"The Maison Carrée de Nîmes is our world heritage"

Jean-Paul Fournier is mayor of Les Républicains of Nîmes.

The France will present the candidacy of the Maison Carrée de Nîmes at the 45th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, next September. A masterpiece of Roman imperial architecture, the Maison Carrée is a dynastic temple built in the first century AD during the reign of the first emperor of Rome: Augustus, and dedicated to his heirs apparent, his grandsons and adopted sons: Caius and Lucius Caesar. By the finesse and richness of its decorations, its large frieze decorated with rinds, the elegance of its fluted columns, the abundance of Corinthian capitals, not to mention the luminosity of the beautiful limestone, this unique monument in the world is a true jewel of Roman architecture. It testifies to this important moment in the history of Rome when the Republic, which became a Principate, set up a dynastic imperial cult to ensure the sustainability of the Empire. The refined architecture of the Nîmes temple thus expresses both the magnificence of Rome's power, but also peace and concord with the advent of a period of stability and prosperity throughout the empire: the Pax Romana; A shared peace that will last for several centuries.

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The destination and function of the temple will remain a mystery for a long time until a Nîmes scholar of the Age of Enlightenment, Jean-François Séguier deciphers the inscription that appeared on the facade of the monument, noting in situ on a trac, the sealing holes of the original bronze letters disappeared. He thus showed the dedication of the temple to the consuls: Caius and Lucius Caesar, described as "principles iuventutis" princes of youth. Historically the name of House "Carrée" has its origin in the Middle Ages; until the sixteenth century it was called a rectangle: a long square. Used over time as a private dwelling, conventual church of the Augustinian convent, consular house, museum of art and archaeology, the monument is classified in 1840 on the very first list of Historical Monuments by Prosper Mérimée, then inspector general of Historical Monuments, who will be the famous author of Carmen, magnified by the opera of Bizet, dear to the Nîmes to be often played in our majestic arenas.

We wish to share this heritage with the whole world and thus continue to keep the Maison Carrée de Nîmes alive in its eternal youth.

Jean-Paul Fournier

Legend has it that Louis XIV wanted to dismantle the Maison Carrée, stone by stone, to install it in the park of the Palace of Versailles. What is certain is that François 1st who had appreciated Roman antiquities in Italy, was the first protector. Featuring prominently in Andréa Palladio's famous architectural treatise, widely distributed throughout Europe from the sixteenth century, the Maison Carrée de Nîmes enjoyed growing success and became a source of inspiration for many neoclassical architects. Across the Atlantic, Thomas Jefferson, then ambassador of the nascent United States of America, was inspired, following his visit to Nîmes, for the Capitol of the State of Virginia in Richemond. Artists, painters and engravers also often took the Maison Carrée as a model, like Charles-Louis Clérisseau or Hubert Robert. Stendhal, in 1854, praised it in Mémoires d'un touriste: "... I have seen more imposing monuments in Italy, but nothing as pretty as this pretty antique which, although loaded with ornaments, does not exclude the beautiful." Alexandre Dumas, who came to Nîmes, was no less laudatory: "... She was so beautiful!! So candid!! So chaste!!" The eminent art historian Pierre Rosenberg recently sent me a few words from a correspondence of Nicolas Poussin, of which he is a specialist, which testify to the attachment of the painter to the ancient monument: "the beautiful girls you have seen in Nîmes will not have you I assure me less delighted the mind by the view than the beautiful columns of the Maison Carrée since these are only old copies of these".

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In an exceptional state of conservation, the restorations undertaken from 2006 to 2010, have allowed, thanks to thousands of hours of work by stonemasons, to reveal all the splendor of the monument. Today, the Maison Carrée proudly faces, on the Roman Forum, the Carré d'Art - Jean Bousquet created just thirty years ago and fruit of the imagination of Norman Foster. The architect was able to establish with the Roman temple a dialogue of rare beauty between these two buildings that 2000 years separate. With the inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List, we wish to share this heritage with the whole world and thus continue to make the Maison Carrée de Nîmes live in its eternal youth.