A UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE

THE MAISON CARREE IN NIMES AND 

MONTAGNE PELEE IN MARTINIQUE

During the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee, which runs until September 25, around fifty sites, combining culture, nature and diversity, are the subject of studies and applications.
France celebrates the registration of two new sites as UNESCO World Heritage sites. La Maison Carrée, a Roman temple dating from the 1st century AD located in Nîmes, becomes the 51st French site to join this prestigious list.

Nîmes had been hoping for this recognition for a long time. The city had missed the mark of recognition by UNESCO around forty years ago, unlike the Pont du Gard aqueduct or its neighbor Arles, which also has a Roman amphitheater as well as thermal baths and a ancient theater. In 2018, it applied for the inscription of all the monuments of the former Roman colony, an ancient commercial and cultural crossroads which reached its peak under the Roman emperor Augustus (63 BC). – 14 AD). The experts were not convinced of the exceptional character of the site, due to the immediate proximity of modern monuments. The southern city has refocused its application on the Maison Carrée, reopened to the public in 2022 after renovation. A winning bet for the mayor of Nîmes, Jean-Paul Fournier.

Preservation of biodiversity

The exceptional character of the volcanoes and forests of Mount Pelée and the peaks of northern Martinique also earned them classification by the World Heritage Committee. Their representation of volcanic elements and processes has been recognized as being of global importance by experts. . The eruptive episode of Montagne Pelée from 1902-1905 was particularly notable. Indeed, the fiery cloud of May 8, 1902 caused the death of 28,000 people in the minutes following the explosion. An extremely rare occurrence, during the eruptive episode of 1902, 7 successive explosions occurred causing the erection of a 350 m needle, the highest known of all dome eruptions.
Located in the “Caribbean Islands” biodiversity hotspot, this site constitutes a priority area for biodiversity conservation on a global scale, highlighting the importance of preserving flora and fauna. The French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs welcomes this recognition as a strong signal for the preservation of biodiversity, with the presence of globally threatened species, such as the Martinique allobate, the snake and the oriole. from Martinique.