At the start of the Reformation in Montpellier, followers of the new faith and converts to Protestantism were buried in the Catholic cemeteries.

But in 1565, the Catholic officials applied to the governor of Languedoc, Henri de Montmorency for securing an injunction against Protestants from using the Roman Catholic cemeteries, and the new law prohibited the burial of Protestants on consecrated ground.

Therefore, Protestants had to bury their deceased brethren clandestinely on private property until the Edict of Nantes granted the religious minorities some freedom which required city administrators to provide the non-Catholic citizens suitable land for their burial in a decent manner.

This first cemetery was seriously damaged during the siege of 1622 and was demolished in 1624 during the construction of the citadel by Louis XIII.

After the closure of their first burial ground, the Protestant community of Montpellier owned two more cemeteries which no longer exist today.