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Picture of the day

The Maison carrée (French for 'square house') is an ancient Roman temple in Nîmes, southern France. It is a mid-sized Augustan provincial temple of the imperial cult, and one of the best-preserved Roman temples to survive in the territory of the former Roman Empire. Built in the early 1st century AD, it was dedicated or rededicated to Gaius and Lucius Caesar, grandsons and adopted heirs of Augustus, who both died young. The Maison carrée is similar to a Tuscan-style Roman temple as described in the writings of Vitruvius, a contemporary Roman writer on architecture. It has undergone several restorations over the centuries and was inscribed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 2023. This photograph of the Maison carrée at evening was taken in 2019.Photograph credit: Krzysztof Golik