Musée des Arts Asiatiques, Nice

The Asian Arts Museum is a museum located in the Phoenix Park, Nice, which houses collections of Asian arts. It was inaugurated in 1998. Its pieces come in their majority from legacies to the city of Nice.

The museum was designed by the Japanese architect Kenzo Tange: "In my mind, this museum is a jewel of snow shining in the azure of the Mediterranean. It is a swan floating on a peaceful lake amidst lush vegetation. ". The building is located above an artificial lake inside a floral park. It gives the illusion of floating on the water like a lotus flower.

The architectural aesthetics of the museum is based on the contrast of solid forms covered with marble balcony giving an impression of robustness and transparent walls giving it a lightness. The shrinking of the walls in contact with the water gives the building an impression of playing with the laws of weightlessness.

The initiative for this construction by Jacques Médecin, mayor of Nice from 1966 to 1990, is linked to the exhibition of Pierre-Yves Trémois' works that he proposed to give to the city.