Nîmes Cathedral

Nîmes ( NEEM, French: [nim] (listen); Occitan: Nimes [ˈnimes]; Latin: Nemausus) is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,561 (2019).Dubbed the most Roman city outside Italy, Nîmes has a rich history dating back to the Roman Empire when the city had a population of 50,000–60,000 and was the regional capital. Several famous monuments are in Nîmes, such as the Arena of Nîmes and the Maison Carrée. Because of this, Nîmes is often referred to as the "French Rome".

The siege of Nîmes took place shortly after the capture and destruction of Avignon in 736. Charles Martel failed to capture the Umayyad city of Narbonne but devastated most of the other principal settlements of Septimania, including Nîmes, Agde, Béziers and Maguelonne, which he viewed as potential strongholds of the Saracens.The city of Nîmes (Chronicle of Fredegar) and the Roman amphitheatre (turned into a fortress by the Visigoths) were destroyed under the orders of Charles Martel. The Arabs were temporarily contained to the city of Narbonne, though a second expedition was needed later that year to regain control of Provence after Arab forces returned. According to Paul the Deacon's Historia Langobardorum the Arabs retreated when they learned that Martel had formed an alliance with the Lombards. Martel's remaining years - he had only four to live - were spent setting up and strengthening the administrative structure that became the Carolingian Empire, and the feudal state that would persist through the Dark Ages. His son would return in 759 and finish his father's work by taking Narbonne

The cantons of Nîmes are administrative divisions of the Gard department, in southern France. Since the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015, the city of Nîmes is subdivided into 4 cantons. Their seat is in Nîmes. A small part of Nîmes is part of the canton of Saint-Gilles.

Communauté d'agglomération Nîmes Métropole is the communauté d'agglomération, an intercommunal structure, centred on the city of Nîmes. It is located in the Gard department, in the Occitanie region, southern France. It was created in January 2002. Its area is 790.9 km2. Its population was 257,987 in 2014, of which 149,633 in Nîmes proper.

The Diocese of Nîmes (Latin: Dioecesis Nemausensis; French: Diocèse de Nîmes) is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises all of the department of Gard. It is a suffragan of the Diocese of Avignon. By the Concordat of 1801 the territory of Diocese of Nîmes was united to that of the Diocese of Avignon. It was re-established as a separate diocese in 1821 and a Brief of 27 April 1877, granted its bishops the right to add Alais (the modern Alès) and Uzès to their episcopal style, these two dioceses being now combined with that of Nîmes. Therefore, the formal name is he Diocese of Nîmes (–Uzès and Alès) (Latin: Dioecesis Nemausensis (–Uticensis et Alesiensis); French: Diocèse de Nîmes (–Uzès et Alès)).

The Arena of Nîmes is a Roman amphitheatre, situated in the French city of Nîmes. Built around 100 CE, shortly after the Colosseum of Rome, it is one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres in the world.It is 133 meters long (145 yards) and 101 meters wide (110 yards), with an arena measuring 68 meters (74 yards) by 38 meters (42 yards). The outer facade is 21 meters high (69 feet) with two stories of 60 arcades. It is among the 20 largest Roman amphitheatres of the 400 in existence. In Roman times, the building could hold 24,000 spectators, who were spread over 34 tiers of terraces divided into four self-contained zones or maeniana. The arena served as a public event theatre built by the Romans as well as a gladiator fighting arena. Today, the Arena of Nîmes is the site of two annual bullfights during the Feria de Nîmes, and it is also used for other public events like the reenactment of antiquity "The great Roman Games" and for concerts.

Feria de Nîmes is a popular festival centered on Spanish-style bullfighting held each year in Nîmes, Southern France. In May 2012, the Feria celebrated its 60th anniversary.

The Maison carrée (French pronunciation: ​[mɛzɔ̃ kaʁe]; French for "square house") is an ancient Roman temple in Nîmes, southern France; it is one of the best preserved Roman temples to survive in the territory of the former Roman Empire. The Maison carrée inspired the neoclassical Église de la Madeleine in Paris, St. Marcellinus Church in Rogalin, Poland, and in the United States the Virginia State Capitol, which was designed by Thomas Jefferson, who had a stucco model made of the Maison carrée while he was minister to France in 1785.

The Carré d'art at Nîmes in southern France houses a museum of contemporary art and the city's municipal library. Constructed of glass, concrete and steel, it faces the Maison carrée, a perfectly preserved Roman temple that dates from the very beginning of the 1st century AD. In 1984, twelve architects, including Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel and César Pelli, were invited to submit proposals for the museum. A design by the British architect Norman Foster was selected, and the building was opened in May 1993.The building was constructed as part of a project to refurbish the square in which the Maison carrée stands, and provides a new setting for the ancient temple. The building is a nine-storey structure, half of which is sunk deep into the ground, keeping the building's profile low in sympathy with the scale of the surrounding buildings. The lower levels house archive storage and a cinema.

The University of Nîmes (Université de Nîmes), also known as Unîmes, is a French university, in the Academy of Montpellier. It was founded on 7 May 2007 as the successor to the Nîmes University Center for Training and Research (Centre Universitaire de Formation et de Recherche de Nîmes), which already bore the short name Unîmes. As of 2023, it had 5,687 students enrolled. The University of Nîmes offers undergraduate and graduate programs across four faculties: Faculty of Law, Economics, Management; Faculty of Arts, Letters, Languages; Faculty of Science and Technology; and Faculty of Social Sciences. The university offers courses in English, Spanish, and German, and it welcomes students from all backgrounds and nationalities.

The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nîmes (French pronunciation: ​[myze de boz‿aʁ də nim]) is the fine arts museum of Nîmes.

Musée de la Romanité is an archeological museum in the French city of Nîmes, opened on 2 June 2018.