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Origin and history

The Jardins de la Fontaine is a public park located in Nîmes, in the Gard, built around the original source of the city, venerated from the Iron Age (VIth century BC). This site, occupied before the arrival of the Romans, saw the birth of the Nîmese agglomeration long before the Gallo-Roman period. In Roman times, it housed the Augusteum, a vast imperial sanctuary from which today only the temple of Diane remains. The source, essential for the city, was gradually developed, becoming a central place of worship and water supply.

In the 18th century, earthworks to improve the water supply of Nîmes revealed the Roman remains, including a shrine dedicated to Augustus, a portico and an ancient theatre. In 1745, engineer Jacques Philippe Mareschal designed the current gardens, preserving the ancient structures while integrating classical elements: half-moon stairs, canals and basins. The project, initially a utility, became an urban beautification project, highlighting the Magne Tower and the temple of Diane.

The gardens, classified as historical monuments as early as 1840 and labeled as remarkable gardens, combine ancient heritage and landscape development with French. Their entrance, marked by wrought iron grilles of the eighteenth century, is free and free. Planted with pines, plane trees and cedars, they also house vases and marble statues from the Mosson castle, carved by Nicolas Sébastien Adam in the 1720s.

The source, fed by a karst network, was at the heart of historical conflicts: medieval mills, lavender mills in the seventeenth century, and repeated droughts prompted the consuls of Nîmes to solicit engineers like Jean de Clapiès to regulate its flow. Recent excavations have also revealed an indigenous popular neighbourhood and Roman residences, testifying to the archaeological richness of the site.

Today, the Jardins de la Fontaine remains an early example of a European public park, mixing ancient heritage, hydraulic history and landscape art. Their plan respects that of the Roman sanctuary, with terraces planted with Mediterranean essences and remains highlighted, such as the central nymph or regulatory channels.

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