The changing shows
Historic and contemporary photography, several times a year.
Charles Nègre — CC0 · Charles Nègre — Public domain · Sprsarcastique — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Charles Nègre (1820 - 1880) – Photographer (French) Details on Google Art Project — Public domain
The Charles Nègre museum is Nice's museum of photography, in a seventeenth-century building in the heart of the old town, steps from Cours Saleya. It is named for **Charles Nègre** (1820–1880), one of the earliest French photographic pioneers, who spent his last years in Nice and documented the city and the Riviera when the camera was still a new invention. There is no large permanent display: the museum runs on **temporary exhibitions** that change several times a year — historic and contemporary photography, French and international — so what you see depends entirely on when you visit. Check the current show before going. The building itself is handsome, with stone stairs and vaulted rooms, entry is **free**, and its position in the middle of the old town makes it an easy stop on a rainy or scorching day — a quiet hour among the lanes of old Nice.
Historic and contemporary photography, several times a year.
Seventeenth-century stone stairs and vaulted rooms.
1 Place Pierre Gautier, 06300 Nice
Cours Saleya and the Flower MarketCours Saleya is the beating heart of old Nice: a long paved square between the o1 minute walk4.4
The Prefectoral PalaceA palace at the edge of old Nice, once the residence of the rulers of Savoy and 1 minute walk4.6
The Chapel of MercyA small church on the Cours Saleya in old Nice, built between 1740 and 1786, and1 minute walk4.4
Old NiceOld Nice is the maze between the castle hill and the sea: a dense network of nar2 minutes walk
The Church of the AnnunciationThe oldest church in old Nice, known among residents as Santa Rita after Saint R2 minutes walk4.9Nice is generous here: the Charles Nègre photography museum is **free**, the Museum of Asian Arts is **free**, and many of the city's municipal museums run on a cheap combined pass covering several over a few days (Matisse, Fine Arts, Masséna — the Chagall is national and separately ticketed). Ask at the first museum you enter about the **museum pass**; it saves a lot if you will see more than two.