Musée des Explorations du Monde, World exploration museum in Le Suquet, Cannes, France.
The Musée des Explorations du Monde occupies the remains of the medieval castle of the Lérins monks on Place de la Castre, at the top of Le Suquet hill above Cannes. Its quadrangular defensive enclosure holds a lodging block and the Sainte-Anne chapel, and a square watchtower rises in the middle of the central courtyard. The tower's pale grey stone face has two small rectangular openings, and a lower crenellated structure with a rounded corner adjoins it.
The museum began in 1877 when Baron Tinco Martinus Lycklama donated Mediterranean antiquities and ethnographic items from his travels to the Orient. This private collection formed the foundation that still shapes the institution today.
The Oceanian section holds 124 objects, most collected by Edmond Ginoux de la Coche during two stays in Tahiti and the Marquesas in 1843-45 and 1848. The Arctic display includes some sixty Inuit pieces, among them snow goggles and ivory figurines, plus 29 objects acquired in 1973 from Gontran de Poncins's 1938 Netsilik expedition.
The museum is reached on foot through the Suquet hilltop gardens, past Mediterranean pines, before the entrance. Inside, the collections lead to the inner courtyard and the square watchtower, whose 109 steps give a 360° view over the bay and the hills behind Cannes. Allow time for the climb.
A spiral staircase of roughly 109 steps climbs to a medieval tower overlooking Cannes and the coastline. This climb is demanding, but many visitors find the view from above worth the effort.
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