Cagnes-sur-Mer is a city in Alpes-Maritimes region of southern France. A French Riviera town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in southeastern France.
The town is divided in three parts. The Cros de Cagnes is the portion of the village that is near the Sea, including the little fishermen harbour. The Cagnes is the modern portion of the village. The Haut de Cagnes is the medieval origin of the Cagnes settlement and nestles around an imposing medieval castle once owned by the Grimaldi dynasty (the Royal family of Monaco). The picture-perfect village has been maintained successfully over the years and offers an alternative to the concrete of the modern French Riviera.
Location
Cagnes-sur-Mer is a town in south-eastern France located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, between Saint-Laurent-du-Var and Villeneuve-Loubet. It stretches along a cove offering nearly four kilometers of beach and is surrounded by hills, including that of the castle which rises to 90 meters above sea level.
History
Cagnes seems to appear in the xi th century. Due to its proximity to the Var river which serves as the border between the county of Provence and that of Savoie, it became an important border post in 1388. After suffering numerous border conflicts in the xvi th century, the town experienced a period of calm during the reign of Louis XIII before undergoing further invasions during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV.
The territory of Cagnes before Cagnes
Like the rest of the coast of the Alpes-Maritimes, the territory of Cagnes-sur-Mer has left traces of ancient occupations. Among them, we can cite in particular an ancient agricultural exploitation at the Moulin de Cassol (near the station) and a ceramic workshop at a place called Saint-Véran.
The first site is presented as a small building housing ponds linked to grape or olive presses to produce wine or oil. It seems to have worked from the middle of i st century and the iii th century, although it has also found ceramics from the v th century associated with the structures uncovered.
In Saint-Veran, an ancient oven was discovered which produced common ceramics (pots, pans…). The furniture consists mainly associated ceramics of the Late Antiquity (v th century). We will note the importance of imports from ancient North Africa and even from the Aegean Sea which show the maintenance of the links of the coast of Gaul with the rest of the Mediterranean during this period.
The Haut de Cagnes
The history of the city is closely linked to that of its castle. In fact, it was in 1309 that Rainier I er Grimaldi, co-lord of Monaco, became lord of Cagnes. He built the Grimaldi castle which would soon become a property of the Grimaldi branch of Antibes, until the French Revolution. In the xvii th century, Jean-Henri Grimaldi, Marquis of Corbons and Baron de Cagnes, under the protection of Louis XIII and Richelieu, transforms the medieval castle into a comfortable residence in which he leads a sumptuous life. But during the French Revolution, the Grimaldi family was driven from the city and took refuge in Nice. The castle was abandoned until an individual bought it and restored it in 1875. The last marquis of Cagnes and Antibes died in Belgium in the xx th century.
Le Cros-de-Cagnes
At the end of the xviii th century, fishermen come from Menton twice a year cast their nets in waters cagnoises. The latter are so full of fish that they decide to settle permanently on this coast, then marshy, quickly joined by Cagnois who abandon their agricultural activities. The village continues to prosper through fishing, reaching its peak at the beginning of xx th century with a fleet of more than a hundred sharp (name given to the local fishing boats). Cros-de-Cagnes celebrated 200 years of its establishment on 1 st June 2013 during a day of festivities involving all local associations.
Sights
Places of interest include Renoir’s estate, Les Collettes, surrounded by olive trees; the Medieval castle at le Haut-de-Cagnes and the Cros quarter, founded by Italian fishermen in the nineteenth century. It is also known for its horse racing venue, the Hippodrome de la Côte d’Azur, and a four-kilometre beach.
Places and monuments
The town contains many monuments and objects listed in the cultural inventory of the general heritage.
Religious buildings
Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Place Joseph Maurel xiii th century.
Church of La Sainte-Famille, Boulevard June.
Church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Mer, avenue Leclerc.
Chapel of Our Lady of Protection, offered by the White Penitents, xvi th century
Chapelle Saint-Pierre-des-Fisherman Drive the Beach at Cros-de-Cagnes, xix th century
Notre-Dame-des-Pilotes chapel, Guillaumet road 1958, still unfinished, remains
Evangelical Church, rue de Verdun.
Swedish Church, rue de Verdun.
Chapelle Sainte-Anne, xiv th century remains.
Former abbey of Saint-Véran du Loup.
Beit Chalom Center, building hosting Synagogue.
Cagnes-sur-Mer Mosque, OMCM.
Memorials.
Grimaldi Castle Museum
Purchased by the municipality in 1939, the castle was transformed into a museum in 1946. In addition to its architectural interest and its fresco representing the fall of Phaeton, produced in 1620 by Giulio Benso, the castle also houses an ethnographic museum of the olive tree, the Suzy Solidor donation comprising around forty portraits of the singer made by great names in the painting of the early xx th century, the donation Andre Verdet and a Mediterranean modern art.. Each summer, the castle also offers temporary exhibitions as part of its International Painting Festival.
The building was built as a fortress in the 13th century and has been transformed into a palace over time. A museum was established in 1946. In the basement of the palace there is a focus area around the topic of olives and their processing. For this purpose, part of the painting collection of the singer Suzy Solidor is shown on the upper floor. Open: July and August: from 10am to 1pm and from 2pm to 6pm; September and April to June: from 10:00 to 12:00 and from 14:00 to 18:00; October to March: from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Renoir Museum
It was in 1907 that the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir acquired a property, in the Collettes district, where he settled in 1908 after having built the villa-workshop and in which he lived until at his death in 1919. He will live there with his wife Aline and their three children, Pierre, Jean and Claude. It is there that he will approach sculpture for the first time with the help of Richard Guino. Despite his rheumatoid arthritis, he painted there until the end of his life. He received many artist friends and his dealer Ambroise Vollard there.
The painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir lived in the house from 1907 until his death in 1919. Although partially modernized, such as heating and windows, most of the house is in its original condition. You can see personal items and some copies of sculptures and paintings. Open: June to September: from 10:00 to 13:00 and from 14:00 to 18:00; October to March: from 10:00 to 12:00 and from 14:00 to 17:00; April and May: from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Today transformed into a museum, this area offers, in addition to visiting the painter’s workshop, paintings from the pearly period (1889 to 1919), sculptures, lithographs and preparatory studies.
Many artists, such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Chaïm Soutine, Raoul Dufy, Tsugouharu Foujita, Victor Vasarely, Moïse Kisling, Yves Brayer, Paul Cognasse and his wife Jeanne Michau aka Calern, Mouloudji, Georges Simenon, Jean Villeri, Brigitte Bardot, Suzy Solidor, Georges Ulmer … stayed and worked in Cagnes-sur-Mer, nicknamed until the 1960s the ” Montmartre of the Côte d’Azur “.
Racecourse
In September 1952, the hippodrome of the Côte d’Azur opens its doors with temporary installations. Eight years later, inDecember 1960is the official inauguration. Since then, the infrastructure has continued to develop and improve, which has enabled it to become one of the most important racetracks in France as well from a sporting point of view (numerous group races in trotting, gallop and obstacle) only at the level of attendance.
French Riviera
The French Riviera is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend from Cassis, Toulon or Saint-Tropez on the west to Menton at the France–Italy border in the east, where the Italian Riviera joins. The coast is entirely within the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region of France. The Principality of Monaco is a semi-enclave within the region, surrounded on three sides by France and fronting the Mediterranean. Riviera is an Italian word that corresponds to the ancient Ligurian territory, wedged between the Var and Magra rivers.
The climate of the Côte d’Azur is temperate Mediterranean with mountain influences on the northern parts of the departments of Var and Alpes-Maritimes. It is characterized by dry summers and mild winters which help reduce the likelihood of freezing. The Côte d’Azur enjoys significant sunshine in mainland France for 300 days a year.
This coastline was one of the first modern resort areas. It began as a winter health resort for the British upper class at the end of the 18th century. With the arrival of the railway in the mid-19th century, it became the playground and vacation spot of British, Russian, and other aristocrats, such as Queen Victoria, Tsar Alexander II and King Edward VII, when he was Prince of Wales. In the summer, it also played home to many members of the Rothschild family. In the first half of the 20th century, it was frequented by artists and writers, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Francis Bacon, Edith Wharton, Somerset Maugham and Aldous Huxley, as well as wealthy Americans and Europeans. After World War II, it became a popular tourist destination and convention site. Many celebrities, such as Elton John and Brigitte Bardot, have homes in the region.
The eastern part (maralpine) of the Côte d’Azur has been largely transformed by the concreting of the coast linked to the tourist development of foreigners from North Europe and the French,. The Var part is better preserved from urbanization with the exception of the agglomeration of Fréjus-Saint-Raphaël affected by the demographic growth of the maralpin coast and the agglomeration of Toulon which has been marked by urban sprawl on its part West and by a spread of industrial and commercial areas (Grand Var).