European Heritage Days 2024

This 41st edition of the European Heritage Days will focus on ‘Heritage of routes, networks and connections’, a central theme for a site like the Pont du Gard. A monument symbolising a technical structure, the Nîmes aqueduct was designed to transport water under pressure. Over the course of time, the Pont du Gard and later the Pont Pitot became a unique crossing point for the Gardon river, allowing people and goods to pass through.

 
Archaeological walk along the remains 

Accompanied by a cultural mediator, you'll discover the exceptional remains of the Nîmes aqueduct on the left bank of the Gardon in the heart of the garrigue. You'll learn to spot the subtle traces left by the Font Ménestière bridge. As you walk along the arches of t

he Pont Roupt and Pont de Valive, you'll see how the designers of the aqueduct coped with the terrain and the fragility of the original construction. The highlight of your walk: crossing the Gardon at a height of fifty metres, at the top of the audacious Pont du Gard.

Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 September 2024
Schedule: 10am
Duration: approx. 1? hours
Admission requirements: Free admission (recommended for children aged 9 and over). 
On the day of the visit, each participant collects 1 time-stamped ticket from the RG or RD reception desk. 
/Bring headgear and shoes. 
Car park: €9.
Meeting point for visitors (with time-stamped ticket only): RG building, ‘tour departure’ totem pole.

The surveyor and the aqueduct: hands-on: (recommended for children aged 9 and over)

Wondering how, 2,000 years ago, the designers of the Nîmes aqueduct ensured that the water collected in the Eure valley at the foot of Uzès would flow by gravity to the ancient city of Nîmes?
Go! Major works to bring the water here! Trace the aqueduct with the groma* and its right-angled sights. Then, set up horizontally, the chorobate* will reveal all its secrets for measuring the difference in level. 
* The groma and the chorobate are two ancient scientific instruments.

Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 September 2024
Times: 10.30 am / 11.30 am / 2.30 pm / 3.30 pm / 4.30 pm
Duration: 40 minutes
Access: Free admission (recommended for children aged 9 and over).
Meeting point for visitors (with time-stamped ticket only): Rive Gauche building.

Guided tour of the canal

As you emerge from the Gardon gorges, a cultural mediator invites you to discover the water canal of the Pont du Gard, the real raison d'être of this 2,000-year-old work of art, from a height of almost fifty metres. Take a guided tour and discover the masterpiece of a fifty-kilometre aqueduct that supplied water to the thermal baths and fountains of Nîmes in its Roman heyday.

Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 September 2024
Times: 10.00 am / 11.00 am / 12.00 noon / 12.00 noon / 2.00 pm / 3.00 pm / 4.00 pm / 5.00 pm
Duration: 30 minutes
Admission requirements: Free visit (recommended for children aged 6 and over). On the day of the visit, each participant collects 1 time-stamped ticket from the RG or RD reception desk.
Car park: €9.
Meeting point for visitors (only with a time-stamped ticket): in front of the door to the RG pipe staircase.

The sweet onion of Vers Pont du Gard

The sweet onion of Vers is an onion that is unique to our region.
This slightly pink onion can be recognised by its weight of between 500g and 1.8kg and its slightly sweet taste. It was grown by our ancestors in the allotment gardens of our region. The seeds were passed down from farmer to farmer. Unfortunately, with the decline in these food gardens, production had disappeared in our village.
In 2010, the desire to revive onion production led to the creation of a farmers' association and a door-to-door campaign among families in Versailles and Argilliers, which bore fruit - or rather, its seeds! Since then, the association's aim has been to promote and encourage the revival of the Vers Pont du Gard sweet onion and, in particular, its production.
Thanks to the seeds that have been ‘found’ and with the support of the Chamber of Agriculture, the association has already been able to select and multiply seeds. Today, with the help of the ‘Largillière’ nursery and a handful of farmers, we can benefit from a fine production of environmentally-friendly onions of the highest quality.
The Vers Pont du Gard sweet onion association organises an annual festival of the Vers sweet onion so that as many people as possible can enjoy the product.
For its 2024 edition, and in view of the history of this onion, the Association and the Pont du Gard have joined forces to exhibit this local heritage during the European Heritage Days on 21 and 22 September at the Pont du Gard.
These days will be an opportunity to meet the producers and taste their products. 

We look forward to seeing you there to share a moment of culinary history at the Pont du Gard!
Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 September 2024

Times: 9am to 6pm / crosses left bank

Conditions of access: paid parking 9€. 

Free admission to cultural areas

During the European Heritage Days, admission to the cultural areas (Museum - Ludo - Film - Temporary exhibition) is free.
Pay parking (€9).