Nîmes

History

4000–2000 BCE

The Neolithic site of Serre Paradis reveals the presence of semi-nomadic cultivators in the period 4000 to 3500 BCE on the site of Nîmes.

The menhir of Courbessac (or La Poudrière) stands in a field, near the aerodrome. This limestone monolith of over 2 metres (6.6 ft) in height dates to approximately 2500 BCE, and is considered the oldest monument in Nîmes.

1800–600 BCE

The Bronze Age has left traces of villages that were made out of huts and branches. The population of the site increased during the Bronze Age.

600–121 BCE

The hill of Mt. Cavalier was the site of the early oppidum, which gave birth to the city. During the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, a surrounding wall was built with a dry-stone tower at the summit, which was later incorporated into the Tour Magne.

The Greek geographer, Strabo, mentioned that this town functioned as the regional capital for the Volcae Arecomici, a Celtic people. The city adopted the name of a local water deity, Nemausus. The town had a healing spring.

The Warrior of Grezan is considered to be the most ancient indigenous sculpture in southern Gaul.

In 123 BCE, the Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus launched a campaign against Gallic tribes in the area, eventually defeating the Allobroges and the Arverni, while the Volcae offered no resistance. The Roman province Gallia Transalpina ("Gaul across the Alps") was established in 121 BCE, and from 118 BCE, the Via Domitia was constructed through the later site of the city.

Roman period

The city arose on the important Via Domitia which connected Italy with Hispania.

Nîmes became a Roman colony as Colonia Nemausus sometime before 28 BCE, as witnessed by the earliest coins, which bear the abbreviation NEM. COL. Veterans of Julius Caesar's legions in his Nile campaigns were given plots of land to cultivate on the plain of Nîmes.

Augustus launched a major construction program in the city, as elsewhere throughout the Roman empire. Additionally, he ordered the construction of a 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) long ring of ramparts in the city, reinforced by 14 towers; two gates remain today: the Porte d'Auguste, and the Porte de France. Internally, the city was organized around the cardo and decumanus, intersecting at the forum. The Maison Carrée ("Square House"), an exceptionally well-preserved temple dating from the late 1st century BCE, stands as one of the finest surviving examples of Roman temple architecture. Dedicated to Roma and Augustus, it bears a striking resemblance to Rome's Temple of Portunus, blending Etruscan and Greek design influences.

The Nîmes Aqueduct, many of whose remains can be seen today outside of the city, was built to bring water from the hills to the north. Where it crossed the river Gard between Uzès and Remoulins, the Pont du Gard was built. This is 20 km (12 mi) northeast of the city.

The museum accommodates numerous fine objects discovered during excavations in the city and its surrounding area, including mosaic floors, frescoes and sculpture from wealthy houses and other buildings. Furthermore, it is known that the town had a civil basilica, a curia, a gymnasium, and perhaps a circus. The amphitheatre is very well preserved, dates from the end of the 2nd century, and was one of the largest amphitheatres in the Empire. The so-called Temple of Diana, dating from Augustus and rebuilt in the 2nd century, was actually not a temple but was centred on a nymphaeum located within the Fontaine Sanctuary dedicated to Augustus and may have actually served as a library.

The city was the birthplace of the family of Emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161).

Emperor Constantine (306-337) endowed the city with baths.

It became the seat of the Diocesan Vicar, the chief administrative officer of southern Gaul.

The town was prosperous until the end of the 3rd century, when successive barbarian invasions slowed its development. During the 4th and 5th centuries, the nearby town of Arles enjoyed more prosperity. In the early 5th century, the Praetorian Prefecture was moved from Trier in northeast Gaul to Arles.

The Visigoths captured the city in 472.

4th–13th centuries

When the Visigoths were accepted into the Roman Empire, Nîmes was included in their territory in 472, even after the Frankish victory at the Battle of Vouillé (507). The urban landscape went through transformation with the Goths, but much of the heritage of the Roman era remained largely intact.

By 725, the Muslim Umayyads had conquered the whole Visigothic territory of Septimania including Nîmes. In 736–737, Charles Martel and his brother led an expedition to Septimania and Provence, and largely destroyed the city (in the hands of Umayyads allied with the local Gallo-Roman and Gothic nobility), including the amphitheatre, thereafter heading back north. The Muslim government came to an end in 752, when Pepin the Short captured the city. In 754, an uprising took place against the Carolingian king, but was put down, and count Radulf, a Frank, appointed as master of the city. After the events connected with the war, Nîmes was now only a shadow of the opulent Roman city it had once been. The local authorities installed themselves in the remains of the amphitheatre.

Excavations in Nîmes have revealed three medieval graves that represent the earliest archaeological evidence of a Muslim presence in France. Multidisciplinary analyses, including anthropological and palaeogenomic studies of the remains, indicate that the burials followed Islamic rites and date to between 720 and 752 AD.

In the 7th century, the Jewish community in Nîmes grew significantly after Count Hildéric welcomed Jewish families fleeing persecution during the Visigothic period in Spain. This established a long-standing Jewish presence in the city, which later led to the establishment of the first documented synagogue in 1089, located in the heart of the medieval Jewish quarter.

Carolingian rule brought relative peace, but feudal times in the 12th century brought local troubles, which lasted until the days of St. Louis. During that period Nîmes was jointly administered by a bishop, as well as by a civil authority headquartered in the old amphitheater, where lived the Viguier ("Magistrate"), as well as the Viguier's retainers, the Knights of the Arena. Meanwhile the city was represented by four Consuls, whose offices were located in the old Maison Carrée.

Despite incessant squabbling between competing feudal lords, Nîmes saw some progress both in commerce and industry as well as in stock-breeding and associated activities. After the last effort by Raymond VII of Toulouse, St. Louis managed to establish royal power in the region which became Languedoc. Nîmes thus finally came into the hands of the King of France.

Period of invasions

During the 14th and 15th centuries the Rhône Valley underwent an uninterrupted series of invasions which ruined the economy and caused famine. Customs were forgotten, religious troubles developed (see French Wars of Religion) and epidemics affected the city. Nîmes, which was one of the Protestant strongholds, felt the full force of repression and fratricidal confrontations (including the Michelade massacre) which continued until the middle of the 17th century, adding to the misery of periodic outbreaks of plague.

17th century to the French Revolution

In the middle of the 17th century Nîmes experienced a period of prosperity. Population growth caused the town to expand, and slum housing to be replaced. To this period also belong the reconstruction of Notre-Dame-Saint-Castor, the Bishop's palace and numerous mansions (hôtels). This renaissance strengthened the manufacturing and industrial potential of the city, the population rising from 21,000 to 50,000 inhabitants.

In this same period the Fountain gardens, the Quais de la Fontaine, were laid out, the areas surrounding the Maison Carrée and the Amphitheatre were cleared of encroachments, whilst the entire population benefited from the atmosphere of prosperity.

In 1793, Jewish textile merchants who had migrated from Carpentras established a new synagogue, modeling its design after the distinctive synagogues of the Comtat Venaissin. This building has remained the religious and cultural center for the Jewish community of the Gard department to this day.

Nîmes is renowned for the creation of serge de Nîmes, the twill-woven fabric that would later become known globally as denim. This textile innovation later served as the basis for the development of modern blue jeans, patented in 1873 by Jewish-American entrepreneur Levi Strauss.

From the French Revolution to the present

Following a European economic crisis that hit Nîmes with full force, the Revolutionary period awoke the slumbering demons of political and religious antagonism. The White Terror added to natural calamities and economic recession, produced murder, pillage and arson until 1815. Order was however restored in the course of the century, and Nîmes became the metropolis of Bas-Languedoc, diversifying its industry into new kinds of activity. At the same time the surrounding countryside adapted to market needs and shared in the general increase of wealth.

During the Second World War, Wehrmacht troops occupied Vichy France in November 1942. On 22 April 1943, Wehrmacht soldiers executed the Maquis resistance fighters Jean Robert and Vinicio Faïta at Nîmes.

On 27 May 1944, bombers of the USAAF bombed the Nîmes marshalling yards. It was one of the preparations for Operation Dragoon (landing operation in the Rhône delta) that started on 15 August 1944.

The 2e Régiment Étranger d'Infanterie (2ºREI), the main motorised infantry regiment of the French Foreign Legion, has been garrisoned in Nîmes since November 1983.

Archaeology

In April 2024, a collection of glassware dating back to the Roman period was discovered in Nîmes. The collection includes strigils, ornate glass vases, ceramics, a glass paste cup, lamps, fragments of funerary monuments, and amphorae.

Geography

Climate

Nîmes is one of the warmest cities in France. The city has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa), with summers being too wet for it to be classified as a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa). Its slightly inland, southerly location results in hot air over the city during summer months: temperatures above 34 °C are common in July and August, whereas winters are cool but not cold. Nighttime low temperatures below 0 °C are common from December to February, while snowfall occurs every year.

Sights

Several important remains of the Roman Empire can still be seen in and around Nîmes:

• The elliptical Roman amphitheatre, of the 1st or 2nd century AD, is the best-preserved Roman arena in France. It was filled with medieval housing, when its walls served as ramparts, but they were cleared under Napoleon. It is still used as a bull fighting and concert arena.
• The Maison Carrée (Square House), a small Roman temple dedicated to sons of Agrippa was built c. 19 BCE. It is one of the best-preserved Roman temples anywhere. Visitors can watch a short film about the history of Nîmes inside.
• The 18th-century Jardins de la Fontaine (Gardens of the Fountain) built around the Roman thermae ruins.
• The nearby Pont du Gard, built by the Emperor Claudius, is a well-preserved aqueduct that used to carry water across the small Gardon river valley.
• The nearby Mont Cavalier is crowned by the Tour Magne ("Great Tower"), a ruined Roman tower.
• The castellum divisorium, a rare vestige of a Roman water inlet system.
• The Hôtel de Ville was completed in 1703.

Later monuments include:

• The cathedral (dedicated to Saint Castor of Apt, a native of the city), occupying, it is believed, the site of the temple of Augustus, is partly Romanesque and partly Gothic in style.
• The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nîmes
• The Musée de la Romanité, a museum dedicated to Roman history, located outside the amphitheatre

Pieces of modern architecture can also be found: Norman Foster designed the Carré d'Art (1986), a modern art museum and multimedia library, and Jean Nouvel designed the Nemausus, a post-modern residential ensemble.

Economy

Nîmes is historically known for its textiles. Denim, the fabric of blue jeans, derives its name from this city (Serge de Nîmes). The blue dye was imported via Genoa from Lahore, the capital of the Great Mughal.

Population

The population of Nîmes in Roman times (50 AD) was estimated at 50–60,000, and it only reached that number again in the mid-19th century. The population of Nîmes increased from 128,471 in 1990 to 151,839 in 2023, yet the biggest growth the city ever experienced happened in 1968, with a growth of +23.5% compared to 1962.

Culture

From 1810 to 1822, Joseph Gergonne published in Nîmes a scientific journal specializing in mathematics called Annales de Gergonne.

The asteroid 51 Nemausa was named after Nîmes, where it was discovered in 1858.

Twice each year, Nîmes hosts one of the main French bullfighting events, Feria de Nîmes (festival), and several hundreds of thousands gather in the streets.

In 2005, Rammstein filmed their #1 live Album Völkerball in Nîmes.

Metallica's live DVD Français Pour une Nuit (English: French for One Night) was recorded in Nîmes, France, in the Arena of Nîmes on 7 July 2009, during the World Magnetic Tour.

Transportation

Air

Nîmes-Alès-Camargue-Cévennes Airport serves the city, although its proximity with the much bigger Montpellier Airport has worked against its frequentation over the years. It is currently only served by Ryanair with an average of 3 flights per day, to destinations such as London, Fez, Dublin or Marrakech.

Road

The motorway A9 connects Nîmes with Orange, Montpellier, Narbonne, and Perpignan, the A54 with Arles and Salon-de-Provence.

Rail

Nîmes station is the central railway station, offering connections to Paris (high-speed rail), Marseille, Montpellier, Narbonne, Toulouse, Perpignan, Figueres and Barcelona in Spain and several regional destinations. There is another station in the Saint-Césaire quarter, Saint-Césaire station, with connections to Le Grau-du-Roi, Montpellier and Avignon.

The new contournement Nîmes – Montpellier high-speed rail line opened to passenger service on 15 December 2019 together with a new TGV station at Nîmes-Pont-du-Gard station, located 12 km outside the city. The station is also located on the existing route between Nîmes and Avignon, thus providing connections between the new line and local rail service.

Bus

Nîmes bus station is adjacent to the city centre railway station. Buses connect the city with nearby towns and villages not served by rail.

Sport

The association football club Nîmes Olympique, currently playing in Championnat National, is based in Nîmes.

World Archery Indoor World Cup takes place in Nîmes each year in mid January.

The local rugby union team is RC Nîmes.

The Olympic swimming champion Yannick Agnel was born in Nîmes.

The city hosted the opening stages of the 2017 Vuelta a España cycling race, and is often featured as a stage of the Tour de France.

Mayors

• Émile Jourdan, PCF (1965–1983)
• Jean Bousquet, UDF (1983–1995)
• Alain Clary, PCF (1995–2001)
• Jean-Paul Fournier, LR (since 2001)

Notable people

• Emmanuel Boileau de Castelnau (1857–1923), alpinist
• Janine Cayet (born 1943), MEP politician and advocate for disabled people
• Bernadette Lafont (1938–2013), actress
• Jean-César Vincens-Plauchut (1755–1801), politician

Twin towns – sister cities

Nîmes is twinned with:

• Preston, United Kingdom, since 1955
• Verona, Italy, since 1960
• Braunschweig, Germany, since 1962
• Prague 1, Czech Republic, since 1967
• Frankfurt (Oder), Germany, since 1976
• Córdoba, Spain
• Rishon LeZion, Israel, since 1986
• Meknes, Morocco, since 2005
• Fort Worth, United States, since 2019