History, culture and bullfighting: 2024, a year full of significant anniversary dates in Nîmes

The 140th anniversary of the Halles de Nîmes will be in November 2024! Archive MIKAEL ANISSET

In 2024, there will not only be the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Nîmes or the creation of your favorite regional daily Midi Libre to celebrate. Update on important anniversary dates for history, culture and bullfighting.

Many commemorations will be organized in 2024 in Nîmes, particularly to celebrate major events such as the Liberation in August 1944 or, more lightly, the 30th anniversary of Jeudis de Nîmes, the 140th anniversary of Les Halles. An update on birthdays in six themes.

Memory

80 years of the Liberation: On August 25, 1944, the city of Nîmes was liberated from German occupation. Tricolor flags in the windows, songs, balls punctuated this day with a jubilant population on the Esplanade. But there have also been tragedies this year. On March 2, the Hohenstaufen executed fifteen hostages by hanging in Nîmes. Furthermore, Allied bombings by the US Air Force targeted sites occupied by the Germans such as railway infrastructure. But a lack of precision and a too late reaction from residents led to collateral victims on May 27, 1944. Toll: 44 dead.

Los of the liberation of Nîmes, the parade on the Esplanade, near the Palais de Justice. Gosselin family archives

80 years of Midi Libre:  many press titles from the Resistance were created at the end of the Second world War. This is the case with your favorite regional daily Midi Libre. The first edition of the newspaper will appear on rue d'Alger, in Montpellier, on August 27, 1944. The first edition Midi Libre du Gard, printed in 5,280 copies, comes out on August 30.

140 years of Les Halles:The Ventre de Nîmes was inaugurated on November 9, 1884, three years after the decision of the then municipality to provide the city with a covered market inspired by the famous Halles Baltard in Paris. The structure was dismantled to create parking lots in 1970 and in the following decade the architect Wilmotte modernized the site.

The Halles de Nîmes will celebrate their 140th anniversary in November 2024. Midi Libre – MiKAEL ANISSET

10 years of floods: On October 10, 2014, slow moving storms caused significant flooding in Nîmes with, in just ten hours, 244.6 millimeters of precipitation. The Camplanier district is one of the most affected by these torrential rains, which has since caused the demolition of several villas. Fortunately, the recalibration of the gift, completed a year earlier, had made it possible to avoid the worst.

Culture, leisure

30 years of Jeudis de Nîmes: the summer meeting, which allows you to almost bridge the gap between ferias, has enjoyed popular success for thirty years with its concerts in the city center, its artisans, painters who exhibit, its second-hand dealers, wine tastings from Costières de Nîmes. The Nîmes municipality will probably mark the occasion to properly celebrate this event popular with locals and tourists alike.

35 years of the Flamenco Festival:from January 10 to 24, the Flamenco Festival returns for a new edition which will bring together stars and young artists, music, dance, tradition and modernity. The flamenca wave overwhelms the public with emotions and enthusiasm, faithful to the event for many years, during shows spread across the city. And there is even an Off Festival, which shows the importance of this major cultural event in Nîmes.

The Nîmes Flamenco Festival is already celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. Archive M.A.

40 years of the Miles Davis concert at the arenas: on July 19, 1984, the famous American jazz composer and trumpeter performed on the arena stage as part of the International Festival. A Jazz 70 event which allowed, among other things, to hear… Dizzie Gillepsie. Miles Davis, who died in 1991, would play a total of four times in the Roman Amphitheater in the 1980s. 

15 years of the Metallica album at the Nîmes arenas: this July 7, 2009, the famous heavy metal group Metallica performs in the arenas of Nîmes with a fervor rarely seen. From this Nîmes concert, a live album entitled "Français pour une nuit" with this photo of the amphitheater full as an egg.

Metallica recorded its live album "Français pour une nuit" on July 7, 2009 in the Nîmes arenas. FREE NOON – NASSIRA BELMEKKI

Bullfighting

60 years of the "paw" and the triumph of El Cordobés:aficionados will often talk about the demonstration at the Vendanges by José Tomás in 2012. But the oldest will more evoke Manuel Benitez El Cordobés, with his rock star look, for his performance on May 17, 1964 on the sand of the Nîmes arenas. Faced with a Juan Pedro Domecq, the bullfighter shines so much that day that he cuts off two ears, the tail and the same… the leg.

El Cordobés in his works in the arenas of Nîmes. Photo Hervé Collignon/municipal archives

70 years since the birth of Christian Montcouquiol known as Nimeño II:born in Speyer, Germany, on March 10, 1954, the Nîmes bullfighter Christian Moncouquiol known as Nimeño II left his mark on bullfighting. Seriously injured in the arenas of Arles, he ended his life on November 25, 1991. Among his many brilliant outings, we will remember that of Sunday May 14, 1989, 35 years ago, in Nîmes, during the very windy mano a mano with the Portuguese Victor Mendes. The Nîmes cuts off four ears. A few months before the Arles tragedy…

20 years of the 2nd toro pardoned in Nîmes by Enrique Ponce: Friday May 17, 2024, it will be the big return to Nîmes of Enrique Ponce in the bullring. He graced the Nîmes feria with three bullfights in 2001 and 2018 as well as 20 years ago. It was May 30, 2004 against Juan Pedro Domecq, Anheloso.

40 years since the first poster for the Nîmes feria: the Spanish painter Eduardo Arroyo, who died on October 14, 2018, was the first contemporary artist selected to create the poster of the Nîmes feria in 1984. An idea from the Bousquet municipality.  His matador with the clownish red nose on the tip of his nose made an impression. For the record, he also signed the poster for the Biography Festival eight years ago.

The first poster for the Nîmes feria dates from 1984. It is signed by Arroyo. DR

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