The town of Marseillan was founded in the 6th century and has retained all the authentic character of Languedoc villages. It benefits from a double facade on the Étang de Thau (Thau pond) and the Mediterranean and has two marinas. Marseillan constitutes the last stopover on the Canal du Midi before it emerges on the Étang de Thau at Pointe des Onglous. The covered square is built of volcanic stone from Agde with a framework lined with 17th-century Venetian. The Marianne of Marseillan is the first full-length statue of Marianne in the Republic to have been erected in a public square in France, in 1878.