The Maison Carrée of Nîmes is the map’s most concentrated architectural record: a 1st-century CE Roman temple in the forum of Nemausus, today’s Nîmes. UNESCO inscribed it in 2023 under cultural criterion (iv). Its importance is not simply that it is Roman or well preserved. The temple is an early provincial example connected to imperial cult and to the political transition from republic to empire.

Its dedication to Gaius and Lucius Caesar, the prematurely deceased heirs of Augustus known as the Princes of Youth, gave the building a dynastic and ideological role. Its Corinthian design, sophisticated decoration and position in the forum represented Roman authority in Nemausus and expressed allegiance to Augustus’ dynasty. That combination of architectural form, setting and political meaning distinguishes it from later Roman survivals that may preserve fabric without conveying this particular imperial programme.

There are also important limits to what survives. Structural and decorative elements remain original or carefully restored, but the cella has no original elements preserved; the roofing and pronaos ceiling are exceptions to the otherwise original structural elements. The ancient forum setting has been altered by the growth of Nîmes, although the present place de la Maison Carrée was designed partly to evoke that context. The monument is legally protected and managed locally through cooperation among municipal and regional bodies, so its UNESCO identity should not be confused with an untouched archaeological ensemble.