Nimes Museums

Because of its Roman origins you would expect Nimes to be full of fascinating places and museums to visit.  And you will not be disappointed as there is a great selection to choose from. 

Listed below are details of just some of them. 

Further information and much more details about the exhibitions etc can be obtained from the tourist office website www.ot-nimes.fr

 

13 boulevard Admiral Courbet, 3000 - Nimes
Tel: +33  4 66 76 74 80
www.archeo@ville-nimes.fr

Housed  in a former seventeenth century Jesuit College the museum comprises  two historic houses from the Nimoise region which have been sympathetically reconstructed with artifacts from various excavations in their environs.  They feature a Gallic house and chamber of a Roman villa.

Exhibits on display include Iron Age and Gallo Roman ceramics, bronze dishes, oil lamps decorated with figures and motifs, fashion and beauty items, relics of craft activities and an important collection of Roman glassware . Open Tuesday to Sunday 10.00 to18.00.

Place aux Herbes, Nimes
Tel: +33 4 66 76 73 70

Housed in a beautiful Episcopal Palace dating back to the 1700s, the museum is full of antiques, porcelain and every day objects from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 
Admission is free. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 10.00 to 8.00.

Tel: +33 4 66 37 59 99
www.pontdugard.free.fr

The famous Roman Bridge Pont du Gard spans the river and in constructed with huge stones joined without mortar. Consisting of three tiers of arches forming graceful symmetrical patterns, it dates from about 19 BC. It is situated 23km outside Nimes and has its own museum detailing its construction, function throughout the Middle Ages, and role in the architecture of Ancient Rome. There is a restaurant, cafe, and gift shop here.

Open daily from May to September 9.30 to 19.00 and 17.30 during October and February to April.  Closed in January.

Take highway N86 from Nîmes to a point 3km (2 miles) from the village of Remoulins and follow the signposts.

Place des Arenes
Tel: +33 4 66 76 72 77

An elliptically- shaped amphitheatre which is the best preserved twin with the one at Arles it comes more complete than the Coliseum in Rome.  Two storeys high, with sixty arches at both levels, it was built with huge stones painstakingly fitted together without mortar.  It is one of the best preserved arenas from ancient times and once held more than 20,000 bloodthirsty spectators, who came to watch the gladiators do battle and wolf or boar hunts. Nowadays it is used for anything from pop concerts to  dance festivals to bullfights.

Open April-October daily 9.00 to 18.30pm and November-March daily 9.00 to 17.30

Rue Cite-Foulc
Tel: +33 4 66 67 38 21
www.musee.beauxarts@ville-nimes.fr

Nimes’ largest museum contains French paintings and sculptures from the seventeenth to twentieth centuries, as well as Flemish, Dutch, and Italian works from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries. G B Moroni's masterpiece, La Calomnie d'Apelle and a well-preserved Gallo-Roman mosaic are well worth viewing.

Place de la Maison Carree
+33 4 66 76 35 35

Hours Tuesday to Sunday 10.00 to 18.00
The Maison Carrée is a sophisticated research centre and exhibition space with a library, newspaper kiosk and art museum. Its understated design from 1993 was inspired and constructed to complement the ancient monuments nearby. The permanent exhibitions here are often supplemented with temporary exhibits of contemporary art as well as classical concerts.

13 bis Boulevard Amiral Courbet, 30000 – Nîmes
Tel : +33 4 66 76 73 45

Opened in 1892 and housed in the same building as the Musee Archeologique, the Nimes Museum is arranged around  a convent  chapel from the seventeenth century. The prehistory, exotic ethnography and zoology of mammals and reptiles are on display here.

Open Tuesday to Sunday from 10.00 to 18.00