la Maison Carree

The Splendor of the Augustan Age A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2023, the Maison Carrée is the best-preserved Roman temple in the world. Erected at the very beginning of our era (between 2 and 5 AD), this building was dedicated to the imperial cult, and more specifically to Lucius and Gaius Caesar, the grandsons and heirs of Emperor Augustus. What strikes you upon arrival in the square is its exceptional state of preservation: its thirty Corinthian columns and its frieze of acanthus leaves seem to have survived two millennia without a wrinkle. Contrary to what its name suggests, it is rectangular (the term "square" formerly referred to a shape with right angles). Its architecture, known as pseudo-peripteral, rests on a high, typically Roman podium. This monument is not merely an ancient relic; it is the beating heart of Roman culture in Nîmes. Inside, the cella (the sacred room) now houses a renewed museography and models allowing visitors to understand the history of the monument, from its ancient religious function to its multiple lives (consular house, church, then museum).