The Musée Marc Chagall is dedicated to the work of painter Marc Chagall - essentially his works inspired by religion - located in Nice in the Alpes-Maritimes.
The museum was created during the lifetime of the artist and inaugurated in 1973. It houses the series of seventeen paintings illustrating the biblical message, painted by Chagall and offered to the French State in 1966. This series illustrates the books of Genesis, Exodus and the Song of Songs.
Chagall himself provided detailed instructions about the creation of the garden by Henri Fish, and decided the place of each of his works in the museum. The chronological order of the works was not followed. Chagall created the mosaic which overlooks the pond and the blue stained glasses that decorate the concert hall; he also wanted an annual exhibition to be held on a topic related to the spiritual and religious history of the world.
As the collection has grown, what was a museum illustrating the theme Biblical message has become a monographic museum dedicated to Chagall's works of religious and spiritual inspiration. In 1972, the artist gave the museum all the preparatory sketches of the Message Biblique as well as stained glass and sculptures, and in 1986, the museum acquired, in lieu of inheritance taxes, the complete drawings and gouaches painted to depict the Exodus and ten other paintings, which includes the triptych named Résistance, Résurrection, Libération. Other acquisitions complemented the museum's collections, which now has one of the largest collection of works by Marc Chagall.
The Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg is situated in a strategic area on a rocky spur overlooking the Upper Rhine Plain, it was used by successive powers from the Middle Ages until the Thirty Years' War when it was abandoned. From 1900 to 1908 it was rebuilt at the behest of the German kaiser Wilhelm II. Today it is a major tourist site, attracting more than 500,000 visitors a year.
The first records of a castle built by the Hohenstaufens date back to 1147. The fortress changed its name to Koenigsburg (royal castle) around 1157. The castle was handed over to the Tiersteins by the Habsburgs following its destruction in 1462. They rebuilt and enlarged it, installing a defensive system designed to withstand artillery fire.
The fortification work accomplished over the 15th century did not suffice to keep the Swedish artillery at bay during the Thirty Years War, and the defences were overrun.