Maison Carrée France

Legendary

Built around 16 BC, the temple is one of the best-preserved Roman buildings in the world.

Photo by Brandan Norman

In 1787, Thomas Jefferson stood in front of this temple and couldn't stop looking at it. He wrote to a friend that he gazed at it for hours, like a lover at his mistress.

He had a plaster model made and shipped it home. That model became the basis for the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, which is why an American government building looks like a Roman temple in southern France.

The Maison Carrée sits in Nîmes, which the Romans founded as a colony called Nemausus. It was commissioned by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, the general and close friend of the Emperor Augustus.

Construction is usually dated to around 16 BC, though historians still debate the exact year. It was built as a temple, first honoring Rome and the spirit of the emperor.

Then the dedication changed. Agrippa had married Augustus's daughter Julia, and their sons Gaius and Lucius were adopted by the emperor as his heirs.

Both boys died young, Lucius at 15 and Gaius at 16. Around 4 AD, the temple was rededicated to them.

The bronze letters spelling out that dedication were pulled off in the Middle Ages. In 1758, a scholar worked out what they said by studying the pattern of holes left in the stone.

The name is a bit of a joke. Maison Carrée means "Square House," but the building is a rectangle, nearly twice as long as it is wide.

It survived because it never sat empty. Over 2,000 years it served as a palace for Visigoth kings, a church, a private home, stables, a town hall, and an archive.

Today it's one of the best-preserved Roman temples anywhere. UNESCO added it to the World Heritage List in September 2023.

Climb the steps to the porch and look up at the carved leaves on the column tops. Walk all the way around to see how intact the walls are after two millennia. Then cross the square to the glass-and-steel Carré d'Art, built in 1993 as a modern reply to the temple.

Who was Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa?

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was a key Roman general, statesman, and close ally of Emperor Augustus. Born around 63 BC, he played a pivotal role in the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, securing Augustus's position as Rome's first emperor.

Beyond his military achievements, Agrippa was instrumental in improving Rome's infrastructure, overseeing the construction of the original Pantheon, the Aqua Marcia aqueduct, and other significant projects. He married Augustus's daughter, Julia, and their children were positioned as potential successors. Agrippa's contributions to Rome's military success, urban development, and imperial stability left a lasting legacy.