Ancien palais du Sénat, Heritage center in Old Nice, France

The Ancien palais du Sénat is a three-storey building at the foot of Nice's former fortress, near the chapelle du Saint-Suaire on rue Jules-Gilly, where the Sovereign Senate of Nice was installed in 1655. Its entrance is decorated with a loggia. In 1701 it received a chapel and an archive depository, and in 1763 an audience hall with a hemicycle was fitted out. A plaque placed on the facade in 1999 recalls this history.

Created by letters patent of Duke Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy on 8 March 1614, the Sovereign Senate of the County of Nice sat from 1655 in a three-storey building with a loggia entrance below the fortress, near the chapel of the Holy Shroud on rue Jules-Gilly. Its members fled on 28 September 1792, the eve of the French entry, and the delegation was abolished on 17 December 1796. Restored in 1814, the Senate gained appeal-court powers in 1848; in 1860 the annexation of the county to France was proclaimed in its rooms, and after 1860 it became Nice's civil court.

The building is named for the Sovereign Senate of the County of Nice, created on 8 March 1614 by letters patent of Duke Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy. Its members included a president, four senators, two fiscal advocates, an advocate for the poor, a secretary, two ushers, eight justice soldiers and a provost. A plaque placed on the facade in 1999 recalls this history.

The building stands on rue Jules-Gilly, near the Chapelle du Saint-Suaire, at the foot of the former fortress. Since summer 2016 it has housed the heritage centre that was previously at 75 quai des États-Unis and then place Pierre Gautier. A plaque recalling its history was fixed to the facade in 1999.

The building's facade carries a plaque installed in 1999 recalling its history, and above the ground-floor door a stone plaque reads "ANCIEN PALAIS DU SÉNAT" and "HÔTEL DE VILLE". After the new courthouse opened in 1885 under Jules Gilly, the former senate rooms served as a night shelter for the needy until the men's hostel moved to rue Trachel in summer 2013.