Cimiez: Roman Ruins & Monastery
Cimiez: Roman Ruins & Monastery is one of the narrated stops on the self-guided Nice audio walking tour in Gingerguide. Plan about ~60 min here. Press play at the spot for its two to three minute story, or ask the AI guide anything about it.
- Type ruins
- Suggested visit ~60 min
- Nice Nice guide
About Cimiez: Roman Ruins & Monastery
The hill where Nice began as Roman Cemenelum, a 2,000-year-old arena and baths among the olives, crowned by a Franciscan monastery with Bréa altarpieces, a glorious garden view, and Matisse's grave.
Cimiez, on the hill above Nice, was the site of Cemenelum, capital of the Roman province of Alpes Maritimae, a town of perhaps 10,000 people from the 1st to 4th centuries AD. Its ruins survive among the olive trees: an amphitheatre (the arènes de Cimiez, holding around 5,000), three complexes of public baths, and an archaeology museum of finds from the site. Beside them stands the Monastère de Cimiez, home to Franciscan friars since 1546 on a site of prayer recorded from 1010; its church holds three altarpieces by the Nice-school painter Louis Bréa (c.1475-1515), and its garden, a former monks' kitchen garden, gives a celebrated view over the city and bay. Matisse and Raoul Dufy are buried in the adjoining cemetery. It lies within Cimiez, above the historic city of Nice.
Did you know? Long before the seaside town existed, the real Roman city here was Cemenelum, up on Cimiez hill, a provincial capital of some 10,000 people, whose arena and great bath-halls still stand among the olive trees.
How long should you spend at Cimiez: Roman Ruins & Monastery?
Plan about ~60 min at Cimiez: Roman Ruins & Monastery. That is enough to take it in and hear its narrated story; stay longer if it grabs you. The tour is self-guided, so there is no rush.
Is Cimiez: Roman Ruins & Monastery worth visiting?
Cimiez: Roman Ruins & Monastery is one of the 18 sights the Gingerguide team researched and narrated in Nice, so it earns a place on a self-guided walk. Its story explains why it matters, and you can ask the AI guide anything the story leaves open.
Nearby stops in Nice
Hear the story of Cimiez: Roman Ruins & Monastery
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