Last modified: 2003-05-17 by ivan sache
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![[Flag of Cagnes]](../images/f/fr-06-cg.gif)
by Ivan Sache
Source: Guide Gallimard Alpes-Maritimes
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Cagnes-sur-Mer is a city of c. 40,000 inhabitants, located between Antibes and Nice.. The city of Cagnes is made of three parts: the Haut-de-Cagnes, the medieval village grouped around the castle; Cagnes-Ville, the modern city; and the Cros-de-Cagnes, the sea resort and marina built along the Baie des Anges (Bay of Angels). Cagnes is also famous for its horse race track.
In the VIth century, monks of the abbey of Lérins (located
on a small island off Antibes) built a monastery on the mouth of
river Loup, devoted to the Golden Virgin (Deaurata). The first
city of Cagnes was built on the top of a rock to prevent attacks from
the sea. The three gates of the city controlled the three main roads
to Nice, Antibes and Saint-Paul-de-Vence. The castle was built in
1310 by Rainier Grimaldi, Lord of Monaco,
Admiral of France and Lord of France. A branch of the Grimaldi family
ruled Cagnes until the French Revolution (1789). In 1620, Henri
Grimaldi transformed the old medieval castle into a rich palace where
he attracted a brilliant court. Henri advised his cousin Henri II,
Lord of Monaco, to denounce the protection treaty with Spain and ask
for the French protection, which was granted by the treaty of
Péronne (1641).
The castle was bought by the municipality of Cagnes in 1936 and
transformed into a museum (museum of olive-tree, museum of
Mediterranean modern art). The impressionist painter Auguste Renoir
(1841-1919) spent the last ten years of his life in the Collettes
estate, now Renoir Museum. The expressionist painter of Lituanian
origin Chaim Soutine (1893-1943) stayed in Cagnes in the 1920s.
Ivan Sache, 30 July 2002
The flag of Vence is vertically divided red-blue
Ivan Sache, 31 July 2002