Nice, National Marc Chagall Museum
In 1969, the French Minister of Culture, André Malraux, decided to build a museum to preserve Biblical
Message after it was donated to the government. Building started in 1970 on a large piece of land, made
available by the City of Nice, where a turn-of-the-century villa sat in ruins. Chagall himself monitored the
project with interest and even requested that an auditorium be included among the planned rooms. He also
wanted to embellish the building by adding stained glass in the auditorium and a mosaic, which required a
change in the organization of the visitors’ movement. In 1973, the artist attended the inauguration of the Marc
Chagall Biblical Message National Museum, alongside André Malraux and the incumbent Minister of Culture,
Maurice Druon. After Chagall’s death, the museum received a substantial portion of the Chagall trust, which
included more than 300 works. New acquisitions were slowly added to the collections, and with support from
the painter’s heirs, the museum became a full-fledged monograph, bearing witness both to the spirituality
of the artist’s work and to his contribution to 19th century art movements. In 2008, the museum changed its
name to the National Marc Chagall Museum.