Nice Observatory
Heritage
Built between 1881 and 1887 on a north-south oriented crest line of 375 m above sea level, the historical observatory occupies a 35-hectare estate overlooking the city of Nice and is part of a mountain range connecting the Mediterranean coast to the Mercantour Park.First French observatory establishedfollowing a site search campaign for astronomical observations, the Nice observatory is also thefirst permanent European observatory built at altitude.
Since the establishment was able to resist the anarchical urbanization thrusts of the 1970s, the astronomical site of Mont-Gros remains widely readable. From the city the large white dome is on the sky, at the highest location the shelter of the large meridian circle, then regularly spaced the shelters, also white from the other instruments. At the bottom of the ridge, the ochre building that houses the library extends horizontally to the center of the composition, separated from the enclosure wall by wide vegetation.
Although embarrassed to the west by the city’s light pollution, astronomical position observations are still possible at Mont-Gros (although weakly luminous stars are not accessible to observation). On the other hand, photometric and spectroscopic observations commonly performed at the end of the nineteenth century are no longer possible. Now global problem,Combating light pollutionis also part of the UNESCO Thematic Initiative “Astronomy and World Heritage”.
Walls for more than a century, the Mont-Gros estate has a remarkable fauna and flora, some of which are protected under the title ofthe Bern Conventionrelative to the conservation of the wildlife and natural environment of Europe. This is why in 1989 the establishment signed a convention to manage the sites of Mont-Gros and the plateau of Calern with theCEN Paca, approved regional association for the protection of nature.
The architectural set is protected under historical monuments.
Cliché Marc Heller © Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur