Cimiez is a neighborhood in Nice

Nice

Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...

, southern France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. The area contains the Musée Matisse

Musée Matisse (Nice)

The Musée Matisse in Nice is a national museum devoted to the work of French painter Henri Matisse. It gathers one of the world's largest collections of his works, which shows his artistic beginnings and his evolution until his last work...

 and the ruins of Cemenelum, capital of the Ancient Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 province Alpes Maritimae

Alpes Maritimae

Alpes Maritimae was a province of the Roman Empire, one of three small provinces straddling the Alps between modern France and Italy...

 on the Ligurian

Ligurian

Ligurian may mean:* Ligurian, pertaining to modern Liguria* Ligurian, pertaining to the ancient Ligures* Ligurian , a modern language spoken in parts of Italy, France, Monaco and Argentina...

 coast. Cemenelum was an important rival of Nice, continuing to exist as a separate city till the time of the Lombard

Lombards

The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...

 invasions.

The ruins include an arena, amphitheatre, thermal baths, and paleochristian basilica. The Nice Jazz Festival

Nice Jazz Festival

The Nice Jazz Festival, held annually since 1948 in Nice, on the French Riviera, is "the first jazz festival of international significance." At the inaugural festival, Louis Armstrong and his All Stars were the headliners...

 is held on the grounds of the Roman Ruins in July each year. Close to the ruins is the splendid Hôtel Régina where Queen Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

 spent part of her long visits to the French Riviera

French Riviera

The Côte d'Azur, pronounced , often known in English as the French Riviera , is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco...

.

Also here can be found the Cimiez Monastery and church that have been used by the Franciscan

Franciscan

Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....

 monks since the 16th century. The church houses the Pietà, Crucifixion and Deposition, by the Italian medieval artist Ludovico Brea

Ludovico Brea

Ludovico Brea was an Italian painter of the Renaissance, active mainly in and near Genoa.Brea was born into a family of coopers in Nice, and later moving to Liguria, he painted numerous altarpieces that displayed both Lombardy and Flemish influences...

. On display are also more than 300 documents and works of art from the 15th to 18th centuries. Buried in the cemetery near the monastery are the painters Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...

 and Raoul Dufy

Raoul Dufy

Raoul Dufy[p] was a French Fauvist painter. He developed a colorful, decorative style that became fashionable for designs of ceramics and textiles, as well as decorative schemes for public buildings. He is noted for scenes of open-air social events...

 plus the winner of the 1937 Nobel Prize for Literature, Roger Martin du Gard

Roger Martin du Gard

Roger Martin du Gard was a French author and winner of the 1937 Nobel Prize for Literature. Trained as a paleographer and archivist, Martin du Gard brought to his works a spirit of objectivity and a scrupulous regard for details...

.

External links

• Matisse Museum
• Nice jazz festival
• Cimiez was also the place of famous feasts: “of the small gourds”...