Family trail: the Nemausus treasure hunt

Nîmes Arena

Here you are in front of the Nîmes Arena, a Roman amphitheatre built around 90 AD, probably during the reign of Domitian. The ellipse measures about 133 metres by 101, and stands 21 metres high. The façade lines up 60 arches on each of its two levels.

290 m to the next stop

Musée de la Romanité

Here you are in front of the Museum of Roman History, the Musée de la Romanité, facing the Arena. Opened on 2 June 2018, it was designed by the architect Elizabeth de Portzamparc. Look at its façade: a pleated glass drape whose blades recall a mosaic, answering the stone arches of the amphitheatre.

340 m to the next stop

Place du Marché

You are on the place du Marché, a small square in the Écusson lined with café terraces. In the centre, the fountain features the crocodile, the emblem of Nîmes. Its origin goes back to antiquity: after the battle of Actium, in 31 BC, coins struck to celebrate Octavian’s victory showed a crocodile chained to a palm, a symbol of Egypt conquered by Rome.

440 m to the next stop

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.

190 m to the next stop

Maison Villaret (croquants)

You are now in front of the Maison Villaret, on the corner of Rue de la Madeleine and Rue de l’Aspic, in the heart of the Écusson. The story begins in 1775, when Claude Villaret founded a bakery here making sourdough bread and cakes. It was his son, Jules, who perfected the recipe that would make the house famous: the croquant, an almond biscuit flavoured with lemon and orange blossom.

240 m to the next stop

Town Hall

You are in front of the town hall of Nîmes, between the place de l’Hôtel de Ville and rue de la Trésorerie. The name of this street is no accident: in the fourteenth century, the royal Treasury was built here. The town council only moved in between 1700 and 1703, when it left the place de l’Horloge.

580 m to the next stop

Maison Carrée

Here you are in front of the Maison Carrée, a Roman temple built during the reign of Augustus and completed around the years 2 and 3 AD. It is one of the best preserved Roman temples. It was dedicated to Gaius and Lucius Caesar, the adopted sons of Augustus, known as the princes of youth.

680 m to the next stop

Jardins de la Fontaine

Here you are in the Jardins de la Fontaine, around the spring that gave birth to Nîmes. This karst spring drew inhabitants as early as the Iron Age, in the sixth century BC. In Roman times, a great sanctuary, the Augusteum, occupied the site; the Temple of Diana is a still visible remnant of it.

250 m to the next stop

Tour Magne

Here you are in front of the Tour Magne, at the top of Mont Cavalier. It is the most imposing remnant of the very long Roman wall of Nîmes. But its story begins before Rome: in the third century BC, a pre-Roman tower 18 metres high already stood here.