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The Maison Carrée at Nimes, France, is one of the best preserved temples to be found anywhere in the territory of the former Roman Empire.

It was built around 19 BC by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, who was also the original patron of the Pantheon in Rome. It was dedicated to his two sons, Gaius and Lucius, adopted heirs of Augustus who both died young. The original inscription dedicating the temple to Gaius and Lucius was removed in medieval times. However, a local scholar named Jean-François Séguier was able to reconstruct the inscription in 1758 from the order and number of the holes in the portico's facade, to which the bronze letters had been affixed. The text of the dedication read (in translation): "To Gaius Caesar, son of Augustus, Consul; to Lucius Caesar, son of Augustus, Consul designate; to the princes of youth."

The temple owes its preservation to the fact that it was rededicated as a Christian church in the 4th century, saving it from the widespread destruction of temples that followed the adoption of Christianity as Rome's official state religion. It subsequently became a meeting hall for the city's consuls, a canon's house, a stable during the French RevolutionThe period of the French Revolution in the history of France covers the years between 1789 and 1799, in which democrats and republicans overthrew the absolute monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church perforce underwent radical restructuring. While France wo and a storehouse for the city archives. It became a museum after 1823Events July 15 San Paolo fuori le Mura church in Rome almost completely destroyed by fire September 10 Simon Bolivar named President of Peru December 2 US President James Monroe delivers a speech to the United States Congress, announcing a new policy of f. Its FrenchFrench le francais la langue francaise is one of the most important Romance languages, outnumbered only by Spanish and Portuguese. French is the 11th most spoken language in the world, spoken by about 77 million people (called Francophones) as a mother to name derives from the archaic term carré long, literally meaning a "long square", or rectangle - a reference to the building's shape.

The Maison Carrée is an excellent example of a classic Augustan temple. Raised on a 2.85 m high podium, it dominated the forumThe Roman Forum Forum Romanum was a central area of ancient Rome in which commerce, business, trading and the administration of justice took place. It is now famous for the remains, which eloquently show the use of urban spaces during the Roman Age. The t of the Roman city, forming a rectangle almost twice as long as it is wide (with dimensions of 26.42 m by 13.54 m). Its front is dominated by a deep porticoA portico is a porch or walkway with a roof supported by columns, often leading to the entrance of a building. Some famous examples of porticos are the East Portico of the United States Capitol, and the portico adorning the Pantheon in Rome. See also Clas or pronaosA pronaos is the inner area of the portico of a Ancient Greek or Roman temple, situated between the colonnade or walls of the portico and the entrance to the cella or shrine. The word is Greek, meaning "before a temple". In Latin, a pronaos is also referr almost a third of the building's full length. It is hexastyle in form, with ten columns topped with CorinthianCorinthian can refer to: Corinth Corinthian order Corinthian league First Epistle to the Corinthians or Second Epistle to the Corinthians (books of the Bible) Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, a football club in Brazil Corinthians F. a former English footb capitals under the pediment, and another 20 attached half-columns around the remainder of the building's exterior. The architraveThe architrave is the lintel or beam that rest on the capitals of the columns. As such, it is the lowest part of the entablature consisting of architrave, frieze and cornice. The word is derived from the Greek word for main beam''. The word architrave is over the columns has fine relief carvings of rosettes and acanthus leaves. A large door (6.87 m high by 3.27 m wide) leads to the surprisingly small and windowless interior, where the shrine or cella was originally housed. This is now used to house occasional art exhibitions. There are no remains of ancient decoration inside the cella.

The building has undergone extensive restoration over the centuries; until the 19th century it formed part of a larger complex of adjoining buildings. These were demolished when the Maison Carrée was turned into a museum, restoring it to the splendid isolation that it would have enjoyed in Roman times. The pronaos was restored in the early part of the century when a new ceiling was provided, designed in the Roman style. The present door was made in 1824.

It underwent a further restoration between 1988- 1992 during which it was re-roofed and the square around it was cleared, revealing the outlines of the forum. Sir Norman Foster was commissioned to build a modern art gallery, known as the Carrée d'Art, on the far side of the square. This provides a startling contrast to the Maison Carrée but borrows many of its features, such as the portico and columns (but rendered in steel and glass). The contrast of its modernity is thus muted by the physical resemblance between the two buildings, representing architectural styles 2000 years apart.

The Maison Carrée inspired the Neo-classical Church of the Madeleine in Paris.