Maison Carrée
Standing in the heart of Nîmes, the Maison Carrée is one of the best-preserved Roman temples anywhere on Earth — a colonnaded marble rectangle so perfect it made Thomas Jefferson weep with envy when he saw engravings of it. Step inside to watch the short 3-D film that brings ancient Nîmes roaring back to life.
A temple that outlasted empires
Built around 4–7 AD and dedicated to the grandsons of Augustus, the Maison Carrée has survived because it kept reinventing itself — it served as a medieval church, a stable, a private house and an archive before becoming a museum.
The 30 Corinthian columns are original, their fluted shafts still razor-sharp after two millennia of Mediterranean sun. Walk slowly around the podium at dusk when the honey-coloured stone glows amber and the Place de la Maison Carrée empties of tour groups.
What to do once you're inside
The interior hosts a 3-D film, 'Héros de la Gaule', projected onto a curved screen — cheesy in the best possible way, and genuinely informative about the Roman city of Nemausus that once spread across modern Nîmes.
After the film, cross the square to the glass-and-steel Carré d'Art — Norman Foster's contemporary art museum — and appreciate how deliberately it mirrors the temple's proportions from the opposite side of the plaza.
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