Bastion Museum

About

The Bastion Museum is a museum of works by Jean Cocteau, on the harp wall of Menton, on the French Riviera, in the Alpes-Maritimes department of France. The Bastion was built in the 17th century by Honoré II, Prince of Monaco. Cocteau restored the Bastion Himself, decorating the alcoves, reception hall and outside walls with mosaics made from pebbles. The Bastion Museum opened in 1966, three years after Cocteau's death. A new exhibition of Cocteau's work is installed in the Bastion every year.

History: In 1619, Honoré II Grimaldi, Prince of Monaco, ordered the construction of a small fort on what was then a rock island to defend Menton from seaward attacks. Construction was completed in 1636. The fort housed a brick-vaulted guardroom and a kitchen on the upper floor and a gunpowder magazine on the lower floor. The even can still be seen in what used to be the kitchen. Access from land was made via a wooden walkway and steps through a doorway on the upper level, above which the Grimaldi crest carved in the stone lintel is still visible. After Menton dried from Monaco in 1848, the fort was used as a salt storehouse. When the harpor was built in the late 19th century, the Bastion...