Sculptural wonder: Take in some art at France’s new underwater museum

Famous for its spectacular coastline, glamorous beaches, and being the home of the star-studded Cannes Film Festival, the town of Cannes on the magnificent French Riviera has added a one-of-a-kind underwater museum to its repertoire of attractions.

Located off the Île Sainte Marguerite in the Mediterranean Sea, the underwater art museum is the brainchild of British artist Jason deCaires Taylor, who spent four years creating a series of six sculptures that depict portraits of residents from Cannes.

‘Free entrance’ to divers and snorkelers

The sculptures are set at a depth of up to three metres and range from the portrait of a nine-year-old primary school pupil to one of an 80-year-old local fisherman. The 12-ton sculptures were floated to the site by boat and placed in position by divers with the help of cranes.

The site is now a fascinating new diving spot and snorkelers and divers can swim among the sculptures without paying an entrance fee.

Museum highlights plight of the world’s oceans

Funded by the city’s mayoral office and town hall, the project was established to draw attention to the declining state of the world’s oceans, including the Mediterranean Sea, which was once ripe fishing grounds and now suffers from overfishing, pollution, and over-tourism.  

The area in which the sculptures are now set, was home to old marine infrastructure, rusting cables and pipes, and garbage, all of which had to be removed before the sculpture was placed in their positions.

The sculptures are made from highly durable marine-grade cement with a rough texture that encourages coral larvae to attach and thrive. There are plenty of little nooks and crannies within the non-toxic, pH-neutral cement that offer perfect homes for fish and crustaceans.

It is hoped the clean new area and the new sculptures will attract new marine fauna and flora to become a flourishing underwater world and bring back some much-needed life to the Mediterranean Sea.  

“The underwater ecosystem has been continuously degraded and polluted over the years by human activity.”

Jason deCaires Taylor

Artworks and artificial reefs

Taylor has created underwater installations all over the world which feature more than a thousand underwater sculptures. His artworks are essentially artificial reefs, designed to become a vital part of the local ecosystem in which they are placed. Check out Jason deCaires Taylor’s projects here.

Ocean-inspired museums

Jason deCaires Taylor’s is the last of three museums installed underwater by France in the last two years. According to the Matador Network, art collector Francois Ollandini immersed three sculptures by Marc Petit in the Mediterranean Sea last year.

The sculptures were placed beneath the Isolella Tower near Ajaccio, a town on the French island of Corsica last year, including a sculpture of the goddess Gaia is submerged in the water in front of Lazaret Ollandini, the collector’s home and private museum dedicated to the Petit’s work.

Marseille’s Musée Subaquatique is an underwater space dedicated to art, marine biodiversity and environmental protection and features 10 artworks, each from a different artist, set 4.8 metres under the water of the beach Les Catalans.