Maison carrée de Nîmes

Nîmes

Twenty-six metres long, thirteen wide, thirty Corinthian columns of nine metres on a podium of two metres sixty-five: the Maison carrée is the best-preserved Roman temple there is, more complete than those of Rome itself. It was completed around the year 2 or 3 of our era, and we know to whom it was dedicated thanks to a scholar's ruse: in 1758, Jean-François Séguier recorded the fixing holes of the vanished bronze letters of the frieze and reconstituted the inscription, "To Gaius Caesar, consul, and Lucius Caesar, consul designate, sons of Augustus, princes of youth". The emperor's two grandsons, adopted by him, both dead young, were the heirs of the regime; Nîmes, a colony of Latin right that struck coins with the chained crocodile, offered them its temple to declare its loyalty to the house of Augustus. This is the imperial cult in its municipal version, the one that built Roman Gaul. The temple survived because it was always in use: consular house in the Middle Ages, dwelling, stable, church of the Augustinians, seat of the Directoire at the Revolution, prefecture from 1800 to 1807, museum of antiquities from 1824. Listed on the first list of 1840, it was inscribed on the World Heritage list in September 2023.

Wikipédia — Maison carrée ↗

Getting there : Place de la Maison carrée, in the heart of the pedestrian town; underground car parks nearby. Paid monument, open every day, hours varying with the season; combined ticket possible with the arena and the Tour Magne, the whole being managed under a public service concession. The interior visit is short, a trail on the architecture and the imperial cult having replaced the former projection room; it is the exterior that counts, and it can be seen for free, by day as by night.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound