This site museum is located on the hill of Cimiez, ancient ancient city of CimiezCemenelum, capital of the territory of the Alpes Maritimes. This major archaeological site presents the remains of three complete thermal ensembles (Ier in the third century), streets, a residential area with its shops, as well as an amphitheatre. There is also a Paleochrean ensemble consisting of a cathedral and a baptistery corresponding to a last manifestation of urban life toCemenelum(from the fifth century).

The museum, inaugurated in January 1989, succeeds the first site museum created in 1960 in the villa of the Arènes, the current Matisse Museum.

The collections concern the ages of metals, antiquity and develop until the high Middle Ages. They concern lifeCemenelumand the Province ofAlps maritimae, through the many objects discovered during the archaeological excavations of 1950 to 1969 in the site acquired by the municipality niçoise, but also beyond. Indeed, objects from all over the region as well as those found in the wreck of the Fourmigue C off the Gulf-Jan are presented.

Among these objects are the mask of Silène, in bronze, very beautiful piece of the 1st century BC. Still in bronze, the dancing fauna, found in Cimiez.

These pieces and all others, statues, stele, sarcophagus, statuettes, vases, dishes, jewellery, perfume bottles, pins, coins, fragments of furniture and other objects make it possible to evoke the daily life of the people, their social organization, their administrative framework and their spirituality.