The Palais Lascaris is one of the most curious buildings of nice. It is located in the heart of the Old town on Rue Droite, so narrow, that from the street to appreciate the beauty of the Palace is absolutely impossible. But inside welcome the tourists with stylish interiors, magnificent frescoes and a Museum of musical instruments – the second wealthiest collection in France.

Neither the exact year of construction, nor the name of the architect of the Palace is not known. What is clear is that he belongs to the first half of the XVII century and in the style of the Italian Baroque. Until 1802 it was owned by an ancient noble family of Lascaris-Ventimiglia, whose genealogy is from the XIII century, when Guillaume-Pierre 1st, count of Ventimiglia, married the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Theodore II Evdokia Lascaris. By the end of the XIX century, the Palace fell into decay, and in 1942 it was bought by the city to create regional Museum of art and folk traditions.

To repair the Palace started only in 1963, the work took seven years. Now its interiors make a strong impression: monumental marble staircases, arcades and galleries, decorated with numerous statues, many frescoes with mythological subjects pertaining to the middle of the seventeenth century. Inside the Palace in abundance are also Flemish tapestries, furniture of the XVII-XVIII centuries, fine moldings.

In 1904 in nice died industrialist and Amateur musician Antoine Gauthier, who bequeathed to the city his huge collection of musical instruments. The collection is stored sequentially in different museums and the Conservatory of nice, but in 2001 it was transferred to the Palais Lascaris, to create there a Museum of musical instruments. It was opened to the public as recently as 2011.

Today the Museum collection includes more than five hundred ancient musical instruments. Among them such rarities as a few violas d'amore XVII-XVIII centuries, viola William Turner (year 1652), Baroque guitar, including the oldest surviving French guitar from Avignon 1645, rare set of clarinets, Oriental musical instruments.

There in the Palace Lascaris and another unusual object: on the ground floor is recreated in minute detail the pharmacy who were here since 1738.