High over Nice and its château-bearing hill, this fully functioning monastery, originally established in the 16th century, is worth the pilgrimage. There's a lovely garden, replanted following the original 16th-century lines. There's also the Musée Franciscain (Franciscan Museum), a didactic museum tracing the history of the Franciscan order, and a 15th-century church. The pretty, single-nave chapel contains three works of remarkable power and elegance by Bréa: the early Pietà (1475) flanked by portraits of High Renaissance grace; the Crucifixion (1512); and the Deposition (1520), with intense suppressed emotion.
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