Mezon Carre Temple

Maison Carre, or, as it is also called, "square house" - known not only in Nimes monument of antiquity. This ancient Roman temple is one of the best preserved ancient buildings in the world. To this day, it has been preserved almost in its original form, except for small alterations.

The temple, built in 2-5 AD, was dedicated to the Roman emperor Octavian Augustus, as well as his two young grandchildren - Lucius and Gaius. The last circumstance, scientists were able to establish not immediately - bronze letters, which formed the inscription was destroyed by barbarians in the Middle Ages. However, in 1758, the researcher Jean-François Seguier carefully copied the location of the holes from the nails, with which the letters were attached to the marble, and unraveled the resulting "rebus", reconstructed the inscription.

The fate of the Mezon Carre can be called happy - in the Middle Ages it was not dismantled or rebuilt, like most Roman buildings. This is due to the fact that within its walls the residence was placed by the judicial assembly, which carefully guarded its property. In the period from the XI to the XVI century, the temple was used as a city hall. Then it was both a stable and a chapel at the Augustinian monastery. In the XIX century, the first attempt was made to return the original appearance of the building "Meson Carre". In 1823, the exposition of the Museum of Antiquities of Nimes moved here, and nowadays various exhibitions are held here.