The memorial Russian cemetery of Cocade, located on the western outskirts of Nice, is an Orthodox cemetery that opened in 1867 and was previously known as the Nikolaevskoye.

The history of this cemetery is closely linked to the emergence of the Russian community in Nice. In 1866, Russians acquired a plot on the Cocade hill, where the remains of compatriots, previously buried in other places, were transferred. Before this, Russians were buried in the city cemetery of Chateau, where the poor were interred in a common grave.

In 1867, the cemetery was named Nikolaevskoye by the decree of Emperor Alexander II in memory of the heir to the throne, Nikolai Alexandrovich, who died in Nice. However, locals still refer to this place as the 'Russian battery' due to the legend that the land was purchased by Russia for artillery rather than for burials.

In the center of the cemetery, a chapel was built in honor of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, who died in 1865 from tuberculous meningitis. Countess Anna Tolstaya allocated half of the funds for its construction in memory of her husband, Alexander Tolstoy, who also passed away in Nice.

In the 1920s, the chapel was expanded and transformed into a church. The iconostasis for it was donated in 1911 by P. P. von Derviz, the owner of the Villa Valrose in Nice. Inside, a marble plaque was installed with the names of officers of the Russian Imperial Army who died in Nice from 1921 to 1954.

The cemetery is the final resting place for over 3,000 Russians who died in France, including emigrants who left Russia after the events of 1917.