Jardins de la Fontaine

18th-century classical garden built around the sacred Roman spring

The Jardins de la Fontaine, laid out in 1745, count among the oldest public gardens in Europe. They were built around the ancient spring that gave Nîmes its name — Nemausus, a Celtic and then Roman water deity — and incorporate the Roman ruins of the sanctuary that grew up around it.

The layout is grand and formal: balustrades, urns, sphinxes, and stone-lined canals. The lower garden contains the so-called Temple of Diana, an evocative ruin whose true function is debated. Above, terraced paths climb Mount Cavalier to the Tour Magne. The whole composition is one of the most elegant urban spaces in southern France.

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A story
The gardens were laid out in 1745 by military engineer Jacques-Philippe Mareschal after the city's water shortages forced an audit of the ancient Roman waterworks. The work uncovered the temple complex and basin around the spring, so the engineering brief evolved into a public garden.

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