Maison Carrée & Ancient Nîmes

The most perfectly preserved Roman temple in existence. Built around 2 AD, it inspired Thomas Jefferson's design for the Virginia State Capitol. Across the square is Norman Foster's modern Carré d'Art museum.

What to do there

5 things to do

1. 1 Decode the Message Written in Empty Holes History · Price: low

   The bronze dedication letters were ripped off 1,000 years ago. A scholar named Séguier spent years staring at what was left — and cracked the code.

   In the medieval period, someone stripped all the bronze letters off this frieze, but they couldn't remove the HOLES the letter-pegs had left in the stone. Walk up the steps to the front of the Maison Carrée and look up at the stone architrave (horizontal band below the triangular pediment). In 1758, local scholar Jean-François Séguier spent years studying those holes — counting them, measuring spacing, deducing letter sizes — to reconstruct the entire dedication purely from the pattern of missing letters: 'To Gaius Caesar, son of Augustus, Consul; to Lucius Caesar, son of Augustus, Consul designate; to the princes of youth.' Both boys were already dead when he decoded it. Gaius had died aged 23 in Lycia, Lucius aged 18 in Massalia. This temple, built to celebrate the next generation of Roman power, became a monument to two young men the Empire would never have.

   Backup: If the light is flat, the holes are easier to see with low morning or late afternoon sun raking across the stone at an angle. The audio guide inside mentions Séguier's reconstruction — start there if you want context first.

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2. 2 Stand Where Jefferson Said He Was in Love History · Free

   On March 20, 1787, Thomas Jefferson stood in this exact square and wrote a letter that would shape the architecture of an entire nation.

   Jefferson was serving as U.S. Minister to France in 1787 when he made a detour to Nîmes and wrote from this square one of the most extraordinary things a future president ever committed to paper. Stand in the Place de la Maison Carrée facing the temple — Jefferson stood somewhere here when he wrote to the Comtesse de Tessé: 'Here I am, Madam, gazing whole hours at the Maison Carrée, like a lover at his mistress.' That obsession changed America. Jefferson's design for the Virginia State Capitol — the building that became the template for American democracy's architecture — is a direct copy of what you are looking at right now. He explicitly intended the Capitol to be 'a prototype to be plagiarized' — and Tennessee, Kentucky, and Washington D.C. all followed. Pull out your phone, find the Virginia State Capitol, hold both images side by side. The proportions are identical.

   Backup: The Maison Carrée website and 3D film inside both reference the Jefferson connection. For the actual letter, search 'Jefferson to Tessé March 20 1787' — it's publicly archived at founders.archives.gov.

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3. 3 Watch a 3D Film From Inside a 2,000-Year-Old Temple Adventure · Price: low

   The only way inside the Maison Carrée is to become a cinema audience. The film follows an imaginary Gallic family through the city's transformation from Celtic village to Roman capital.

   The Maison Carrée is now a cinema — not a metaphor, but a 3D projection system running 'Nemausus: The Birth of Nîmes' on a loop. Buy your ticket (€6 standalone, or €11.70 combined 3-day pass including arena and Tour Magne) and enter after watching the exterior frieze holes. You are sitting inside a building with original Roman stone walls, original ceiling proportions, beneath the same roof plan that has existed since Marcus Agrippa built this in 16 BC. The structure around you is 2,040 years old — every architectural decision above your head was made by Roman engineers before Julius Caesar was fully cold. While the 22-minute film runs, occasionally look away from the screen and UP at the walls and ceiling. The stone is the story, not the pixels.

   Backup: The film runs continuously throughout opening hours — no need to time your visit. Combined pass saves money if you're also seeing the arena or Tour Magne. Audio guides available at the ticket desk.

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4. 4 Hunt the Roman Water Router Only Two Cities Have Adventure · Free

   The Pont du Gard was just the bridge. This is where the water actually arrived — the most precise piece of Roman plumbing on Earth, hidden in an unmarked street.

   The Pont du Gard carries the aqueduct ACROSS a gorge, but the water had to end somewhere. The Castellum Divisorium (16 rue de la Lampèze, 15-minute uphill walk from Maison Carrée) is the end of a 50-kilometre journey that took 27 hours from start to finish, dropping only 1 centimetre per 182 metres — surveying precision with no digital instruments. When water arrived here, it fell into a circular rock-cut basin 5.9 metres wide where ten lead pipes — each a different size, calculated to fill ten city districts in mathematically optimal proportions — distributed it across Nîmes. Only two such distribution points survive in the world; the other is in Pompeii. Use Google Maps to search 'Castellum Divisorium Nîmes' (part of the experience — it's not well signposted), find the site, look into the circular basin, and count the ten outlet holes with their size differences.

   Backup: Combine with Jardins de la Fontaine (5-minute walk) — the gardens are built around another Roman spring that also fed the city's water system, completing the full story of how Rome gave Nîmes 40,000 m³ of water daily.

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5. 5 Toast Gaius and Lucius at Their Own Temple Wine · Price: low

   Two boys died at 18 and 23. Their grandfather built them this temple. You can sit in front of it and drink the wine their veterans planted.

   The veterans of the Battle of Actium — the soldiers who defeated Cleopatra and Mark Antony with Augustus and Agrippa in 31 BC — were settled right in this square, their land grants becoming the first vineyards of what is now Costières de Nîmes AOC. Sit at the Carré Jazz terrace tables directly facing the temple's six Corinthian columns. The temple was built in 16 BC by Agrippa himself, dedicated to his sons Gaius and Lucius, who were adopted by Augustus and groomed to rule the world. Gaius died at 23, Lucius at 18 — the temple became an imperial memorial to two boys who never got their chance. Order a glass of white Costières de Nîmes (reclassified from Languedoc to Rhône Valley in 2004) and brandade de morue if you want the IGP pairing no other region can legally claim. Raise the glass toward the six columns — you're drinking the wine of the very veterans who settled this city.

   Backup: If Carré Jazz is closed or too busy, the Musée de la Romanité runs the 'In Vino Veritas' tour for €20 — 1.5 hours, museum tour of the Bacchus collection, then tasting of 3 Roman wines reconstructed from experimental archaeology recipes. Book: +33(0)4 48 210 220.

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Insider tips

• Visit early morning for photographs without crowds

• The 3D film inside tells the temple's story

• Carré d'Art has excellent rooftop views

• Jardins de la Fontaine and Temple of Diana are nearby