Other Museums, Nice

This gallery has occupied the villa of the Ukranian Princess since 1928. Built in 1878, this magnificent building sits in its own grounds. Its collection is an extensive one, but I was especially impressed by the post impressionist works of Felix Ziem, Luise Breslau, Jules Bastien Le Page, and Jules Cheret. Cheret is often referred to as the inventor of the modern poster. There was one room filled with paintings by Dufy, but I felt these were not the best examples of his work. The museum is normally open from 10am to 6pm, Tuesday to Sunday. The museum is interesting because of the excellent paintings by lesser known artists.

A round museum situated next to the Parc Phoenix and overlooking the same lake. Very Asian in design and holding a tea-ceremony room with sea-through walls; the impression you get is that of a very bare and white gallery - very minimalist.

The collection is constituted from objects (statues, clothes, idols, furniture...) from Japan, China, India, Cambodia and others, and it's possible to follow a few themes, like Buddhism, ceremonies, the house,...

The museum welcomes temporary exhibitions and holds some introduction workshops to the ceremonies around tea, ikebana, calligraphy.

Free entrance - 10 euros if you want to attend workshops (with a visit)
Open everyday 10-17, later in season
Bus: 9, 10, 23. Stop: "Arenas"

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The Museum was opened in 1976 on the site of an excavation that made history: 400 000 years ago, Terra Amata was a beach where humanoids dwelled, hunted and...most importantly, had domesticated fire. The site is the first occurrence in the world of domesticated fire, as well as having proved that there have constantly been variations in the sea level throughout times.

The museum in itself looks quite old, and the displays are very technical, which is very good for teachers (many schools go there). There is a downloadable pack online, and if you're visiting with children, you can ask for a booklet of games to be done as you go through the displays.

On groundfloor there's the mold of the beach floor as it was discovered in 1966, as well as a chronology of the evolution of the human race, illustrated by skulls.

The first floor hosts temporary exhibitions and deals with every aspect of the the life of Homo Erectus. You can see them hunting, discover their tools, and even see a reconstitution of their wooden cabin on the beach.

1st room: geology and study of plants.
2nd room: housing.
3rd room: bones from animals (elephants, deer, boars, rhinoceros...).
4th room: tools.
5th room: scientific explanations on datation.



Until June 2009: Temporary exhibition of the historian Pierre Cadenat's stamp collection, dealing with Prehistory, museums or sites (even megalithic ones) all over the world.

There is also a library, holding 2500 books.

Opened 10-18. Closed on Monday and bank holidays.

The surreal Tete au Carre, created by sculptor and artist Sacha Sosno, resident of NIce and New York, for the Central Library of Nice. It stands 26 metres high , and inside there are what is found in most libraries - lots of books. At night you can see faintly through the canvas shroud to the three floors of library inside the "head". Cool metaphor.

Behind it stands MAMAC - the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Nice, which traces the history of the European and American avant-garde from the sixties to the present day, whose collection includes New Realists and Pop Art creators, and follows the close association between France and America found more in modern art than in modern politics.Works to be seen from Klein, Christo, Tinguely, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and many others.

Ideal for that very occasional rainy day

Admission to MAMAC :free

As the founder of museum of the Nice Museum of Modern and Contemporary art, Yves Klein has a whole section in the dedicated to him - and rightly so!

See to the left, my photograph of one of his paintings.

What an amazing blue!

French and American avant-garde art from the 1960s until the 21st century is displayed here in a museum composed of a quartet of square towers with rooftop terraces.

We strolled down to the museum on our last day in Nice and it certainly didn't disappoint.

Pop artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Rauschenberg are featured. One entire section of the museum is devoted to the French artist Yves Klein (1928-92). who founded the museum. His two major works, Garden of Eden and Wall of Fire, can be seen on the rooftop terraces and he was my favourite artist shown there. I particularly liked the amazingly striking blue series of Klein work, (a photgraphic example of his work can be viewed below).

The museum cost us less than €4 (free on the first Sun. of the month)

The best art of all though, was at the end, when reaching the rooftop gardens, you could see a 360 degree view of the whole of Nice, absolutely stunning. I love this building.

(See my photo of the kB on the rooftop).

Open: Wed.-Mon. 10-6

Tucked away in the district of Baumettes is this sumptuous villa built in the 1870's for a Russian princess, now transformed into a museum of fine arts. Gifted to Nice by wealthy amateur artist Jules Cheret, some of whose works are displayed within (thankfully not many. You can sense the hanging committee biting its tongue, owing the founder space for his hideous frivolous choclate-box creations). Several rooms of the superb French master Raul Duffy are here, along with less well known works by other artists of the period.

The museum is a short walk from the Sheraton Four Points, about a kilometre walk along the curve of the Prom, and set among many interesting villlas of the belle epoche

Nice is a cultural capitol of Southern France and has many museums. The Mark Chagall museum is one of the most famous, but in old Cimiez the several archeological findings also are museums in it's own. Also the Fine Arts museum is worldly known and has surprising works of many modern and post modern artists. In the link in this tip you find a complete list of museums in Nice.