Roman Architecture of Nîmes France

 

Above: Arènes de Nîmes. Below: Maison Carrée

Photos taken in March 2017

Click here for more photos of Nîmes.

I went to Nîmes on March 7, 2017.  I took the train from Montpellier & was there about 3 hours. I liked Nîmes. It was an upscale place. The old town is full of narrow streets with expensive shops in buildings with stone facades. The stone is a light yellow-beige that seemed to glow, even on that gray & windy day. The buildings are not as tall & the historic district is not as extensive as in Montpellier.

The most interesting things were the Roman arena & the Roman temple called the Maison Carrée, or square house. It's rectangular. Both are among the best-preserved Roman buildings anywhere. The arena can hold 24,000 spectators. The temple is large, but not huge. It is amazingly intact, built by the Emperor Augustus & dedicated to his 2 grandsons in 19 BC. The interior had been made into a small theater where I saw a 25-minute film about the birth of Nîmes in the Roman era, a docu-drama with actors playing historical figures, fairly well produced.

The remains of villages in & around Nîmes date back as far as 1800 BC. Nîmes started out as a small, fortified Iron Age village. Sometime before 28 BC the village became the Colonia Nemausus, known because coins stamped with that name have been found. Nemausus was a very local god, apparently not worshiped anywhere else. Nemausus became the capital of the Roman province of Narbonensis during Emperor Augustus' 2nd visit there from 16 to 13 BC

The Arena of Nîmes was built around 70 AD.  It was remodeled in 1863 to serve as a bullring. It is now used for 2 annual bullfights, concerts & other public events. It measures 436 feet long and 331 feet wide, with an arena of 223 by 125 feet. At 69 feet tall, its exterior façade comprises 2 floors of 60 superimposed arches & an attic, separated by a cornice. At the top, drilled stones were positioned so that poles could could support a canopy.  The interior is deeply atmospheric.

The Maison Carrée is extremely well preserved. It is a nearly textbook example of a Roman temple, as defined by Vitruvius in On Architecture, written during the first century BC.  This is particularly interesting because the Maison Carrée illustrates the model for many significant buildings constructed in Europe & America from the 17th to 20th centuries.

The return to classical styles in architecture began with Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). Palladian architecture grew from Palladio's ideas based on the classical temple architecture of the Ancient Greeks & Romans.  Palladianism got its start in Britain during the mid-17th century & then spread to the British colonies in North America.  A famous example is Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia.  I saw that building in the fall of 1973 with my father, an architect.

The Early Classical Revival style developed at the end of the 18th century took inspiration directly from the ancient buildings of Rome & Greece. While earlier styles were also inspired by classical forms, they used architectural details & did not recreate the look of ancient buildings. The Roman Classical Revival & Greek Revival style copied the form of Roman & Greek temples. It recalled the power & influence of  the Roman Empire. Thomas Jefferson designed campus of the University of Virginia using ancient Roman temples as his guide.

The Neoclassical style is common in the United States. It was inspired by the World's Columbian Exposition held in 1893 in Chicago, which promoted renewed interest in classical forms of architecture. Neoclassical buildings have massive columns with classical capitals, topped by a front facing pediment. The arrangement of windows & doors is symmetrical.  The Neoclassical style was most often used for courthouses, banks, churches, schools & mansions.  My own high school was built in this style in 1912.

The Maison Carrée has a single cella (cell or room) & a deep porch on a high podium. The podium of the Maison Carrée is more than 9 feet high. The footprint measures about 87 by 44 feet at the base. The building has 6 Corinthian columns (acanthus leaf motifs on the capital) across the façade, 10 along each side & 6 across the back. The 10 columns of the portico (porch) are free standing, while the rest are attached to the cella.

The temple had an inscription that was removed in the Middle Ages. A reconstruction of the inscription in 1758 reads (in translation): To Gaius Caesar, son of Augustus, Consul; to Lucius Caesar, son of Augustus, Consul designate; to the princes of youth.  The worship of the emperor & imperial family was not uncommon in the provinces. The Temple of Augustus & Livia located in Vienne is similar to the Maison Carrée. These temples show how much local elites invested to celebrate the emperor & his family.

Roman Architecture of Vienne France

Part of the Roman Road

Jardin archéologique de Cybèle

Jardin archéologique de Cybèle

Le temple d'Auguste et de Livie

Le temple d'Auguste et de Livie

Le temple d'Auguste et de Livie. Photos taken in March 2017

The Jardin archéologique de Cybèle contains the remains of a section of the Gallo-Roman city.  There are arcades of a portico bordering the forum area, a wall suggesting the existence of an uncovered room & vestiges of a residential area with houses and terraces.  Construction dates to the beginning of the 1st century AD.

The temple of Augustus & Livy is a typical Roman temple with Corinthian columns, located at the center of the ancient city & still standing at the center of  Vienne.  The temple was dedicated to emperor Augustus & his wife Livy. There is construction from 2 different periods. Only the rear wall remains from the last quarter of the 1st century BC after the rest of the building, probably unfinished, collapsed.  There is evidence of fire.  The rest was rebuilt at the beginning of the 1st century AD.  The temple was originally dedicated to Augustus alone, but in 41 AD the emperor Claudius re-dedicated the building to include Livia, his grandmother.

After the fall of Rome, the temple became a church until the French Revolution.  It then began to have a series of different uses, including library & art gallery in the 19th century.  The temple was later restored to its appearance during the Gallo-Roman era.

This temple is similar to the Roman temple in Nîmes & presumably many other temples in Gaul. These temples are particularly interesting because they are so well-preserved.  They illustrate the model for many significant buildings constructed in Europe & America from the 17th to 20th centuries.

The return to classical styles in architecture began with Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). Palladian architecture grew from Palladio's ideas based on the classical temple architecture of the Ancient Greeks & Romans.  Palladianism got its start in Britain during the mid-17th century & then spread to the British colonies in North America.  A famous example is Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia.  I saw that building in the fall of 1973 with my father, an architect.

The Early Classical Revival style developed at the end of the 18th century took inspiration directly from the ancient buildings of Rome & Greece. While earlier styles were also inspired by classical forms, they used only architectural details & did not recreate the look of ancient buildings. The Roman Classical Revival & Greek Revival style copied the form of Roman & Greek temples. It recalled the power & influence of  the Roman Empire. Thomas Jefferson designed campus of the University of Virginia using ancient Roman temples as his guide.

The Neoclassical style is common in the United States. It was inspired by the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago held in 1893, which promoted renewed interest in the classical forms of architecture. Neoclassical buildings have massive columns with classical capitals, topped by a front facing pediment. The arrangement of windows & doors is symmetrical.  The Neoclassical style was most often used for courthouses, banks, churches, schools & mansions.  My own high school was built in this style in 1912.