~ Nîmes, 17.06.2013 ~

Nîmes is an ancient city close to the Mediterranean. It was founded by Gauls, and later became an important Roman city.

I'm uploading this eight years after my visit, so I don't have much to comment on here. It was a nice place.

Remarkable were the two most well-preserved Roman public buildings of the city. The Maison Carrée, a pagan temple built around the end of the 1st century B.C. under Augustus, was used throughout the Middle Adges as an administrative building. It survived two millennia remarkably intact. In the 2000s it was renovated and restored to its current state.

The amphitheatre of Nîmes dates back to the late 1st century A.D..

Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the end of the gladiator battles it once hosted, the arena was used as a fortress by the invading Visigoths. It served as a citadel to Nîmes's mediæval inhabitants, who turned into a fortified village.

Towards the end of the reign of King Louis XVI, the huts and houses within were cleared out.
Following archeological excavations under Emperor Napoleon III, the then-ruins of the amphitheatre were extensively rebuilt and renovated, and to this day are a venue for sports competitions, concerts and other public events.