History of Nimes

The history of Nimes starts to the VI E.

Prehistory

In Nimes, the human habitat oldest that one discovered, is located at the Farmhouse of Mayan and date of the Neolithic , period during which the men became sedentary. The end of the Neolithic era sees the appearance of the collective burials; the area nîmoise is one of richest in Mégalithe S. One can thus find many dolmens and spectacular menhirs in the garrigues Gard oises and also in Nimes even. Also, a habitat going up with 1.100 before JC (age of copper) was discovered on the road of Sauve in Nimes.

Antiquity

The origin of the true creation of Nimes goes back to. A Celtic tribe , the Volques Arécomiques, settles around a generous source, with the foot of the Cavalier mount, the center of the current city. At the same period, several people are installed on oppidums not far from there. The sites do not miss around Nimes. The heights of the edges of the the Rhone, the throats of the Gardon or the plates of the Vaunage are invested by agro-pastoral tribes. The Cavalier mount starts to be occupied in a permanent way, it becomes the primitive oppidum at the origin of Nimes. The plain, it, is also inhabited. The famous bust of the warrior of Grézan (), exposed to the archaeological museum of the Roman city, attests some. The tombs with incineration, indigenous ceramics are accompanied by Etruscan potteries then Greek which mark the first signs of a Mediterranean trade (in particular with Phocéens). A dozen tombs was found in Nimes. The oppidums of Strokes and Ensérune become organized, urban space is specified with. The Nemausos god is adored with the fountain located at the foot of the Cavalier mount. The Volques Arécomiques divinisent the Source, devote a sanctuary to him. Gradually, primitive constructions make place at dry stone buildings. Among them, a tower perched high on the hill, the Turn Magne, will be transformed later to be integrated into the Roman ramparts. In 218 before JC, Volques are terrorized by the passage of Hannibal and its elephants.

In 120 before JC, the Volques, from now on with the head of a vast territory of 24 oppidums accommodate without resistance the legions of Rome. The Colonia Nemausa , the Gallo-Roman city is about to be born. From 118 before JC, the Via Domitia connecting the Italy to the Spain is built and crosses the city.

Roman epoch

The romanisation of Nimes starts truly during the first century before JC. Nimes becomes colony of Latin right and covers sumptuous monuments. The emperor Auguste (Octave) and his successors make of it a town of promotion of the romanity in Gaulle. Nimes increases. The currency, struck in Nimes, celebrated a victory in Egypt legionaries having obtained grounds of the colony nîmoise: in 31 before J-C, Octave demolishes with Actium the fleet of Antoine and Cléopâtre and secures the seizure on the empire, César Auguste was born. This currency (Ace of Nimes), one of most famous of the Roman Empire) is at the origin of the armorial bearings of the city: a crocodile connected with a crowned palm tree of bay-trees which symbolizes overcome Egypt.

At the 2nd century, Nimes, stage ideally located on the Via Domitia which connects Rome to the Spain, are with its apogee. One estimates the population at nearly 25.000 inhabitants. The enclosure nîmoise 7 km is then long and includes 220 ha. Nimes thus becomes an important city of the Roman Empire and one of most brilliant of the Gaulle Roman and Narbonnaise. The emperor Antonin the Piles, originating in Nimes still contributes to it. This very prosperous period is today illustrated by splendid monuments for some in an exceptional state of conservation (among most beautiful and best preserved Roman world): the amphitheater or “arenas” of a capacity of 25.000 places, the Maison Carrée, the Turn Magne (old Gallic tower rehabilitated by the Romans), the “Temple of Diane” and installations cultural around the source crowned of the Fountain, the arrival of water in Castellum thanks to the construction of an aqueduct since Uzès on 50 km whose Pont of Gard constitutes the most remarkable element, etc Two doors Roman is still preserved: the door of Auguste and carries it France.

At the 3rd century, Nimes is évangélisée by saint Baudile and sudden successive cruel invasions which slow down the rise of the ancient city. At the 5th century, the arrival and the installation of the Visigoths put an end to the prosperity of the ancient city.

The Middle Ages

The Visigoths carry out a first raid on Narbonne in 413, they are combined with Rome then settle with Toulouse and finally become Masters of the south of France in 462. The seven cities of Languedoc give a new name to the region in the west of the the Rhone: The Septimanie. The Visigoths transform the Roman amphitheater into fortress in which they build a castle. With, the area is disputed by the Francs and the Visigoths. Nimes is under supervision wisigothe while Uzès belongs to the frank kingdom. In 672, Nimes supported by the Francs, revolts against Wamba, king of the Visigoths who besieges and takes again the city the following year. In 719, the Moslems dominate the city and his area. But their passage is rather peaceful: they respect the laws, the administration and the church represented by the counts and the bishops.

Gaulle is then with the hands of the Francs and the Mérovingiens hardly deal with the area. France is devastated by the famine and the lazy epidemics and kings hardly contribute to rectify the situation. The capacity is held by the Mayors of the palate of which most famous is Charles Martel. This last crushes the Sarrasins in 732 with Poitiers and its troops break on the Septimanie which is put at bag in 738. Nimes is set fire to and fall in 754. Radulf, a frank king settles in the castle of the arenas of Nimes which do not have any more opulence of the Roman epoch. The door of Auguste becomes a fortress, the site of the Fountain is completely abandoned. The city knows an important decline. Following the dislocation of the Empire of Charlemagne in 833, the Languedoc sees the creation of many abbeys. While the religious capacity assied its authority, the laic lords becomes increasingly powerful. Nimes passes under the authority of the Counts of Toulouse in 892. The invasions are always menaçantes, the Hungarian take Nimes in 924.

In July 987, Hugues Capet is crowned king. Capétiens settle in a very theoretical capacity. France is parcelled out in twelve principalities, they same divided into territories in which the lords of the manor are the absolute masters. Feudality is even recognized hereditary at the 11th century. In 1096, the pope requires not of the king but of the count de Toulouse to lead the first Holy Land crusade. To Nimes, after many power struggles, the knights of the arenas lend oath to the crusader. In 1194, the city obtains a new defensive enclosure. In 1198, the capacity is exerted by the four Consuls who sit then in the Maison Carrée. Thanks to the vine, with the olive-tree and the breeding of the sheep, the commercial exchanges start again. And there still, the source intervenes. Its water which runs through the city will bring prosperity during the next centuries to the tanners, dyers and merchants of fabrics.

After the conquest capétienne which followed the Albigensian Crusade of 1209, Nimes was incorporated in France and was included in the seneschalsy of Beaucaire, which was composed of the following vigueries: Acute-Dead, Went, Anduze, Bagnols-sur-Cèze, Beaucaire, Lunel, Nimes, Roquemaure, Saint-Andrew (Villeneuve-the-Avignon), Saint-Saturnin-of-Port, (Pont-Saint-Esprit), Sommières, Uzès, Vigan and Meyrueis, Montpellier, and the bailliages of the Gévaudan, the Velay and the Vivarais. In 1215, Simon de Montfort, chief of an alliance of lords of the north of France, is made main from Nimes. In 1226, Louis IX is crowned, it is only twelve years old, it is thus his/her mother Blanche of Castille which will exert the power until the majority of the king. It is finally Saint Louis which will manage to affirm the royal capacity in the area becoming thus the Languedoc. In 1248, the king embarks with Acute-Dead not far from Nimes, for the Holy Land. In 1263, the Dominican ones then, in 1278, the merchants lombards are established in Nimes. The end of the 12th century sees persecutions of the Jews which are finally largely expelled of Nimes in 1306. In 1309, the pope gardois Clément V settles with Avignon (quoted near to Nimes) while in 1348, the terrible epidemic of Black Death makes perish one the third of the population of the Languedoc. Whereas France is in war against the English (Guerre One hundred Year old), the area tries to bandage the wounds of the natural disasters: disastrous epidemics and climatic conditions. The One hundred Year old war hardly relates to Languedoc except perhaps with the lifting of the taxes imposed by the phenomenal ransom required by the English to release the king Jean the Good (1360). At the end of the 14th century, the royal castle is built on the ruins of the Door of Auguste. Then, Lombards overloaded of taxes decide to leave. Many epidemics of plague devastate the cities. The rats invade Nimes in 1480. The end of the century announces the Rebirth with the creation of the first textile industries nîmoises.

Rebirth

During the Reform, the religious conflicts do of Nimes one of the most important Protestant communities of France. At the beginning of the 16th century, the ideas of the Reform were spread here very quickly: in this area of written Roman law, the French direct access with the Bible, the book referent, preached by the Reform is immediate. In 1537, two reformed nîmois is torture victims. François I {{er}} orders “to extirpate this unhappy sect Lutheran”, but his/her sister, Marguerite de Navarre, friend of Calvin, intercedes to give to Nimes a university directed by Protestant scholars. Under the reign of the new king, Henri II, Nimes is affirmed like the “small Geneva”.

The wars of religion are very violent in this Nimes become in huguenote majority. The Protestantisme indeed had here a success. and an influence considerable on the city (today in less measurement: the Protestants represent nothing any more but 12 % of the population but the history and the Protestant culture remain important). During wars of religion, many Protestants perished, were carried out (generally burned on the place of the Salamander), condemned to the galères, or imprisoned, in particular in famous “the turn of Constancy” to Acute-Dead. In reprisals and following a distorted nomination of the Consuls of the city, the tower of right-hand side of the cathedral Our-Lady-and-Saint-Beaver was damaged twice, in 1567 (drama of the “Michelade” aiming at the catholics - 90 dead -, in spite of the intervention of four pastors to be opposed to it) and 1621 (destruction of the tower). In their turn, in 1568 the catholics set fire to the large Temple of Calade (5 000 places) built only two years before with the authorization of the king Charles IX (it was rebuilt in 1595 and again destroyed in 1686), and the clergy supported by the king redoubles violence towards the huguenots. As of 1572, the “party protesting” becomes practically Master of the city. Let us note that the massacre of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre this same year did not have in Nimes, no repercussion, in spite of the received orders. The two communities made the oath of “living as friends and brothers”. However, reformed remain isolated public life and thus turn to the trade and the manufacturing output, fields in which they are often success, in particular thanks to their European networks progressively made up of exile forced.

From 1598, the edict of Nantes ensures the religious coexistence whereas the easiest merchants are mainly huguenots. At that time, certain bishops seek to develop a strong catholic activity to be opposed to this dominated coexistence of number by the reformed party. Indeed, in 1665, Nimes counts (according to the data of the parishes) 20.000 inhabitants including one vast majority of Protestants: 8.000 catholics and 12.000 huguenots. According to the data of Doctor Doumergue in his book (" Our guarrigues and assemblies of Désert"), Nimes would count only 5.000 catholics for 15.000 huguenots. In spite of this vast majority whose Consuls of the city form part (until in 1631, date on which the first Consul cannot be Protestant any more), the life remains very difficult for reformed: they must finance the restoration of the cathedral in 1636, their burials are prohibited in the cemeteries, their worships are framed and limited, the protesting college is removed in 1664, the Temple of Calade is demolished in 1686.

The revocation of the edict of Nantes by Louis XIV in 1685 and the demolition of all the temples of the Reformed Church replonge for more than one century the Huguenots in a true clandestinity. The assemblies of prayers are held in greatest discretion out of the city from now on “controlled” by a royal fortified town (the fort Vauban); it is the period known as of the “Désert”. Others Protestants French take the way of the exile, persecutions redouble.

18th century and revolutionary period

In 1702, the war of the Camisards bursts. During two to three years, approximately 2.000 Cevennes peasants hold head with the soldiers of the king (dragons). This “guerilla” is supported by the majority of the Protestants of Nimes (in a less frank way at the easiest classes, which sometimes even is dissociated some), especially following the “Massacre of the mill of Agau” in 1703, where under the order of the marshal of Montravel, of many old men, Protestant women and children are locked up in the mill out of wooden at which the fire is put and whose exits are blocked by the weapons: 300 people perish carbonized; a woman survives but is carried out the following day.

Finally, following the keen resistance of the Camisards, the king negotiates the rendering of insurgent in 1704. However, of reformed the king does not like the claims, and repression begins again until the extinction of the hearths of agitation. In April 1705 after the “plot of the Children of God”, the last Ravanel insurrectionists and Catinat are burned alives on the square of the arenas. This war leaves the Protestants more miserable than front. Pasteur Paul Rabaut however manages to reorganize the church reformed in Nimes and gives again confidence with his faithful. Moreover, the catholic people itself seem extremely tired and revolted oppression which the huguenots undergo. The action for the peace of the bishop of Nimes Becdelièvre illustrates it. With his funerals, Pasteur Rabaut Saint-Etienne pays even homage to him by saying of him that it was “a man of good par excellence”. The policy followed by Louis XVI differs from the preceding ones - in particular via the influence of its Secretary of State to the war, the Marshal of Muy; of the marquis of Fayette and its minister Malesherbes - and then opens a period of tolerance (whose first steps guessed under the reign of the governor of the Languedoc Prince de Beauvau) sanctioned by an edict in 1787.

But the French revolution puts an end to a still unstable civil peace and sees to clash the Protestant middle-class of the city, favorable to the revolutionary ideas and the catholic middle-classes, mainly royalist (cf the “Bagarre of Nimes”). The armed intervention with the Cevennes Protestant peasants ensures the victory of the middle-class. Besides Pasteur Rabaut Saint-Etienne becomes one of the deputies of Nimes at the revolutionary political assemblies.

Rise of the textile industry and the origin of the jeans

In the economic domain, it is with the Renaissance, and especially at the 18th century and 19th century that Nimes makes impressive great strides. In particular, of great manufactures of fabrics develop - thus, and it is not a legend, the first Jeans were carried out in Nimes with a resistant fabric, initially designed for the Cevennes shepherds and the Génois sailors, then for the colonists of the American west, gold diggers and “cow-boys”. From where the terms “Jean (Genoa) Denim (Of Nimes)”. Weaving looms this fabric are visible with the Museum of Old man-Nimes. They are the Protestant traders and in particular the Famille Andre who trade in first with North America and with, inter alia, Oscar Levi Strauss

The production of fabrics and the silk stocking is exported primarily in Europe and in the Spanish Indies (Americas). Two thirds of the active population of Nimes are employed in the textile. Here what appears superb private mansions, here that takes shape an urban revival. The quoted old woman leaves her shot down ramparts finally. By chance, at the Age of Enlightenment, one redécouvre the Roman sanctuary of the Source. One makes of it a great project of town planning, which gives rise to the sumptuous Jardins of the Fountain. The industry of silk is reconverted into the clothes industry of shawls thanks to the first Jacquard looms initiated by Turion, a workman nîmois. Textile industry nîmoise saw its golden age then.

Recent history XIXème and XXème centuries

Nimes, manufacturing city dedicated to the textile and important commercial place, become moreover one essential railway turntable at the time of the installation of the railway network in the years 1830 - 1840. But Lyons competition is hard during second half of the 19th century and the middle-class nîmoise reinvests the capital of the textile in the vineyard. The culture of the vine is facilitated by the construction of the Canal of the South (dice 17th) and especially its connection with the the Rhone by Sète (19th). The transport of the wine is also largely favoured by the appearance of the railroad in Nimes as of 1839 (developed quickly thanks to the industrialist Paulin Talabot and in particular the engineer Charles Dombre which carried out a two km length viaduct in the south of the city because of the easily flooded character of the low districts). It is a new era of prosperity, at the price of a serious impoverishment of the working class of the city.

As soon as the decision to make pass the line to the south of the city on a viaduct is known, a civil engineer, Didion, is charged to draw a new district between the station, whose it determines the site, and the old city. Hitherto, the Esplanade had marked the limit of the city, dominating the gardens of the plain of Vistre it constituted a walk voluntarily left open for two centuries on this landscape. It is through this practically virgin decoration of any dwelling that will be traced in 1845, the Feuchères avenue, thus named in homage to the baron d' Empire Jean Adrien Victor Feuchères which had just made an important financial gift with the commune. This avenue appears from the start like the hyphen between the past and the modernity, concretized by the station closing the avenue in the south by an imposing frontage with arcades on two levels. This new artery goes from this fact of profiting from a treatment privileged with in point of test card the Magne Tower; imposing dimensions (60 m of width, 300 m length), strict constructive standards for the buildings with the rich person frontages who border it (minimal height, grids in ironwork, etc), vast news Esplanade with in its center marble the monumental fountain of the " Town of Nîmes" by the sculptor James Pradier 1851. Setting in prospect on the arenas and the new law courts and its large colonnade by Bumblebee (1836 - 1846). The will to build the vast hotel of the prefecture on this avenue (1855) and to build the church co. Perpetuates with a bell-tower of 70 meters dominating the esplanade in the east (Feuchère architect) will devote the prestigious and residential character of this new district. The station of Nimes and its station of the goods become the center of transit of Cevennes coal (Alès, Grand' Combe) towards Beaucaire and the the Rhone and consequently an important rail junction.

The grand boulevards surrounding “the medieval escutcheon”, born from the demolition of the old ramparts with XVIIIè, are the subject also of important installations at the beginning of the 19th century reinforcing the monumental character of the city: construction of the large neo-classic theater to Italian with colonnade and urban unit around Maison Carrée (1798 - 1822); construction of the Saint-Paul church of style néo-novel by Questel and Flandrin (1849) along the current boulevard Victor Hugo connecting Maison Carrée to the Arenas as well as the Daudet college and its tower of the clock, release finally carried out of the Roman amphitheater and creation of a boulevard of belt of the monument and of a vast square, rise in the church Holy-Perpetuates (1855 - 1865) whose high bell-tower dominates the esplanade, of the neo-gothic church Saint-Baudile with its two arrows with the junction of the boulevard admiral Courbet and Gambetta (1867 - 1877), installation of the public gardens of the Crown, Bouquerie and the Antonin public garden in prospect on the channel of the Fountain, many middle-class buildings and private mansion, etc… The architectural references to the romanity of the city are obviously very numerous since the Renaissance.

At the end of the 19th century, the emperor Napoleon III, amateur of antiquity undertakes a vast campaign of restoration whose the monuments will benefit from Nimes and its area gardoise (Architect Henri Revoil). It is to be stressed that the city always was inspired and influenced by multiple cultures, this being in particular due to its exceptional geographical location also allowing the meeting of many populations of varied origins: the Roman and Italian Latin cultures , Languedocien, of Provence, Protestant, Cevennes, camarguaise, tauromachic and obviously the Spanish influence.

In 1871, following the Common of Paris (in which the nîmois Louis-Nathaniel Rossel takes an active part), Nimes is shaken a time by the demonstrations and the disorders, but the new constitution alleviates the tensions. Catholics, Protestants, royalists or republicans turn to the ballot boxes.

Then France saw new crises: scandal of Panama, problems economic and Business Dreyfus. The latter divides Nimes whose Protestant majority and the Jewish community (Bernard Lazare) support the captain. Starting from 1873, the vineyards of the valley of the Rhone and Vaunage (primarily with Langlade), around Nimes are attacked by the Phylloxéra.

The beginning of the 20th century is marked by the crisis of the vine growing. Many demonstrations gather a considerable crowd (300 000 people around the arenas in 1907). Georges Clémenceau sends the troop then, shootings and arrests plunge the peasants in consternation and the revolt (events of Narbonne). Jean Jaurès which visits Nimes in 1912 and holds meeting in the arenas, incarnates the hope but he is assassinated in July 1914 the day before the First World War. Nîmois express their sympathy with the 3.000 soldiers who leave the flower to rifle for the face. More half will never return.

The twentieth century nîmois is marked by the international events: strikes in 1936, entered of the German army in 1942, executions summary during the occupation (many hangings), bombardments in April and July 1944 by the American air force. The first bombardment proceeds on May 27th 1944 and takes for target the marshalling yard of Courbessac. It is the 55th Bomb Wing of the 15th USAAF which is in charge of the operation, with its B-24. The bombers release nearly 1.000 bombs, but touch especially the city (district of the station) and in particular the hospital of the avenue of Uzès. The assessment is very heavy: 271 died, 289 wounded and more than 5.000 disaster victims. July 12th, 1944, the American bombers carry out a new mission on the sorting of Courbessac. In fact always the B-24 of the 15th USAAF operate on the city with the 55th (already present 27) and 49th Bomb WIng. This time, sorting is well touched and one raises only 20 wounded. The city is released on August 27th 1944.

In 1951, the trams are withdrawn to make place with more flexible and less noisy vehicles. In 1952, the large theater of Nimes is devastated by a case of arson. The representations begin again with the communal hearth, but do not resist the competition of Avignon (the Large Theater will never be rebuilt besides, in its place, since 1993, is the Square of art, centers contemporary and media library by the architect Sir Norman Foster). On the other hand, this same year, the amphitheater finds the high-speed motorboats of the bullfighting with the creation of famous Feria and the reopening of the Spanish border. The law of April 24th 1951 which formally authorizes the bullfight in the towns of tradition is very well accommodated and definitively dissipates the legal blur. The first " feria" official with the opening of the " bodegas" is thus organized. To support the tourist frequentation, of important drainage works are realized. In parallel, many schools are built to answer the resumption of the birthrate and the prolongation of the studies. In 1961 are inaugurated the air and sea base and the commercial airport. It is the ministerial decree of March 2nd, 1961 which delimits the first urban development zone of the area, to increase the capacities of reception of the city, following the concentration of 9.000 repatriates of Algérie (ZUP Western Nimes by the architect Xavier Arsene-Henry, Valdegour, Pissevin, Mas of Mingue, Chemin Low of Avignon). At the end of the years 1970 and with the beginning of the year 1980, the crisis and the rise of unemployment impoverish the population of the social housing and exacerbate the tensions before appeared in large buildings where the consequences are added with promiscuity in the common parts, the insufficient insulation and anonymity. To flee a repulsive medium become, the least underprivileged benefit from the assistances to the possibility of home-ownership or with the hiring in the private sector. The ideological diversity of the institutional partners of the time (State, General advice, Town hall, Chamber of commerce) does not contribute with an effective revival of the economy nîmoise and to a good social diversity. However, it is during these years that are built new sports complexes and new meeting places and are gone by the mayors Edgar Tailhades and Emile Jourdan. In the years 1980 and 1990, the mayor Jean Bousquet tries to promote tourism, art and the spectacle. He launches great projects urban (Square of art, restoration and revitalization of the historical center town which are often received but which digs the deficit of the city heavily.

October 3rd 1988 was a “black day” for Nimes and its surroundings. Indeed, in the night of the 2 to the 3 and in morning of the 3, a storm of a very great intensity came to be immobilized on the heights of the city. Thus, more than 90 million m ³ (420 mm) of water flowed in a few hours on the " tops of Nîmes" and plates the garriques ones making inflate the cadereaux ones and overflow the channel of the Fountain, submerging the city sometimes until a 2 meters height. the basins of Rhony (Vaunage) and Vistre were also concerned with this event. Following these terrible floods, certain streets were found devastated, of many cars were carried literally piled up with the corners of the streets the ones on the others, of the destroyed houses, the devastated trade and 10 people found death. Since, important work of réaménaménagement general is committed, in particular the creation of many retaining tanks of water upstream and future installations of zones of expension of believed in the south of the city.

Today, Nimes is reorganized. Since more than one score of years, the city follows a policy deliberated on constructions on open contemporary in the renovated old heart. She rehabilitates her districts and extends towards the south. She entrusts her projects of town planning and architecture to the greatest international creators: Norman Foster, Vittorio Gregotti, Kisho Kurokawa, Jean Nouvel, Martial Raysse, Philippe Starck, Jean-Michel Wilmotte. These achievements, of which most known is the Carré of Art , carried out by Norman Foster just opposite the square House, caused oppositions. Technical prowess between all, Fine Geipel and Nicolas Michelin offer to the arenas a cover of inflatable fabric in 1988, removable at the beautiful days. Winter like summer, Nimes organizes spectacles in the arenas. This cover was however withdrawn in 2005 after many years of good and faithful services for reasons of setting to the standards, safety and conservation of the Arenas now problematic.

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