Musée des Merveilles, Archaeological museum in Tende, France

The Musée des Merveilles is an archaeological museum in Tende dedicated to ancient rock carvings found across the surrounding landscape. The exhibits display artifacts and objects that reveal how people lived and worked in this region over thousands of years.

The museum opened in 1996 to preserve findings from prehistoric times spanning several thousand years. These early periods show the first traces of human settlement in this part of the Alps.

The museum takes its name from the Vallée des Merveilles, the valley whose rock faces bear around 50,000 engravings. The permanent galleries present these carvings alongside the daily life and cults of Protohistoric Alpine populations, and display the original engraved stele known as the "chief of the tribe", replaced in the valley by a copy.

The museum is in the village of Tende, 80 km from Nice, 55 km from Menton and 45 km from Ventimiglia, reached by the RD204 road. Tende station has a car park less than 100 m away, and the Train des Merveilles (Nice–Breil-sur-Roya–Tende) stops nearby. The permanent galleries cover 750 m² of the 2,000 m² building.

The museum uses advanced technology to create three-dimensional models of the ancient carvings, revealing details that are hard to see with the naked eye. This research method has helped uncover thousands of figures that would otherwise remain hidden from view.