NÎMES The arenas can be visited from above

This summer, from July 1 to August 31, six young people from Nîmes will bring you to life the history of the most emblematic monument of the city of Antonin, the amphitheater.

It is through door 33 that the visitor will be invited to enter the ancient building. For five euros more (on the paid entrance fee to the arenas), everyone will be able to benefit, twice a day at the end of the morning, from a special visit.

This visit differs from previous years and takes the visitor on a journey through time, of course, but also through space by occupying the various elevations of the arenas. We start at ground level, go up to the first floor in the stands and then finish in the upper gallery.

From the outset, it’s Lucius Pompeius, a retiary gladiator (net and trident), who explains a lot of things… As the visit welcomes a maximum of 50 people and the amateur actors are young and with a strong voice, none worry about it, you will hear everything!

Lucius Pompeius evokes the exterior, interior, hidden architecture but also the cover with the velum and of course speaks of the access of the ancient public to the cavea, the stands. He also speaks of the 60 doors of the vomitoria which then allow the 24,000 spectators to leave the place in ten minutes maximum.

It’s time to talk about the show. This combat sport is detailed, we talk about the agents of entertainment that are the gladiators, but also the money they generate, the overtraining it takes to be among the best and the combat techniques specific to each duo of fighters. In the Roman Empire, gladiatorship was a free spectacle, paid for by the aediles and to which slaves and women could also attend in complete freedom.

After Lucius Pompeius, place for Bernard Aton V Trencavel. Viscount of the 12th century following his father the fourth of the name, details the castle, the castrum, its marvelous castrum and its maintenance.

A plan of the Middle Ages is lent to the public. In the summer period and with the music festival scene and the tarmac on the sand of the track, it is difficult to recognize the places but it is the use of the monument that has ensured its preservation.

In this famous castle, Bernard Aton reveals his ancestry but also reveals that this medieval castrum included in an ancient building incorporated within its walls two chapels, a bell tower, workshops, around 200 houses, three towers, four doors and was isolated by a moat which surrounded it.

Yes… We almost forgot that the castrum housed knights and their families. Numbering 31 at the beginning, there were more than a hundred in total. They were all vassals of Bernard.

Third speaker, a speaker in the person of Lucie Mazauric, daughter of Félix, wife of André Chamson. It is 1906 and the visitor is in the upper gallery overlooking the forecourt of the arenas. Lucie studied at the Feuchères high school but her father was passionate about history, architecture and archaeology.

He will also be director of the archaeological museum but it is indeed Lucie who saved his work from the shroud of history. It once again sweeps through the past of the monument to finally approach the 18th and 19th centuries before ending with the building that we visit today and which has stood the test of time.

It is now up to you to be the guardian of the memory of this place to pass it on to someone else, this is the legacy of the arenas!

To learn more, it’s here !