Museum / Gallery Sights in Nice — 18 of Our Favourites

The collection comprises of art inspired by Bhuddism and works from China, Japan and India, plus a selection of the smaller south-eastern Asian countries.

Classical and contemporary art is on display, as well as additional temporary exhibitions.

On Sunday afternoons, you can take part in a traditional tea ceremony (Chanoyu) where every movement is carefully choreographed so that the simple act of drinking tea is transformed into an art form.

Built at the turn of the 20th century by Danish architect Hans-George Tersling, it has a Neoclassical style with Italianate influences. Prince Victor of Essling, grandson of the local marshal André Masséna, lived here during winter.

It was gifted to the city in 1921 and has recently been renovated. It now displays interiors faithful to a reinterpretation of the Belle Epoque era and has beautifully landscaped gardens which have also been restored.

In 1969, the French Minister of Culture André Malraux decided to have a museum built to house Chagall’s works after he donated them to the French State. Its construction began in 1970 over a vast plot of land that the City of Nice gave for the project and which was then occupied by the ruins of a villa from the turn of the century.

Chagall participated in the project, asking for an auditorium and decorating the building with stained-glass windows and mosaics. He attended the opening celebration in 1973. The building was designed by architect André Hermant, following the instructions of Chagall who wanted a "home", a spiritual abode for his biblical works. The understated building is surrounded by a Mediterranean garden and a pool that reflects Chagall's mosaic.

The artist was known for his figurative paintings and has been heralded as a pioneer of modern art. Influenced by his upbringing in Belarus and his Jewish religion, his painting are full of vibrant colours and often feature biblical scenes and whimsical images.

The museum holds paintings, mosaics, stained glass windows, sketches and lithographs. The main piece are Chagall's 12 paintings illustrating Genesis and Exodus, presented on 12 walls in a three diamond layout. There are also 105 engravings based on biblical stories, as well as sculptures.

The museum offers an insight into the original Nice, when there was a warmer climate. Early dwellers hunted elephants, deer and rabbits and used tools made from stones from Nice's pebble beach. There is even a footprint belonging to one if the first inhabitants of Nice.

The site was discovered during the construction of a terrace near the port of Nice in 1966. Archaeologists do not agree on whether it is a vestige of an ancient settlement, or just artefacts from different time periods brought together.

Situated within a large park at 370m of altitude, this observatory was conceived by the banker Raphael-Louis Bischoffsheim. The building was designed by Garnier, while Eiffel tackled the huge 24m rotating dome, which opens to see the stars, manually at first until the installation of a motor in 1888. The movement was possible thanks to an ingenious system based on water with magnesium chloride on which the dome floated.

At the time, it had the world's largest telescope, 18m long with a lens 76cm wide, operational in 1888. With it, 2000 new stars have been discovered in Nice.

All the buildings in the observatory, as well as the telescope, have been declared a historic monument. It is set in a 40 hectare park with stunning views, and is a centre of international research.

The first museum in France dedicated to sport, it first opened in 1963 and, after moving from Paris, it was established in Nice in 2014.

It showcases all sorts of objects, the oldest dating from the 16th century but mostly from the 19th and 20th century. The poster collection is the largest one in the museum, but there are also paintings, sculptures and drawings dedicated to sports. There is also a wide range of sports equipment and trophies.

They organise temporary exhibitions regularly. The museum also has a cafe where you can have a drink and a snack, and a shop.

The Museum of Natural History is Nice's oldest museum. It houses more than a million specimens, mainly from the Mediterranean and the Alpes Maritimes region, but also from South America, Africa and the Indian Ocean islands.

Located in a former communal palace, here you can see crustaceans, corals, sponges, small mammals and birds. There are also rooms dedicated to Barla's and Vérany's old collections, including mushrooms and fossils.

Matisse lived in Nice and the surrounding area from 1918 until he died in 1954. Works from all stages of his life are featured from his first paintings to drawings, prints and sculptures. The collection includes documents about Matisse from his family, providing an insight to the great artist.

There are 68 paintings, 236 drawings, 14 illustrated books, 95 photographs and 187 objects that belonged to the artist, including ceramics, glassware and documents. The perfect place to understand the role of Matisse in contemporary art as well as his creative process.

Located in the heart of the city, this palace is the most remarkable monument of the Niçoise civil Baroque style, especially because of its grand staircase, decorated with frescoes, and its luxury rooms. It was built in 1648 century by one of the most important aristocratic families in Nice, the Lascaris-Vintimille. It was bought by the city of Nice in 1942 who developed it into a museum of popular art and musical instruments.

It is one of the best examples of Baroque architecture, with a grand façade containing white marble balconies. The late 17th-century mural paintings depict mythological stories, and there are also Flemish tapestries, paintings, drawings, sculptures and furniture from the 17th and 18th centuries. The collection of music instruments is the second in France and one of the most important in Europe.

It houses a collection of artefacts dating from pre-historic times through until the Middle Ages relating to the lives of the Cemenelum and the province. They were found in different archaeological digs made from 1950 to 1969.

It also contains a number of archaeological sites, including the town of Cemenelum with its streets, amphitheatre, three complete baths, a school, a house and shops. Cemenelum was the capital of the Alpes Maritimae region in Roman times, after the conquest of Augustus. Most of the ruins belong to the 3rd century AD, but there are vestiges from the 1st century AD to the 7th century AD.

Located near the Place Garibaldi, this museum was designed by architects Yves Bayard and Henri Vidal. Its striking shape and monumentality were inspired by neo-classical style, even with its facade covered with Carrara marble.

It is distributed over ten showrooms, with the entrance and the shop located at the level of the esplanade Niki de Saint Phalle, which overlooks the Place Yves Klein. The gallery spaces are devoted to temporary exhibitions on the first floor, and the permanent collections are on the second and third floors.

The main focus is given to New European Realism (Yves Klein, Cesar, Arman, Niki de Saint Phalle) and the American tendency towards the art of assembling and Pop Art (Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann).

Other key areas on exhibition include Minimalism, Abstract and Figuration. The collection includes over 400 permanent works, with several temporary exhibitions each year.

The villa was built in 1878 by the Ukranian princess Elisabeth Kotchoubey near the important Russian colony in Nice. Decorated with pseudo-Pompeian mural paintings and surrounded by an English garden, the villa hosted receptions, concerts and balls.

In 1925, the town of Nice bought the building to transform it into a Fine Arts Museum, which opened in 1928. The collection is the result of donations and includes paintings and sculptures by Fragonard, Rodin, Monet, Sisley, Degas, Corot, Courbet, Dufy, Chéret and many other artists.

The collection was donated by Anatole and Renee Jakovsky (Anatole was a French art critic) in 1982. Naïve Art is the name given to artworks simple in both technique and subject matter, resulting in images drawn from the artist's imagination & spontaneity.

The collection covers the history of Naïve painting from the 18th century to the present day, and includes works loaned by the Georges Pompidou Centre National Museum of Modern Art. It showcases paintings and sculptures by Bauchan, Bombois, Séraphine, Lackovic, O'Brady, Ligabue, Rousseau, Rimbert, and many others.

The new owner since 2003, William Aral, has maintained this historical orientation whilst supporting a wider selection of new artists from the Côte d'Azur. The gallery features a large exhibition room and a sculpture garden.

They have works by local artists, as well as some by famous painters such as René Magritte, Yves Klein, Keith Haring, Man Ray, Joan Miró, Picasso or Andy Warhol.

The collection has objects dating from the 14th to the 17th centuries in 13 rooms, including a Gothic chamber, another one with Renaissance furniture and a kitchen with utensils from different periods. There is also a chapel, an oratory and a sacristy.

The Niçoise garden completes this great example of a traditional villa recreating a 15th-century interior.

The saint Elme citadel is a massive stone fortress built on the orders of Emmanuel-Philibert of Savoy in 1557 to defend the city and protect the harbour.

Nestling in the base of the Citadel blockhouses, an entire population of bronze, copper and terracotta female creatures featuring voluptuous curves is displayed in a rough stone showcase. Volti began his career as a sculptor in the 1940s after studying in Paris and completing military service.

This museum dedicated to his impressive sculptures was opened in 1981.

Run by the Department of the Alpes-Maritimes, the cultural space will be used for both permanent and temporary exhibitions. As one of the remarkable and historical areas of the Nice Port you can learn more about the history of the city and the region. 

The most diverse works, from painting to photography, from sculpture to design, will now find a beautiful space in the heart of Nice. 

Henri Bernard Goetz was a French-American surrealist painter and engraver, famous for inventing the carborundum printmaking process, in which the image is created by adding light passages to a dark field. He was a friend of Léger and Kandinsky, as well as a notable member of the Parisian resistance during the Second World War, fleeing to Cannes after he and his wife, Christine, were almost arrested.

Their collection holds works by many famous contemporary artists including Picasso, Miro, Picabia and Hartung. There are also paintings by Christine Boumeester and Henri Goetz.