Nîmes: La Maison Carrée. Cathedral.
Beyond are the Theatre and the Bourse, and opposite them [La Maison Carrée], a beautiful specimen of a Roman temple, probably part of the Forum, with which it was connected by colonnades extending east and west. It is 75 ft. long, 39 wide, and 39 high, and is supposed to have been erected in the time of Antoninus Pius. It stands on a platform, and is encompassed by a quadrilateral peristyle of 30 Roman-Corinthian columns surmounted by a plain architrave, scroll frieze, sculptured dentils, and a fluted cornice. All the columns are attached,
excepting the ten which support the pediment. In the area within the railing are mutilated statues and fragments of Roman columns.
Eastward, in the centre of the old town, is the Cathedral [St. Castor], built in the 11th cent., but nearly rebuilt in subsequent times. The most venerable portion is the façade, constructed of large blocks of stone. A delicately-cut frieze, representing scenes from Genesis, extends under the roof. The eaves of the pediment are supported by brackets with acanthus leaves. The table of the third altar, right hand, in the interior, is sculptured in much the same style as the exterior frieze.
Nîmes: Roman Baths. Tourmagne. Fort.
N.W. from the Maison Carrée is the Public Garden, adorned with vases and statues among shrubs and flowers, overshadowed by tall elm and plane trees. To the left are the remains of a temple or fane (called the temple of Diana), dedicated to the Nymphs, built B.C. 24, of huge carefully-hewn blocks of sandstone, and reduced to its present state in 1577. The little of the ornamental work that remains is very much mutilated. Opposite the temple, protected from the troublesome winds of Nîmes, are the [Roman Baths], about 12 ft. below the level of the gardens, the vaulting being supported on small columns, over which rise open stone balustrades. Adjoining is the copious spring that supplies them, as placid but somewhat larger than the Fontaine of [Vaucluse] (p. 65).
From the fountain a road leads up the wooded slopes of Mont Cavalier to an octagonal structure called the [Tourmagne], 90 ft. high, erected before the Roman invasion, and supposed to have been a tomb. It was originally filled with rubble, which was excavated in the 16th cent. in search of treasure. The winding staircase of 140 steps was added in 1843. The view from the top is extensive. Fee, 30 cents.
Eastward from the Tourmagne is the [Fort], built by Louis XIV., now the town prison. On the western side of the fort are the remains of the reservoir, castellum divisorium, which received the water brought by the canal from the aqueduct of the Pont-du-Gard. This canal still brings water to the town reservoir, on the opposite or east side of the fort.
In the year of Rome 788 a strong wall was built round Nîmes, 7 ft. high, pierced with 10 gates; of which there still remain two; the Porte d’Auguste, originally fronting the road to Rome, now at the E. end of the Temple Protestant, and the Porte de France at the extremity of the Rue Carrètérie. (See [plan].)
The ancient name of Nîmes is Nemausus, one of the cities of Gallia