Activities :
Publications & Editions
« Nice, from the shore to the sea »
Collective work under the direction of Jean-Jacques Aillagon, General Curator of the season arts exhibitions Nice 2025, «Biennale des Arts et de l’Océan ».
BeauxArts Éditions / Ville de Nice
Through the exhibition “Nice, from the shore to the sea”, the Masséna Museum explores the relationships that Nice has maintained, throughout its history, with the Mediterranean. From prehistory to today, from the Nikaïa of the Greeks to the winter resort of Queen Victoria, the city has never stopped reinventing its relationship with the shore. Sometimes, fearing threats, it has turned away from them and protected itself. Often, it has made it the horizon of its audacity and its dreams. Today, after hosting the United Nations Conference on the Ocean is being held within its walls, Nice is also questioning, more than ever, its responsibility towards this natural environment, which is both fragile and threatened. We are thus reminded of Paul Valéry's wish, at the time of the creation, in 1933, on the Promenade des Anglais, of the Mediterranean University Center: "It is to be hoped, (...) that our Center will one day manifest itself and impose itself as the place of development of Mediterranean knowledge, the point where an increasingly clear and complete awareness of the function of this privileged sea in the development of the ideals and resources of man is formed".
View catalog preview (pdf - 9.15 Mo)
« Nice, queen of flowers »
Collective work under the direction of Jean-Jacques Aillagon, Chairman of the Mission Nice Patrimoine Mondial, General Curator for the Nice 2022. Flowers ! season exhibitions.
Lienart Éditions / City of Nice
From the 16th century, travelers’ stories insisted on the profusion of flowers in the region of Nice. Their diversity, their scents and their colors contributed from the 18th century to attract winter visitors to Nice from all over Europe. In return, this resort vocation contributed to the spectacular development of horticulture in Nice and, beyond that, to the multiplication of floral evocations in painting, decorative arts, architecture, literature, public festivals, and tourist promotion of the city. The anthem of Nice, "Nissa la Bella", which proclaims Nice "queen of flowers", illustrates the power of this true myth whose historical roots are nevertheless real and deep.
View catalog preview (pdf - 1.67 Mo)
« Nice, cinémapolis »
Collective work under the direction of Jean-Jacques Aillagon,
Chairman of the Mission Nice Patrimoine Mondial, General Curator for the Nice 2019 Nice 2019. The Odyssey of the cinema season exhibitions.
In fine éditions / City of Nice
Through a richly documented historical fresco, the catalogue propose to evoke the intimate relationship that links Nice to the cinema, from its invention by the Lumière brothers until today. This chronology from 1896 to 2019, illustrated from numerous collections and more particularly that of the Cinémathèque française, showe the intense cinematographic activity of Nice and the fundamental role that the city played in the development of the 7th art, throughout the 20th century.
Brochure of the exhibition : « Nice, the invention of tourism »
Exhibition presented at the Mission Nice Patrimoine Mondial, as well as in Bulgaria and Hungary
Brochure of the exhibition : « Your memories of La Prom' »
Exhibition presented in 2016 and 2017, at the Mission Nice Patrimoine Mondial
Download the brochure (6.4 Mo)
« Nice in history »
Collective work under the direction of Jean-Jacques Aillagon,
Chairman of the Mission Nice Patrimoine Mondial, General Curator for the Nice 2017. École(S) de Nice season exhibitions.
Somogy éditions / City of Nice
This collective work propose to explore the moments when the local history of Nice was deeply connected with the world history. Thanks to a vast chronology going from the "invention of fire" on the site of Terra Amata 400,000 years ago to the "invention of tourism" in the mid-eighteenth century, passing through the Roman conquest, the "barbarian invasions" and the "Truce of Nice" in 1538, a time gallery offers a surprising journey through the history of Nice and its territory.
« Promenade(S) des Anglais »
Collective work under the direction of Jean-Jacques Aillagon,
Chairman of the Mission Nice Patrimoine Mondial initiative,
General Curator for the Nice 2015. PromenadeS des Anglais season exhibitions.
Lienart Éditions / City of Nice
Promenade(S) des Anglais… An unprecedented, richly documented and illustrated journey through the history of the Promenade itself, a reflection on its natural and historical setting, an exploratory tour of the myths and symbols it nurtured, an inventory of the works of art it inspired. History, geology, town planning, architecture, gardens and parks, places of worship, leisure, literature, music, film, sport, Chagall, Dufy, Matisse - lifting the veil on the exceptional universal value of Nice's urban architectural heritage.