The City of Nice highlights the mission of the general inventory. The traveling exhibition "Inventory Reflection" sets the scene and puts on a spectacular display with a selection of remarkable facades and decorations…
Architecture at Eye Level
"There are two things in a building: its use and its beauty. Its use belongs to the owner, its beauty belongs to everyone, to you, to me, to all of us." Victor Hugo, "War Against the Demolishers", Revue des Deux Mondes, March 1, 1832
In this commemorative year of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of writer, art critic, and philosopher André Malraux, the City of Nice highlights the mission of the general inventory. Indeed, as Minister of Cultural Affairs at the time, he created the General Inventory of the Monuments and Artistic Treasures of France in 1964 to catalog, study, and make known the heritage of our country.
The City of Nice, in partnership with the South Region, launched its heritage inventory for vacation properties in 2017, as part of the City of Nice's candidacy for UNESCO World Heritage status. Since then, the Research and Inventory group of the City Art and History Department has been cataloging, studying, and promoting buildings and urban landscapes that testify to the history and heritage richness of our territory. Adjoining or isolated buildings, individual or duplex villas, squares and private ornamental gardens, places of sociability, urban development projects, commemorative monuments… The traveling exhibition "Inventory Reflection" sets the scene and puts on a spectacular display with a selection of remarkable facades and decorations.
For its first itinerary stop on the gates of the Alsace-Lorraine Garden, two panels specifically highlight the Art Deco style and the tree-lined spaces of the neighborhood.
Coming Soon: From January 10 to March 31, 2027, discover the "Inventory Reflection" exhibition on the gates of Wilson Square.
Good to Know
If your home preserves remarkable heritage, contact the Inventory team of the City Art and History Department of the City of Nice: [email protected]
Focus on Inventory Professions
The Documentary Researcher
Their motto: Catalog, study, make known!
Studying a given territory or a particular theme, they combine their knowledge and field observations with research conducted on various archival sources:
- Archives relating to building permits
- National or local architecture journals
- Architect or notarial archives, various photographic collections, collections from urban planning administrations and departments
The Illustrator, the Photographer, and the Graphic Designer
The work of the illustrator has been considered, from the very beginning of the inventory, as essential for the memory and understanding of buildings and objects, and then of traditions and intangible heritage. The photographer's work follows from the first photographs taken in the 19th century around the then-emerging concept of historical monuments. An inventory photograph seeks neutrality, avoiding any effect that could alter the perception of the object being studied, in order to benefit from precise documentation of the object itself and its environment. The graphic designer can also intervene when conditions do not allow for relevant photographic coverage or when it is appropriate to illustrate a complex evolution of the built environment.
The Cartographer
Cartography makes it possible to reveal the collected data and chronological changes in a territory, thanks to the links it maintains with databases resulting from the inventory. In order to study the built heritage inventory, illustrate it, and better understand the territory, it is necessary to create drawings, maps, and plans according to scientific techniques. To do this, geographic information systems (GIS) are increasingly used, as well as DTP (Desktop Publishing), an essential tool for image processing.
Source: Ville de Nice