Pont Du Gard
Roman architectural and engineering skills were brilliantly demonstrated in their aqueducts, built to ensure that good supplies of fresh water reached their towns. Of the numerous Roman aqueducts that survive, none is more impressive than the one that carries water across the valley of the River Gard to Nimes (the Roman Nemausus) in southern France.
The Romans’ exploitation of the structural possibilities of the arch is magnificently demonstrated in the 882ft (269m) long Pont du Gard, which is all that is left of an aqueduct, more than 15 miles (24km) long, built by Agrippa at the end of the first century BC. Three tiers of arches, built of unmortared granite masonry, make up the Pont du Gard. The aqueduct, having been lined with cement to prevent leaks, is on the uppermost tier, being about 180ft (55m) above the river. The two lower tiers each have arches that are about 65ft (20m) high, while in the uppermost tier, the arches are set 20ft (6m) high. The effect is to give a fine, unifying rhythm to the structure.
The lowest tier once carried a roadway that, until recently, was the main road to Nimes. Now it can be walked along by visitors and tourists, as can the water channel at the very top, as long as vertigo is not a problem.
Maison Carree
Standing on a raised platform or podium, in an elegant square in the heart of Nimes, is a wonderfully preserved gem of Roman temple architecture, known as the Maison Carrée. At first glance, the rectangular building looks not unlike a typical Greek temple, with the usual six columns in the Corinthian order, across the deep front portico, supporting an elegantly carved and decorated entablature, and with a line of columns down each side.
But the Maison Carrée is one of the most beautiful monuments that the Romans built in Gaul. By this time, the Romans had taken to extending the side and rear walls of the cells-which the Greeks set at the heart of their temples-to the outer limits of the building. On the side and rear elevations of the Maison Carree, the columns are not all free-standing but, from the fourth column to the back, are engaged with the cella wall. The effect is to provide the building, like other Roman temples, with a much larger interior space.
The American statesman Thomas Jefferson was hugely impressed by the architectural perfection of the building, when he saw it while he was his country’s ambassador to France in the 1780s. When he came to design the state capitol building in Richmond. Virginia (built between 1788 and 1798), he decided, therefore, to model it on the Maison Carrée.
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