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Application for
Nice, capital of the Riviera tourism
for inclusion on the UNESCO
World Heritage list

News

French government presents Nice's nomination for inscription on the World Heritage List

Mr. Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, and Mr. Franck Riester, Minister of Culture, announce that the application of Nice will be examined by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee during its session on July 2021.

« With the nomination of Nice, capital of the Riviera tourism, it is the model of cultural, heritage and tourism development in France that is thus highlighted. The inscription of Nice as a UNESCO World Heritage Site would strengthen the attractiveness and the cultural influence of all French territories. » declared Jean-Yves Le Drian.

« Nice’s nomination file, which we have decided to defend this year, is deeply original. It underlines the heritage value of a new type of urbanism: cosmopolitan and oriented on leisure. What has happened in Nice from the end of the 18th century was the invention of an important part of our modernity. » declared Franck Riester.

Christian Estrosi, Mayor of Nice, President of the Metropolis Nice Côte d´Azur, Deputy President of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d´Azur Region :

« I am delighted and honored that the French Government has decided to accept the nomination of "Nice, capital of the Riviera tourism" for inscription on the World Heritage List and to present it to UNESCO. I would like to express all my gratitude to the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron who, by this choice, highlights the quality of the nomination file presented by our city.

The World Heritage Committee will thus be able, from 2021, during its plenary session, to evaluate this application after its examination by ICOMOS experts.

The Government’s decision rewards the national phase of this application, which I started in 2012, by entrusting its management to Jean-Jacques Aillagon.

The object of the nomination file is, let us remember, an urban landscape of almost 600 hectares constituted, from 1760 to the present day, by two and a half centuries of tourism economy and by the exclusive role that it has played in the urban development of Nice.

This ensemble is characterized by its regulated urban planning, its green spaces, planted with exotic species, its walks in the forefront of which, the emblematic Promenade des Anglais, its leisure-oriented heritage, reflecting contributions from around the world, with its villas, hotels and “palaces”, its leisure rental apartment buildings, frequently named "palais", as well as its international community churches and other places of cosmopolitan social life.

Tourism, a major phenomenon in the contemporary world, whose excesses are sometimes deplored, has also been conducive to the creation of a specific heritage, carrying outstanding universal value. Nice attests to this. »

Jean-Jacques Aillagon, former Minister of Culture and Communication, President of the Nice World Heritage Mission :

« To all those who took part in this work, I express my gratitude and I wish that we will be able to convince the UNESCO advisory bodies, over the coming months, of the quality of this application.

Over the past decades, UNESCO has inscribed on the World Heritage List a number of sites which bear witness to great phenomena of civilization. Mentioning only French sites, Albi testifies to the influence of the episcopal power on the organization of medieval cities, Versailles, has become the symbol of the architectural scenography of natural and urban spaces by royal power, Bordeaux is a reflection of the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment, and Le Havre is the model of a city of Reconstruction. In the same way, the inscription of Nice, capital of Riviera tourism, would make it possible to inscribe on the World Heritage List a new cultural site, also stemming from a phenomenon of civilization, in this case the advent then the development of leisure, within modern societies, and then of what today we call tourism. »

La balade des bow-windows

Dans le cadre de la candidature de Nice au patrimoine mondial, un partenariat vient d’être signé entre la Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur et l’association PACAN, créée par Jean-Claude Roy et Silvano Bartolini, auteurs de l’ouvrage intitulé « La balade des Bow-windows, au cœur de la ville de Nice » (Edition Socca) , et par Jacques Micheli, concepteur d’une application qui vous permettra d’explorer, sur ordinateur ou directement sur le terrain avec votre téléphone mobile, ces éléments d’architecture si particuliers, et si nombreux à Nice.

La balade des bow-windows

Exposition en cours : « Nice ou l’invention du tourisme »

MISSION NICE PATRIMOINE MONDIAL
75, quai des Etats-Unis

Exposition « Nice ou l’invention du tourisme »
Bencho Obreshkov, Paysage de Nice, 1939, Sofia, Galerie nationale des Beaux-arts © Droits réservés

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Mission Nice Patrimoine Mondial

Logo de la Mission Nice Patrimoine Mondial

Overview

In summer 2014, the project team for the Nice Promenade des Anglais's inclusion on UNESCO's World Heritage list moved to offices at 75 Quai des Etats-Unis.

Chairmanship of the project was entrusted by the Mayor Nice Christian Estrosi to the former Minister for Communication and Culture, Jean-Jacques Aillagon.

Nice's application (1/2)

The Promenade des Anglais is a symbol of Nice's reputation and prestige in the field of tourism. It is also a symbol of the seafront belonging to the new town built to the west of the Paillon and on the hillsides, boasting architectural heritage in which the many various layers reflect key chapters in the history of tourism and holiday-making from the 18th to 21st centuries.

This history is particularly palpable in the architecture and urban fabric of the city centre, but can also be seen in parts of the Mont-Boron, Le Piol and the Cimiez hill.

Nice's application (2/2)

A seminar bringing together a number of heritage, tourism history and Nice experts in 2014, as well as the work carried out for summer 2015's 14 exhibitions themed around the Promenade(S) and the CUM conferences rolled out throughout 2015, have all enabled us to refine our arguments for inclusion.

Nice's application for inclusion on France's Tentative List was presented by the mayor to the Ministry for Culture and Communication on 23 October 2015.

Relevant steps

To support our application and in the context of developing the "management plan" required for inclusion on the World Heritage List, the mayor felt that four initial procedures needed to be put to the State:

  • Approaching the Ministry for Culture with a view to awarding Nice the national "City of Art and History" label;
  • Requesting "20th Century Heritage" certification for a dozen buildings on the Promenade and in the vicinity;
  • Carrying out an inventory of the 'new town's' architectural heritage based on norms and standards associated with 'France's general inventory of artistic riches' (Loi Malraux);
  • Creating an 'Aire de Mise en Valeur de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine' (Area for Enhancement of Architecture and Heritage, known as 'AVAP') based on an in-depth assessment of the perimeter put forward for consideration in the application.

Étape 2019

Le 4 juin 2019, un plan de gestion de l’ensemble urbain proposé à l’inscription sur la Liste du patrimoine mondial, a été présenté au Ministère de la Culture, devant le Comité national des biens français du patrimoine mondial, qui a validé ce plan ainsi que la poursuite de la candidature.
Un dossier définitif sera remis au ministre français de la Culture fin septembre. La France aura alors la possibilité de transmettre dès 2020 la candidature de Nice au Centre du patrimoine mondial, afin d’entamer son examen par les experts internationaux.

Démarches associées

Parallèlement, la Ville de Nice et la Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur ont lancé quatre initiatives en liaison avec les services de l’État et de la Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur :

  • Sollicitation du ministère de la Culture et de la Communication en vue de l’attribution à Nice du label « Ville d’art et d’histoire », obtenu en 2019 ;
  • La labellisation « Patrimoine du XXe siècle » pour 8 immeubles en rapport avec l’histoire de la villégiature. Cette labellisation a été accordée par la Commission régionale du patrimoine et des sites en décembre 2015 ;
  • La mise en oeuvre par le service régional de l’Inventaire, d’un inventaire du patrimoine architectural et urbain lié à la villégiature, selon les normes de l’Inventaire général du Ministère de la Culture. Une convention a été signée à ce sujet entre la Ville et la Région le 2 mai 2016 ;
  • La création d’une « Aire de Valorisation de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine », approuvée lors du Conseil métropolitain du 19 février 2016. Le marché d’études a été notifié aux prestataires le 9 novembre 2017 ;

Your prom' memories

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Nota Bene: Any total or partial reproduction of the presented elements is forbidden, unless prior agreement of the donors

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In doing so, you'll be helping to promote and build awareness of our heritage and contributing to Nice's application for inclusion on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

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