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Denim and craftsmanship

The Musée du Vieux Nîmes and the « serge de Nîmes », then the shopping streets of the Écusson.

Distance
850 m
Walking
12 min on foot
With visits
about 2 h 30
Stops
7
Musée du Vieux Nîmes1Nîmes Cathedral2Place aux Herbes3Romanesque House4Rue de la Madeleine5Rue de l'Aspic6Les Halles de Nîmes7
Map : © OpenStreetMap contributors, tuiles OpenFreeMap

Stops

  1. Musée du Vieux Nîmes

    You are in front of the Museum of Old Nîmes, the Musée du Vieux Nîmes, on the place aux Herbes, right next to the cathedral. The building is the former bishops’ palace. A first palace was begun in 1490 under Bishop Guillaume Briçonnet, and the building you see dates mostly from the late seventeenth century.

    20 m to the next stop

  2. Nîmes Cathedral

    You are on the place aux Herbes, in front of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Castor, seat of the diocese of Nîmes, Uzès and Alès. In the Middle Ages, this square was the economic and religious heart of the city. The Romanesque church was consecrated in 1096 by Pope Urban the Second.

    80 m to the next stop

  3. Place aux Herbes

    You are now on the Place aux Herbes, in front of the cathedral. Go up close to its facade: you will see square holes in it. They were cut so that the street traders of the Middle Ages could hang their vegetable stalls on them.

    60 m to the next stop

  4. Romanesque House

    You are at number 1 rue de la Madeleine, a stone’s throw from the cathedral, in front of the Romanesque house. It was built in the twelfth century, which makes it one of the oldest homes in the city. Its origin remains a mystery: it may have been a residence linked to a priory, or the house of a wealthy townsman.

    0 m to the next stop

  5. Rue de la Madeleine

    You are now in Rue de la Madeleine, a stone’s throw from the cathedral. At number 1 stands a house whose exact origin nobody knows. Was it the residence of a priory, or the home of a wealthy townsman?

    280 m to the next stop

  6. Rue de l’Aspic

    You are now in Rue de l’Aspic, in the old merchant quarter of Les Garrigues. At number 27, look for a detail that many people miss: a carved eagle, set into the wall. Its head is damaged, and it comes from the ruins of a Roman building.

    390 m to the next stop

  7. Les Halles de Nîmes

    You are at Les Halles de Nîmes, the covered market of the historic centre. It opened in 1884, under Mayor Ali Margarot, with a celebration held on 9 and 10 November. The architects John Monod and Félix Beaujouan had divided it into four pavilions.