Priceless Roman Real Estate

A couple of weeks ago, friends and I went to see a show in the Arènes de Nimes, the famed Roman amphitheater in the south of France.  Nearly every summer night les Arènes hosts singers, orchestras, folk shows or corridas (bullfights).  No doubt, these arenas are busier nowadays than during their pane e circo (bread and circus) glory when gladiators, beasts or Christian martyrs were providing gore-loaded entertainment.  This year’s gladiators are called Lenny Kravits, Sting, Indochine, and Norah Jones, the pop music glitterati.  The late Johnny Halliday performed last year in a sold-out amphitheater.  It was built to accommodate 25,000 spectators, but now only seats 13,000 because modern staging takes about a quarter of the seating area.  We were about 8,000 enjoying the farewell concert of Italian composer Ennio Morricone.  With tickets priced between Euro 50 and 200, it is not a bad business for a city the size of Nimes with a population of only 140,000.  The arena’s concerts attract people from all over the region.

                                                                         Concert of Ennio Morricone in the Amphitheater

In a previous blog[1], I wrote that a Roman heritage brings big business to the south of France.  Although many cities of Gallia Narbonensis (Narbonese Gaul) have Roman ruins, Arles, Orange and Nimes are the best endowed.  Narbonese Gaul became a Roman colony during the 2^nd century BC before Julius Caesar’s Gallic campaign.  Arles and Oranges have been UNESCO World Heritage sites since 1981.  The UNESCO listing brings an evident economic benefit for these two cities.  As described above, even without the award, Nimes’ Roman heritage business is flourishing. 

If Roman theaters and amphitheaters have good cultural and economic uses, necropolis, except the Alyscamps in Arles have not benefitted from the same recognition.  This eerie and spooky sprawling cemetery has been celebrated by artists and poets.  Dante immortalized the necropolis in his famous poem Inferno.  During their Autumn 1888 bromance, Van Gogh and Gauguin made six paintings together in the cemetery, four paintings by Van Gogh and two paintings by Gauguin.  The Romans customarily built their necropolis outside city walls, and the Alyscamps (derived from Campi Elysii) is no exception.  According to archeologists, it was a burial ground for 1500 years, the resting place for well-known citizens.  The necropolis and its bones were left in peace for centuries except for the occasional tombs raiders and carved sarcophagi lovers who routinely plundered the site. 

Ignominy started in the 17^th century when Arles emerged from its slumber and economic development accelerated: a canal was dug through the necropolis.  During the industrial revolution, railway tracks and workshops took over part of the area and the necropolis was reduced to a 500 meters-long tree and sarcophagi lined promenade leading to two ruined medieval churches.  This alley very much inspired Van Gogh and Gauguin.

On May 30, 2018 the Alyscamps’ sleepy dignity was again shattered, not by further demolition but by the nightfall fashion show of the house of Gucci.  It was indeed appropriate that Gucci staged its cruise collection in a graveyard.  I cannot resist comparing this cruise to that of the ferryman of Hades, who transported the souls of the deceased across the river that divides the world of living, and that of the underworld, with Alessandro Michele, Gucci’s current creative director, being a rag reincarnation of Charon.  Michele was apparently fascinated by the idea of death.  The Alyscamps was the perfect setting for a Gothic collection “inspired by ossuary, the crypts of the Cardinals, of the monks in the 15^th century” as Michele wrote on Instagram.  

                                                     
                                                                    Gucci extravaganza

The happy few, like Elton Jones and Salma Hayek sat among the sarcophagi to watch the action on the fire-lined catwalk.  The ghostly parade of female and male models walked from the ruined churches towards a runway inferno wrapped by flame.  Possibly a wink to Dante, a fellow Italian! Anyway, it was a night to remember[2].

All this Roman mania went to Nimes’ aedile’s heads: Orange and Arles are both UNESCO World Heritage sites, should not Nimes deserve the same privilege?[3]  Nimes displays several Roman structures, two among them, la Maison Carrée (square house in French) and the amphitheater are still in mint condition.  The outstandingly beautiful Maison Carrée has been in use since it was built as a temple dedicated to the imperial cult.  During its heydays, it stood at the center of the large Roman forum now gone[4].  The Maison Carrée draws thousands of tourists.  It has been reinvented into a movie house which displays a documentary on the Roman foundation of Nimes.  It is nonetheless an upgrade over its 18^th century stable use!  

      
                                                                    Maison Carree

But priceless, well preserved and well operated Roman real estate is not enough to win a coveted UNESCO reward, as the mayor of Nimes recently found out to his dismay.  In June, UNESCO postponed the city’s application (differed in UNESCO parlance) for lack of exceptional value: Nimes does not stand out in respect to other Roman-founded cities like neighboring Arles and Orange.  The € 59 m new museum built to boost Nimes’s UNESCO chances was deemed counterproductive, even derided as an eye sore by UNESCO experts.   I think that its façade is ugly and its interior layout confusing, but the hi-tech gadgetry, touchscreens and interactive displays are stimulating and worth checking out.  

                                        Nimes Amphitheater and the New Museum in the foreground

Nimes is back to the drawing board.  To make the cut, Nimes will have to be more imaginative.   Any suggestions?

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[1] http://calvisson-leblon.blogspot.com/2017/09/more-roman-than-romans-business-of.html

[2] http://uk.fashionnetwork.com/videos/video/19882,The-Alyscamps-cemetery-in-Arles-is-the-meeting-point-for-Gucci-s-2019-Cruise-Collection-.html#.Wz58cvZuImY

[3] UNESCO listing usually brings about 30% more tourists.

[4] During his visit to Nimes as minister to France in 1785, Thomas Jefferson was so impressed by the building that he copied it, the Virginia State capitol is a replica of Maison Carrée.