In June 2019, in the village of Contes, twenty minutes from Nice, Sébastien Dalbera has turned his personal collection into a Carnival Museum, the only one in France dedicated to this festivity.
With models of floats, "big heads" and costumes, the Carnival Museum offers an introduction to this ancestral art.
500m² are dedicated to the secrets of carnival creations, from small cardboard figurines to Nice's famous "big heads", disproportionate cardboard figures representing celebrities and others.
Both fun and historical, the museum aims to shed light on the work of carnival-goers, while passing on this ancestral art to younger visitors.
A little history...
First and foremost, it's the story of a child who was fascinated by the Nice Carnival from an early age.
He took an interest in the behind-the-scenes workings of the floats and the famous Grosses Têtes, and at the age of 12 received his first prize for building a miniature float. His childhood dream came true when he became a carnival worker for the Nice Carnival.
Over the years, he accumulated a wealth of collectors' items and miniature models.
From fragments of the Nice carnival, he then widened his field of research to various carnivals in the region and the rest of the world.
"The oldest piece we have dates back to 1875, two years after the start of the municipal carnival. But it's constantly evolving, so we change with the times," explains Sébastien Dalbera.
Carnival Museum
146, chemin Las Ayas
06390 Contes
Tel.: 06 89 20 17 64
