Ancient monuments Provence-Alpes-Côte D'Azur

Located on Cimiez hill, these arenas are classified Historical Monument. Real open-air archaeological museum, they form an enclosure of 67 by 56 meters and is one of the smallest known Roman amphitheaters in France. Built by the Romans in the first century BC the "Cemelenum arenas" were the scene of many events: gladiator fights, games and other great shows held there regularly in the pure traditions of the Roman Empire. Today, with a capacity that is estimated around 5,000 spectators, they have a beautiful setting to host some Nice cultural and folkloric events. Just next door, the park with the same name is an ideal place for a picnic in the middle of olive trees, close to the Matisse Museum and the Archaeological Museum.

Forming an ellipse of 67 on 56 metres, the Arènes arenas (name of the Roman city) have a capacity of 4 000 spectators. Built in the st century BC, they were the subject of several successive enlargements to accompany the development of the city. Games, fighting, circus performances were taking place on a daily basis, in the purest tradition of the grandiose staging that the Roman Empire knew organized in all the cities it had colonized.

Now half destroyed, the bullring at Ruins offer a prestigious setting that is the traditional festive theatre or jazz festival.

Standing in the middle of the field, these four superb columns in grey monolithic granite, ending in white marble Corinthian capitals and surmounted by a sculpted architrave, are the remains of a temple probably erected to the glory of Apollo, probably at the very end of the 1st century BC. A majestic testimony to the city founded by the Emperor Augustus, which was called civitas Julia Augusta Reiorum Apollinaris. A signpost recalls their origins and shows what the ancient temple was, where the columns at its entrance were located.

The baptistery is a building annexed to a church and intended above all for baptisms. Part of a large episcopal group erected on the remains of ancient Roman baths, the baptistery was built in the^5th century AD. Once surrounded by a portico, it has been reworked and restored over the years. It remains one of the few moving testimonies of this period, since the seat of the bishopric was dismantled during the French Revolution. Further east, some remains of the early Christian cathedral remain.