The city of Nîmes dates its amphitheatre to the late first century AD. It describes an exterior with two arcade levels and sixty bays, linked to a system of vaulted galleries and stairways. Those details make the monument particularly rewarding if you want to think about how a large crowd entered and found its seats.
Choose one entrance and follow the sequence of spaces that is open to visitors. Then look back at the repeating façade: a grand exterior is also a circulation system. We place Nîmes near the top for the clarity of this architectural lesson. As an active venue, it warrants a check of the current event and visiting calendar.
Photo: Krzysztof Golik; edited by Janke · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized and recompressed; same image license.
