Photo : MdMTende / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Musée des merveilles
The Musée départemental des Merveilles is at Tende, in the Alpes-Maritimes, about 80 km from Nice. It is devoted to the rock engravings of the Mont Bégo region, in the Mercantour National Park, where tens of thousands of engravings are counted, mostly dated between 3200 and 1300 BCE.
The project was launched in 1987 by the Département and the commune of Tende, the building was bought in 1989, and the museum was inaugurated in 1996. Its roughly 900 m² of exhibition space were renovated in 2019.
The permanent galleries evoke the evolution of humankind and landscape, prehistoric archaeology, rock art around the world, as well as popular traditions and local history. Some engraved rocks, removed for protection, are on show, alongside many casts of the most characteristic panels, such as the "Ladder of Paradise" or the "Tribal Chief". You discover cattle, geometric figures, weapons and human representations.
A conservation and study centre, the museum offers guided visits and workshops. It is the ideal preamble to a hike to the engravings, reached only on foot.
