France Guide
Languedoc
The Hôtel de Ville and Museums
Just to the north of the Roman arena lies the warren of narrow streets that makes up Nîmes' compact old town. Among the mostly seventeenth- and eighteenth-century mansions you'll find the Hôtel de Ville, set between rue Dorée and rue des Greffes, the interior of which has been redesigned by the architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte to combine high-tech design with classical stone. Look out for the stuffed crocodiles suspended from chains above the stairwells – a gift from wealthy and contented eighteenth-century burghers. At the eastern end of rue des Greffes is the combined Musée Archéologique and Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle (daily 10am–6pm, Nov– May closed Mon; free); housed in a seventeenth-century Jesuit chapel at no. 13, they are full of Roman bits and bobs, assorted curios, and stuffed animals.