Gard, department (1990 pop. 591,700), S France, on the Rhône River and the Mediterranean Sea. Nîmes is the capital.

Fléchier, Esprit, 1632–1710, French writer. He was a famous pulpit orator and became bishop of Nîmes. His principal work is an account of special assizes held at Clermont (1665) for the repres...

Pont du Gard, Roman aqueduct across the Gard River, Gard dept., S France. Built in 19 B.C. to supply Nîmes with water, it consists of three tiers of arches and is c.900 ft (270 m) long and c.1...

Daudet, Alphonse, 1840–97, French writer, b. Nîmes (Provence). Daudet made his mark with gentle naturalistic stories and novels portraying French life both in the provinces and in Paris. At th...

Guizot, François, 1787–1874, French statesman and historian. The son of a Protestant family of Nîmes, he was educated at Geneva. He began a legal career in Paris in 1805, but soon took up lite...

Amphitheater, open structure used for the exhibition of gladiatorial contests, struggles of wild beasts, sham sea battles, and similar spectacles. There is no Greek prototype of amphitheaters,...

Languedoc, region and former province, S France, bounded by the foot of the Pyrenees, the upper Garonne River, the Auvergne Mts., the Rhône, and the Mediterranean. It comprises the departments...

Vienne, town (1990 pop. 30,386), Isère dept., SE France, on the Rhône River. It is a farm trade center with textile, metallurgical, and footwear industries. The capital of the Allobroges, Vien...

Foster, Norman Robert, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, 1935–, British architect, b. Manchester, grad. Manchester Univ. school of architecture (1961), Yale school of architecture (M.A., 1962). Fos...

Roman architecture, structures produced by the ancient Romans. The origins of Roman architecture can be traced to the Etruscans, who migrated from Asia Minor to Italy in the 12th cent. B.C. Wh...