Observatory of the côte d'azur is located two kilometers North of the Park of Mont Boron, on the summit of Mont Gros (370 meters above sea level). This is not only a world-renowned scientific laboratory, but also a cultural center, where every year thousands of tourists come.

Created the Observatory of the French banker and patron of the Sciences of Dutch origin Raphael-Louis Bilisim. He was an avid Amateur astronomer, has funded the work of the observatories of Paris and located in the Pyrenees at the Pic du MIDI. In 1878 he bought the top of Mont Gros and asked his friend the architect Charles Garnier, the design for a new Observatory. The site was chosen with knowledge of the case: crystal clear air nice and large number of cloudless days create perfect conditions for observations.

The Observatory complex consists of 18 buildings, 13 of them have built in the Beaux arts Charles Garnier. For the main building needed a dome with a diameter of 24 meters (more than the Parisian Pantheon). Among the architects announced a competition to design a whopper weighing 162 tons, which was easily and smoothly be rotated around a vertical axis. Won Gustave Eiffel, who offered unexpected technical solution: put the dome on the float, freely floating in the annular channel. So that the channel does not freeze in winter nights, it was filled with a solution of potassium carbonate.

In 1887, under the dome has established the world's largest (at the time) telescope-refractor – with a diameter of 76 inches, 18 feet in length. It complements the smaller the tool diameter of 50 centimeters. On the background of the current giants of the tools look like dwarfs, but with this small telescope astronomer Auguste Honore Sharla opened four dozen asteroids.

In 1986, the Observatory of nice has teamed up with the research centre for geodynamics and astrometry, located in the Maritime Alps. Together they form the Observatory of the côte d'azur. Here and now conducted intensive research, including planetology, stellar physics, gravitational waves.

To the Observatory is a winding road that rises to the top of the hill. The entrance gate is guarded by statues of Physics (the author is the sculptor aimé millet) and Astronomy (the works of Jules Thomas). Hull are in a beautiful Park, spread over an area of 35 hectares. With open views to the West, in the direction of Cannes, and to the East (see Monaco).

Astronomers allow group visits to the Observatory. It offers forest trails and Astrorama" platform with telescopes under the open sky. Here you can listen to a lecture by an employee of the Observatory about the planets, stars, black holes and other wonders of the Universe. On the website "Astronomy" every day indicates the time of sunrise and sunset and the moon and planets. You can see them from here, from the summit of Mont Gros, floating in the star ocean away from the bustling nice.