Maison Carrée

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Maison Carrée, Nîmes

The Maison Carrée (German: Rectangular House ) in Nîmes , France, is one of the best preserved temples in the area of ​​the Roman Empire .

It was built at the very beginning of the 1st century AD, possibly at the instigation of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa . The temple was dedicated to the sons of Agrippa, Gaius and Lucius , the adoptive sons of Augustus who died young . The inscription with the dedication was removed in the Middle Ages. However, it was possible for the local scholar Jean-François Séguier to reconstruct the inscription in 1758 using the dowel holes in the 30 centimeter high letters. Originally the inscription only comprised the first line in the frieze area of the temple front, but was probably extended by the second line on the architrave in AD 4. It is:

Illustration from the review of the dissertation sur l'ancienne inscription de la Maison-Carrée de Nismes by Jean-François Séguier
C (aio) CAESARI AUGUSTI F (ilio) CO (n) S (uli) L (ucio) CAESARI AUGUSTI F (ilio) CO (n) S (uli) DESIGNATO
PRINCIPIBUS IUVENTUTIS
To Gaius Caesar, son of Augustus, consul ; Consul elected to Lucius Caesar, son of Augustus,
the first of the youth .

The Maison Carrée is an excellent example of a classic Augustan podium temple . It rises on a 2.85 m high podium that towered over the forum of the Roman city. The rectangular base is almost twice as long as it is wide (26.42 m by 13.54 m). The front of the pseudoperipteral temple is dominated by a deep prostyle vestibule that takes up a third of the length of the building. Its ten columns, like the 20 half-columns of the outer cella walls, have Corinthian capitals . Above the three-fascia architrave on the capitals is a frieze with fine reliefs showing rosettes and acanthus leaves . A large door (6.87 m high and 3.27 m wide) leads into the small, windowless cella , the place where the cult images are displayed. This room is occasionally used for art exhibitions these days. There are no remains of the ancient interior.

The temple survives because it was consecrated as a church in the early fifth century, indefinitely after its abandonment. In doing so, he avoided the widespread destruction of the temples that followed the adoption of Christianity as the state religion. It later became a meeting place for the city senators, a stable during the French Revolution and a storage location for the city archives. In 1823 it became a museum. The current name of the building dates from the 16th century. Back then, »carré« still meant »rectangle (ig)« and not like today »quadrat (isch)«, for which »carré parfait« was used. Thus the correct translation of the name is "rectangular house".

The building has undergone a large number of renovations over the centuries. Until the 19th century it was part of a larger complex of adjacent buildings. These were demolished when the Maison Carrée was converted into a museum. This gave the building the prominent position it had in Roman times. The pronaos was restored when the roof was renewed at the beginning of the last century. The current door was made in 1824.

Another renovation was carried out between 1988 and 1992 when the roof was renewed again and the surrounding space was exposed. The outsides of the Roman forum came to light. Sir Norman Foster was commissioned to build a modern art gallery on the opposite side of the square, the Carré d'Art . It contrasts with the Maison Carrée , but borrows many architectural elements from the Roman temple, such as the portico and the columns (made of steel and glass, however). The contrast between the modern and the ancient is softened somewhat by a large number of quotations.

The Maison Carrée inspired the architect of the classical church of the Madeleine in Paris.

literature

Web links

Commons : Maison Carrée  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Acta Eruditorum 1760, after p. 150.
  2. ↑ CIL 12, 3156 .

Coordinates: 43 ° 50 ′ 18 ″  N , 4 ° 21 ′ 22 ″  E