired by roman architecture, and the follows the Port Marianne district along the river Lez.

In order to develop Montpellier's economic dynamism five major activity poles were created. Euromedicine which is home to many research labs, Agropolis for the food-industry,Athena for the audio visual industry which highly develops these days, Héliopolis for the development of tourism and culture which are crucial in Languedoc and finally a computer sciences pole developped whith the help of Dell industry.


Nowadays Montpellier is the region's administrative, economic and cultural capital.