Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Gardens of the Fountain are organized around a source venerated since antiquity, long before the arrival of the Romans. This site, occupied from the Iron Age (VIth century B.C.), became a major district of the Gallo-Roman Nîmes with the construction of a vast cultural ensemble, the Augusteum, dedicated to Emperor Augustus. The remains still visible today, such as the temple of Diane and the Magne Tower, bear witness to this lavish period when the sanctuary was home to imperial celebrations and Dionysiac performances. The Roman hydraulic network, partially rediscovered in the 18th century, fed the city and structured the sacred space.

In the 18th century, the rediscovery of ancient ruins during water supply works transformed the initial utility project into an urban beautification project. Between 1745 and 1755, the engineer Jacques-Philippe Mareschal, appointed by Louis XV, designed a French-style garden respecting the ancient remains, with terraces, basins and aisles. The medieval mills, installed on the Roman canal, are destroyed to restore the flow of the source. Mareschal incorporates decorative elements such as statues and vases from the Mosson Castle, creating one of Europe's first public parks.

The 19th century brought about notable changes: the disappearance of the entrance pavilions, the creation of an avenue in 1871, and the reforestation of the land acquired by the city in 1819. Archaeological excavations also reveal an indigenous popular neighbourhood and Roman public buildings, confirming the importance of the site as a place of syncretic worship, where local deities (like Nemaususus) and imperials lived together. Ranked as a Historic Monument in 1840, the garden is today a remarkable example of the superposition of times, combining ancient heritage and classical heritage.

The organization of the gardens rests on a symmetrical plane centered on the source, with a double staircase in half moon leading to the nymphae, and canals inspired by Roman infrastructures. The Mediterranean species (pins, plane trees, cedars) and the decorative elements (statues by Nicolas Sébastien Adam, Medici vases) highlight the dialogue between nature and history. The site, open for free to the public, remains a symbol of the nîmes Romanity and its adaptation to modern needs, while preserving its original vocation as a sacred place and a vital resource.

Recent archaeological findings, such as votive Gallo-Greek inscriptions or lintels with cephaliform vats, confirm that the Augusteum was a unique cultural space, comparable to the eastern sebasteia. The Romans integrated local cults into them without supplanting them, creating a religious syncretism where imperial worship was superimposed on indigenous traditions. This heritage, classified as historical monuments and labelled "Remarkable Garden", thus illustrates the continuity between the Nemausus celte, the Roman colony, and the contemporary city.

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