Cimiez is an upper class neighborhood in Nice, France. The area contains the Henri Matisse Museum and the Roman Ruins (arena, amphitheatre, thermal baths, and paleochristian basilica). In July every year the Jazz Festival of Nice is held on the grounds of the Roman Ruins in Cimiez. Close to the ruins is the splendid Hôtel Régina where Queen Victoria spent part of her long visits to the French Riviera.
In Roman times it was called Cemenelum; on the Ligurian coast. It was the capital of the province Alpes Maritimae. The city it was an important rival of Nice, continuing to exist as a separate city till the time of the Lombard invasions, and has left its ruins at Cimiez; it is now a quarter of Nice.
Cimiez Monastery
Also here can be found the Monastère de Cimiez (Cimiez Monastery) and church that have been used by the Franciscan monks since the 16th century. The church owns "La Pietà", "La Crucifixion" and "La Déposition", three of the most important works from the medieval artist Louis Bréa. On display are more than 300 documents and works of art from the 15th to 18th centuries. Buried in the cemetery near the monastery are the painters Henri Matisse and Raoul Dufy plus the winner of the 1937 Nobel Prize for Literature, Roger Martin du Gard.
