Plan de Nice is Jacques Nicolas Bellin’s evocative portrait of a Mediterranean city poised between mountain and sea, published in 1764 within his monumental five-volume Petit Atlas Maritime. Bellin fixes Nice at a pivotal moment, when its medieval core still pressed against the shoreline even as strategic works and new commercial quays pulled it outward. This is an especially notable city map because it treats Nice not only as a defensible stronghold but as a living organism—streets, markets, waterfront, and approaches all resolved with the precision of a naval engineer. The result is a rare synthesis of urban and maritime intelligence that reveals how the city’s everyday life nested inside its coastal geography.

Within the walls, Bellin’s burin captures the tight weave of Vieux Nice: a lattice of narrow lanes converging on churchyards, cloisters, and bustling market squares. The plan distinguishes residential clusters from mercantile quarters, where warehouses and workshops hug the approaches to the quays. The Paillon River, then an open watercourse, threads the plan as both barrier and artery, crossed by bridges that regulate movement between the old town and nascent expansions. The street patterns—organic within the ancient core, more rational as they fan toward the riverbanks—provide a lucid reading of how topography and trade shaped daily routes through the city.

True to Bellin’s maritime vocation, the coastline is articulated with crisp exactitude: the arc of the Baie des Anges, the promontories of Castle Hill and Mont Boron, and the carefully drawn shorelines that frame anchorage and landing points. Quays, slips, and protective moles appear in measured relation to the city streets, linking harbor logistics to inland markets. Soundings and a prominently placed scale bar underscore the chart-like utility of the plan, while the orientation makes immediate sense to a navigator approaching from sea. In Bellin’s hands, Nice’s waterfront becomes a hinge—turning between coastal currents and the city’s commercial bloodstream.

The fortifications around Mont Boron receive uncommon attention, a testament to Nice’s strategic role on the Franco-Italian frontier. Bellin delineates the ridgeline defenses and their communication with the bastioned traces nearer the town, revealing overlapping fields of fire that command the approaches from sea and from the hills. The great works on and around Mont Boron—tied visually to the survivals and platforms of Castle Hill—form a defensive crescent that both shelters and constrains the urban fabric below. It is this dialogue between elevated redoubts and low-lying streets that makes the plan so compelling: the city is read simultaneously as a fortress system and as a place of exchange.

Bellin, Hydrographer to the French Navy, brought the discipline of the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine to every plate he oversaw, and the Plan de Nice exemplifies his hallmark clarity. Finely engraved hachures render hills and escarpments; an ornate cartouche lends ceremonial gravitas; and the contrast between gridded expansions and the maze of the old town reflects contemporary thinking in urban design. As a document of 18th-century architectural and military planning, it captures Nice before later transformations, preserving the alignment of river, roads, and ramparts at the very moment they orchestrated the city’s destiny on the Mediterranean stage.

Streets and roads on this map

• Avenues
• Boulevard
• Rue des Alpes
• Rue des Baumettes
• Rue de France
• Rue de l’Observatoire
• Rue de la Buffa
• Rue de la Liberté
• Rue de la République
• Rue de la Sardine
• Rue des Bains
• Rue Louis de Vins
• Rue Maréchal Joffre
• Rue Saint-Étienne
• Rue Tonduti de l'Escarène
• Quai des États-Unis
• Quai de la République
• Promenade des Anglais
• Avenue du Parc
• Place Garibaldi
• Place Masséna
• Rue de la Préfecture
• Rue Masséna
• Avenue Victor Hugo
• Boulevard Jean Jaurès
• Avenue de la Victoire
• Boulevard Carabacel
• Rue de l'Hôpital
• Rue du Riou
• Passerelle Saint-Sauveur

Notable Features & Landmarks

• Fortifications around Mont Boron.
• Coastal layout of Nice.
• Patterns of urban streets.
• River and shoreline indications.
• Key landmarks, such as residential and commercial areas.
• Scale bar indicating distances.

Historical and design context

• A finely engraved plan of Nice.
• Featured in Jacques Nicolas Bellin's monumental 5-volume Petit Atlas Maritime.
• Includes a detailed overview of the fortifications around Mont Boron.
• Made in 1764.
• Mapmaker: Jacques Nicolas Bellin.
• Noted for his contributions to maritime cartography during the 18th century and work for the French Navy.
• Urban planning and fortifications.
• Thematic representation of a coastal city, showcasing both land and sea features.
• Utilizes fine engraving techniques typical of the 18th century.
• Features ornate cartouche and well-defined patterns representing urban layouts and natural landscapes.
• Reflects architectural and military planning in 18th-century France.
• Provides insight into the development of Nice during the period, especially its defensive structures.

Please double check the images to make sure that a specific town or place is shown on this map. You can also get in touch and ask us to check the map for you.

This map looks great at every size, but I always recommend going for a larger size if you have space. That way you can easily make out all of the details.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

The fifth listing image shows an example of my map personalisation service.

If you’re looking for something slightly different, check out my collection of the best old maps to see if something else catches your eye.

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This would make a wonderful birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, work leaving, anniversary or housewarming gift for someone from the areas covered by this map.

This map is available as a giclée print on acid free archival matte paper, or you can buy it framed. The frame is a nice, simple black frame that suits most aesthetics. Please get in touch if you'd like a different frame colour or material. My frames are glazed with super-clear museum-grade acrylic (perspex/acrylite), which is significantly less reflective than glass, safer, and will always arrive in perfect condition.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.