Museum of Old Nîmes, Nîmes, France

Housed in the 17th century former bishop's palace, the Museum of Old Nîmes tells the story of city since the end of the Middle Ages through everyday items and bourgeois interiors. An essential visit to discover local traditions and daily life in Nîmes over the centuries. Local 18th and 19th century interiors have been reconstituted. The textile industry is of prime importance in the history of the city and is the subject of displays in the museum, with famous Nîmes shawls exported to the whole of Europe in the eighteenth century. A blue room is devoted to Nîmes cloth, the famous denim.

References:

ot-nimes.fr

Museums in France

User Reviews

Claude Lallemand (2 years ago)
Après cette énième visite, force est constater que le personnel en faction dans les musées nîmois n'ont pas changé leurs petites habitudes....(ben non, pourquoi faire silence lors de la visite des personnes qui payent 5 euros...) Nous avons donc eu droit, une fois de plus aux discutions entre employés municipaux (cette dernière semblait relever des mécontentements sociaux...) Fort heureusement les pièces présentées sont de qualité et méritent que l'on se penche sur la petite histoire...si ce n'est l'intervention non demandée d'un employé (trop) zélé....qui en avait peut-être fini avec ses commentaires syndicaux et qui amorçait un début de sentiment d’ennuie...!!!????!!!!! Pour résumé, des pièces de qualité dans un écrin d'époque relativement bien mis en valeur...gâché par les déblatérations sonores des employés...

Alex Kramer (2 years ago)
Certainly not worth 5 euro

Alexander B (3 years ago)
The building is well maintained BUT the museum is pretty dissapointing considering the impressive history of Nimes. Such a shame!

Tomàs Llorens Marès (4 years ago)
Nice projection on the Christmas day. It was about different child stories.

Vally Black (4 years ago)
During my visit museum collection was not on display, there was a nice exhibition about denim (fabric from Nimes and abroad)

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Derbent Fortress

Derbent is the southernmost city in Russia, occupying the narrow gateway between the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus Mountains connecting the Eurasian steppes to the north and the Iranian Plateau to the south. Derbent claims to be the oldest city in Russia with historical documentation dating to the 8th century BCE. Due to its strategic location, over the course of history, the city changed ownership many times, particularly among the Persian, Arab, Mongol, Timurid, Shirvan and Iranian kingdoms.

Derbent has archaeological structures over 5,000 years old. As a result of this geographic peculiarity, the city developed between two walls, stretching from the mountains to the sea. These fortifications were continuously employed for a millennium and a half, longer than any other extant fortress in the world.

A traditionally and historically Iranian city, the first intensive settlement in the Derbent area dates from the 8th century BC. The site was intermittently controlled by the Persian monarchs, starting from the 6th century BC. Until the 4th century AD, it was part of Caucasian Albania which was a satrap of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. In the 5th century Derbent functioned as a border fortress and the seat of Sassanid Persians. Because of its strategic position on the northern branch of the Silk Route, the fortress was contested by the Khazars in the course of the Khazar-Arab Wars. In 654, Derbent was captured by the Arabs.

The Sassanid fortress does not exist any more, as the famous Derbent fortress as it stands today was built from the 12th century onward. Derbent became a strong military outpost and harbour of the Sassanid empire. During the 5th and 6th centuries, Derbent also became an important center for spreading the Christian faith in the Caucasus.

The site continued to be of great strategic importance until the 19th century. Today the fortifications consist of two parallel defence walls and Naryn-Kala Citadel. The walls are 3.6km long, stretching from the sea up to the mountains. They were built from stone and had 73 defence towers. 9 out of the 14 original gates remain.

In Naryn-Kala Citadel most of the old buildings, including a palace and a church, are now in ruins. It also holds baths and one of the oldest mosques in the former USSR.

In 2003, UNESCO included the old part of Derbent with traditional buildings in the World Heritage List.

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