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Origin and history

The Musée des Explorations du monde, formerly called the Musée de la Castre, is housed in the remains of a medieval castle built in the 11th century by the monks of Lérins on the Suquet in Cannes. This castle, built on a quadrangular plane with dungeon, chapel and watchtower, served as a residence for the abbots of Lérins, lords of the region. Damaged at the end of the 16th century and partially destroyed in the 18th century, it was sold as a national property during the Revolution, then transformed into a ceramic factory before being acquired by the city in 1919 to install a museum.

The museum originated in 1877 thanks to the donation of Baron Tinco Martinus Lycklama to Nijeholt, a Dutch traveller who offered his collections of oriental antiques and ethnographic objects to Cannes. These collections, enriched by gifts such as those of Alphonse de Rothschild or Edmond Ginoux de la Coche (explorer in Polynesia), were first exhibited in the town hall before being transferred to the castle of La Castre from 1920. The museum, labeled "Museum of France", today presents primitive arts (Himalaya, Arctic, Oceania), Mediterranean antiques and 19th century Provencal paintings.

The site includes a medieval tower of 109 steps offering a 360° panorama of Cannes Bay, as well as a Mediterranean garden. The Sainte-Anne chapel and the tower, classified as historical monuments in 1937, bear witness to the defensive architecture of the Middle Ages. In 2021, the city of Cannes officially renamed the "Musée des Explorations du Monde" institution, reflecting its encyclopaedic vocation and heritage linked to the great travellers-collectors.

The permanent collections revolve around four major ensembles: Himalayan and Tibetan arts (masks, votive statues), Inuit objects reported by Gontran de Poncins, pre-Columbian pieces (ceramics, sculptures), and Mediterranean antiques (sumerian tablets, paleo-Christian sarcophagi). A room is dedicated to 19th century provencal landscapes, with works by Joseph Contini and Adolphe Fioupou, illustrating the evolution of the landscape genre.

The museum is also due to patrons such as Jacqueline Damien, who in 1992 bequeathed his father's collection, René Damien, a specialist in ancient metals. Deposits of the Louvre, including five sarcophagi (Egyptian, Etruscan, Paleo-Christian), complete the funds. The institution thus perpetuates the tradition of cabinets of curiosities, while offering a unique testimony of cultural explorations and exchanges throughout the centuries.

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