ABSTRACT
The city of Nimes in southern France is host to two cultural buildings that face one another across a square, but that are separated in time by almost 2000 years. The older of the two is one of the best preserved temples of the whole of the Roman Empire, aptly named in French the Maison Carree according to the shape of its rectangular plan and cubic proportions. Its unique preservation is due to the fact that this building was rededicated as a Christian church during the fourth century, thus escaping the widespread demolition of temples that followed the adoption of Christianity as the state religion of Roman society. Later, the building served various purposes before finally being turned into a museum in 1823.
