I have to admit I am really disappointed in Unesco! On Sunday, July 1, we discovered that the International Committee of Worldwide Patrimony REJECTED the Nimes applicaton to become a World Heritage site. The committee says it could find nothing all that DIFFERENT from all the other cities already listed on the UNESCO list. It's true that Europe (& France as well) is much better represented than the rest of the world, but after 15 years of working towards this goal, the Nimes delegation was devastated. They thought they had it!

I just read through the list of Unesco French sites, & it is very long, 43 in all. (FYI, the US has only 23 sites.) There are 3 categories:

1. cultural (39 in France) like The Caves at Lascaux or "Occitanie", the region where we live.

2. natural (3 in France) like the Cevennes mountains that we look at from our terrace).

3. mixed--(only 1 in France) -the Pyrenees.

We've visited many of these incredible places & enjoyed them tremendously. The Canal du Midi, often mentioned on this blog, is an incredibly unique place, I'll agree.

The Nimes team had been prewarned in March about the "lack of unqiueness". So they dug in & upgraded their application before arriving in Behran last week. Once there, they lobbied every member in attendance. Despite assurances from many that Nimes had substantial support, only 4 members (Tunisia, Indonesia, Uganda & Burkina Faso) supported Nimes. The reason? Too many in France already. No other European nation supported them. in fact, Spain said it was time to for a reset to equalize the countries represented. To me this looks like either jealousy or politics. Why should I be surprised that either one is a part of this process? But then, I am obviously biased!

I have visited the new Musee de la Romanite 3 times since it opened in June. Every time I am there I am blown away by the number & quality of objects shown, as well as the historical timeline of Nimes' story. Nimes isn't just Roman ruins, remarkably well preserved, like other already accepted Heritage sites. It has Celtic beginnings, Roman add-ons, & now, after visiting Nimes in the Middle Ages at Romanite, an everexpanding story of medieval history. It really hit me when Les & I were standing in front of a huge tablet, working a lever that transported us from Nemausus (the spring & garden after which Nimes is named) to the Maison Carree (Roman temple on Nimes' forum) & the Arena, & on through the collapse of the Roman Empire. Then the warring tribes swept through Europe, & it took the French kings to set things in order (for awhile!). If the museum has one overarching theme, it is indeed "Nimes Through the Centuries", 25 in fact.

I spend lots of time in museums, & work as a Museum Educator in a newly renovated gem of an art museum in Charleston. I am so very pleased & excited about this Musee de la Romanite! It's informative, it's interactive, & it's creative. In order to remember it all for future reference, I've updated my picture albums with 2 Medieval Nimes updates:

1.The Renaissance of Nimes' Jardin de la Fontaine

2. The Arena as a Time Machine.

Both show how Nimes evolved from its beginnings, how it shrank considerably during the Middle Ages, & how it was rebuilt in the 1700s, then updated in the early 1900s. And, in pursuit of this World Heritage Site nomination (sadly "defered" yet again), our Nimes has evolved into a newly revived city of "Occitanie".

I hope YOUR summer is evolving, & that you can sit back & relax, & stop that lever of time that is always, always moving forward! And as we approach our Independence Day, think of how our naton has evolved from a tiny teetering republic to what it is today. And, if your US travels take you to Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, or the Everglades, you'll be in a UNESCO World Heritage site, where Nimes, according to me, SHOULD BE as well!

I'll get over it.

Happy Fourth!

Elise & Les