The Maison Carrée stands in the center of historic Nîmes, one of the best preserved temples to be found anywhere within the territory of the former Roman Empire. The temple was built in 16 BC by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, the original patron of the Pantheon in Rome.  It was dedicated between  the years 2 and 5 BC to his two sons: Gaius Caesar and Lucious Casesar, adopted heirs of Augustus, both of whom died young. The inscription to these two youths had been removed from the temple during the Middle Ages, but a scholar, Jean-François Séguier reconstructed the inscription in 1758. He was able to reconstruct the inscription based on the order and number of the holes in the portico’s façade, to which the bronze letters had been affixed by projecting tines. According to Séguier’s reconstruction, the text of the dedication read (translated) “To Gaius Caesar, son of Augustus, Consul; to Lucius Caesar, son of Augustus, Consul designate: to the princes of youth”. The temple probably remained standing as it was rededicated as a Christian church in the 14th century. The building subsequently became a meeting hall for the city’s consuls, a canon’s house, a stable for government-owned horses during the French Revolution, and a storehouse for the city’s archives. In 1823, it became a museum. It’ s French name derives from the archaic term, carré longue, literally meaning “long square” or oblong, a reference to the building’s shape. The building has undergone extensive restoration over the centuries. When the Maison Carrée became a museum in 1821-1907. the buildings adjoining it were demolished, bringing the temple building back to the isolation it would have originally enjoyed in Roman times. Between 1988 and 1992, the building was further restored with a new roof. The square around it was cleared, revealing the outlines of the forum.  The building inspired both the Église de la Madeleine in Paris and the Virginia State Capitol in the United States of America. The latter building was designed by Thomas Jefferson, who had a stucco model made of La Maison Carrée when he was minister to France in 1785. The building is a perfect example of Vitruvian architecture in its most classic mode. Raised on a 2.85 meter/9.35 foot podium, the temple would have dominated the forum in the Roman city. It’s rectangle measures almost twice the width in length and its façade is dominated by a deep portico, almost one-third the building’s length. A door 6.87 meters/22 feet high by 3.27 meters/10.72 feet wide leads to an interior where the shrine was originally housed. When Henry and I visited, a film entitled Heros of Nîmes by Bruno Monnier for Culturespace was showing in the theater now housed inside.

PHOTOS: Left Column: Various views of the Roman temple, c. 16 BC. Center, Top: Façade, La Maison Carrée Center, Bottom: Photo from the poster advertising the Culturespace film: Heros of Nîmes, shown inside the temple. Right Column: Detail of the door to the temple.

JOURDAN ARPELLE-ZIEGLER                                        BACK TO MAP  PAGE