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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 Riviera tourism, the French model of cultural, heritage and tourism development is brought to the fore. Nice’s inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List will raise the cultural profile and attractiveness of France as a whole. » declared Jean-Yves Le Drian.

« Nice’s nomination, which we have decided to submit this year, is profoundly original. It underlines the heritage value of a previously unknown form of urban development: cosmopolitan and leisure-focused. From the late 18th century onwards, Nice was the scene of the invention of an important aspect of modern life. » declared Franck Riester.

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

« The City of Nice is delighted and honored the French Government decided to accept the nomination of "Nice, capital of Riviera tourism" for inscription on the World Heritage List and to present it to UNESCO. The City would like to express its gratitude to the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron who, by this choice, highlights the quality of the nomination file presented.

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

The Government’s decision rewards with a success the national phase of this application started in 2012, when the chairmanship of the project was entrusted by the City to Jean-Jacques Aillagon.

The object of the nomination is, let us remember, an urban ensemble of nearly 600 hectares forged, 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 ordered urban planning, its green spaces planted with exotic species, its promenades - in particular the emblematic Promenade des Anglais - its tourism heritage, reflecting influences from around the world, with its villas, hotels and “palaces”, its leisure apartments, as well as places of worship and social life.

Tourism, a major phenomenon in the contemporary world, at times lamented for its excesses, can also be conducive to the creation of original heritage, carrying outstanding universal value. Nice attests to this. »

Jean-Jacques Aillagon, former Minister of Culture and Communication, Chairman of the Nice World Heritage Nomination Team:

« To all those who took part in this work, I would like to express my gratitude and the hope that, over the coming months, we will succeed in convincing UNESCO of the quality of our application.

In recent decades, UNESCO has inscribed on the World Heritage List a series of sites that are demonstrative of major phenomena of civilisation. To mention only the French ones, there is Albi, which shows the influence of episcopal power on the organisation of medieval towns; Versailles, which has become the very symbol of the architected design of natural and urban spaces by royal power; Bordeaux, which reflects Enlightenment thought; and Le Havre, a blueprint for post-war reconstruction. The inscription of Nice, capital of Riviera tourism, would similarly mean the inclusion on the World Heritage List of a new cultural site, it too derived from a phenomenon of civilisation, in this case the advent and the subsequent development in modern societies of what is today known as tourism. »

Nomination press release

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The bow-windows walk

In the context of the application of Nice for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List, a partnership was signed between the Nice Côte d'Azur Metropolitan Authority and the PACAN association, created by Jean-Claude Roy and Silvano Bartolini, authors of “The Bow-windows walk, in the heart of the city of Nice” (Socca Publishing), and by Jacques Micheli, designer of an application that allows you to explore and discover, on computer or directly on your mobile phone, these special architectural elements that are so numerous in Nice.

The bow-windows walk

Current exhibition : « Nice, the invention of tourism »

MISSION NICE PATRIMOINE MONDIAL
75, quai des États-Unis

Exhibition : « Nice, the invention of tourism »
Bencho Obreshkov, Nice’s landscape, 1939, Sofia, National Gallery of Beaux-Arts © All rights reserved

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Mission Nice Patrimoine Mondial

Logo de la Mission Nice Patrimoine Mondial

Overview

In the summer of 2014 was created the Mission Nice Patrimoine Mondial, in charge of the project for the inscription of Nice on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The chairmanship of the project was entrusted by the Mayor of Nice, Mr. Christian Estrosi, to Mr. Jean-Jacques Aillagon, former Minister for Culture and Communication.

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

The application concerns all the neighborhoods shaped by the development of tourism activity, from the mid-18th to the mid-20th century. The work of the Mission Nice Patrimoine Mondial identified a heritage asset whose Outstanding Universal Value testifies to a major historical phenomenon, the advent of tourism. The property consists not only of an ensemble of beautiful buildings, but also of an urban fabric with its avenues, streets, squares and gardens. According to UNESCO criteria, this historical urban landscape is "an outstanding example of an architectural ensemble illustrating a significant stage in human history" (criterion iv), namely the origins and development of the tourism phenomenon. Nice also offers “an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning” (criterion ii), and, finally, is a site “directly associated with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance” (criterion vi).

Relevant steps: 2015-2017

The 23rd of October 2015, the City council requested Nice to be included on the Tentative List of France. On 11th October 2016, the French Committee for World Heritage Sites declared the file admissible. This opinion was endorsed by the Ministry of Culture and Communication. The 6th of March 2017 Nice was officially inscribed on the Tentative List of France. This essential step in the application process enabling the City to begin the further study, in cooperation with the three experts nominated by the Committee.

In 2017 October 10th, Christian Estrosi, Mayor of Nice, together with the team led by Jean-Jacques Aillagon, presented to the French Committee for World Heritage Sites, the first arguments of the application. Following this audition, the Outstanding Universal Value, the integrity and the authenticity of the site, were validated and the Ministry of Culture assented "to go on with Nice’s application for inscription on the World Heritage List".

Relevant steps: 2018

After a second audition on the 13th of June 2018, the French Committee for World Heritage Sites validated the proposed perimeter of the core zone. This area covers 566 hectares. It delineates the urban ensemble representative of the Outstanding Universal Value of the site and includes the entire seafront and the city centre, the hills of Mont-Boron, of Cimiez and of the Baumettes, plus some extensions to the north to include the Russian Orthodox Cathedral and the ancient Train Station of the hinterland line. The French Committee also approved the buffer zone. This second perimeter aims to preserve the perspectives from the core zone to the amphitheater of hills surrounding it.

Relevant steps: 2019

The 4th of June 2019, a management plan of the urban ensemble proposed for inscription on the World Heritage List was presented to the French Committee for World Heritage Sites, and then validated by the Minister of Culture, allowing to pursue the application.

At the end of September, a final version of the complete file was presented to the French Ministery of Culture. The government could then decide to submit Nice’s nomination to the World Heritage Centre in 2020, in order to begin its examination by international experts.

January 2020

French government presents Nice's nomination for inscription on the World Heritage List. It shall be examined by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee during its session on July 2021.

« With the nomination of Nice, capital of Riviera tourism, the French model of cultural, heritage and tourism development is brought to the fore. Nice’s inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List will raise the cultural profile and attractiveness of France as a whole. » Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs

« Nice’s nomination, which we have decided to submit this year, is profoundly original. It underlines the heritage value of a previously unknown form of urban development: cosmopolitan and leisure-focused. From the late 18th century onwards, Nice was the scene of the invention of an important aspect of modern life. » Franck Riester, Minister of Culture

Download the press release (3.5 Mo)

Your prom' memories

You can add your personal and family photographs to this gallery and take part in our initiative of collecting historical traces of the social life of the Prom’!

Nota Bene: Any total or partial reproduction of the presented elements is forbidden, without prior agreement of the donors.

The last 60 memories :

1890...
...2020

See all memories

Share your memories

Bring your photos and personal or vintage documents to the Mission Nice Patrimoine Mondial offices at 75 Quai des Etats-Unis where we'll create digital copies, or use the form below.

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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