La Chapelle Matisse — Attraction in Grasse

Quite pretty inside but we didn’t realise we’d have to pay when we made the trip from Nice. Seeing as we’d come all the way, we paid the expensive fare: €6 for students. I wouldn’t mind €1 for staff and upkeep, but I’m not sure how they justify that price for every customer. It shocked me because the extensive Matisse Museum in Nice city is FREE for students, and this tiny place with 2 rooms is €6?? Make the trip to Nice and go to the proper museum there! It has a much better collection of his work. And again, FREE for students. The chapel room here was lovely (especially the windows), but for some reason you’re not allowed to take photos. For “copyright reasons”... but you’re allowed to take photos of his other work, and they sell postcards with photos of the chapel on it. Do they think I’m going to pretend I built a whole chapel and made a stained glass window?...

Beautiful chapel by Matisse and amazing views of the old town of Vence.

If you are lucky you might find a parking spot in front of the chapel or nearby. If not, it's a 10-15 minute walk from Vence, depends where you are in Vence. It's a quite straight level walk.

Before you'll arrive at the actual chapel. You'll be guided along original drawings by Matisse. They are studies for the chapel. It's beautiful.

When you'll get at the chapel you'll be amazed. It's bright and delightful. It was bigger than I had guessed. That was a bonus.

After the visit of the chapel you'll be guided along more of Matisse's drawings and even two scale models of the chapel.

There's also a small terrace with a view of Vence.

The visit is well worth the price you'll pay. I loved every...

The chapel is of course stunning and simple. It's set at the side of a small road that snakes out of Vence and you have to park on the road if you come by car.

There's now an exhibition which leads into the chapel. It's interesting (Matisse's preparatory pencil sketches in particular) but I think slightly spoils the simple transcending beauty of just walking down the stairs into the chapel as you used to be able to do. The altar area is now roped off as well, where you used to be able to wander around freely.

If you're a Matisse fan it's absolutely worth seeing, but it's a slightly drier experience now - it feels more like a museum and less like a living place of worship, and for me loses a little in...