Treasures of the museums of the province : villa Is, embarkation for Cythera

We will never return to the Ancient original. Try to live as an Athenian or a Spartan of the past can only be a fantasy. At least some have tried that this dream was the most accurate possible. The world hellene was a fiery passion for Théodore Reinach (1860 - 1928). This great scholar has wanted, on a rocky promontory, ideal, in the well named town of Beaulieu-sur-Mer (Alpes-Maritimes), a whole house decorated in the Greek style. And precisely on the model of the noble houses of the Island of Delos (IIe siècle av J.-C.).

read also : the Treasures of the museums of the province: during long flights to Toulouse

Emmanuel Pontremoli, who studied the ruins of the banks of the Aegean sea, was drawn down to its smallest details between 1902 and 1908. From the outside, seen in a clear light, it is a set of cubes laid out on the Mediterranean, with tower, terraces with balustrades, facades, white and ochre. We gorge sun by meditating on the foundations of western culture.

The writer and columnist in the columns of the Figaro's Adrien Goetz has described the place in what is perhaps his best novel (Villa Is, Grasset 2017, 20 €). The narrator seeks the golden crown of Alexander the Great... " The house follows the shape of the peninsula and the movement of the stone blocks which cling to the algae. She is lying in the sun, the walls pale are lazy, with the joints of the bases painted in red, the balconies are adorned with bronzes, the terraces that intersect. She has nothing scheduled and yet it exudes a harmony that no villa does. The wind caresses like a yacht well profile. "

This Wednesday at 18 hours Antide K, administrator of the Villa, and Vassiliki Castellana, in charge of communication, organize a virtual visit of the places. This half-hour video program will be, as all previous entitled "Treasures of the museums of province," open access and standing, broadcast in partnership with Le Figaro, Facebook France, the network CLICK. France's digital initiatives, in museums, and the magazine connaissance des arts.

What a view from the game from the terraces ! The Riviera is discovered in all its glory. In the distance the cliffs of Èze are similar to those of Delphi. The villa Ephrussi, the other madness in the Nineteenth century draws to a close, mark easily with its pink façade. Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and cap d'ail are in clear weather. We guess even Monaco when the principality is celebrating and firing fireworks.

Enter. The vestibule is called the " thyrôreion ", the music room, l'" oikos "and the reception room of the" andrôn ". A mosaic represents Theseus who decapitates the Minotaur in the centre of the maze. It is much less fun than the octopus that adorns the dining room. Continue. The rooms are old heroes or half-gods : Daedalus, Icarus, Philemon, Baucis... The beds have blankets embroidered sphinx. The walls are making waves.

Statuettes of bronze, furniture, frescoes, peristyle : everything is magic, everything is a re-enactment. The still taste lovely first toga / sandal. The goal will always be too fast in this framework, which is intended to be very old, but leaves the effect of the most modern by its rigor and refinement. Is (which means kingfisher, this bird knows to build its nest on the water) portion compared to the other pearls of the Riviera. Nothing to see with the villas moorish and other palaces of the 1900s, the more glitzy of course, but also too loaded, even tarabiscotées as a vacherin.

In these beautiful days, the marble of Carrara blind. This whiteness although untrue historically - temples and statues were violently colored the Parthenon as elsewhere in the archipelago - in required. It also participates in a gentle feeling of fullness. We said that we would stay a summer here, at least. And, when we don't take a bath not, be dressed simply in a linen tunic, auguste "chiton" of Old. Only then would we feel so free as Pericles on the Acropolis, young, like Homer or Herodotus...

The walk on screen so strongly to dream, even if it is missing the smells. We guess that the wood of the chests and marquetry ; the melee of the iodine passing in the interstices of the floor to ceiling windows. Such windows, which provide generously the most beautiful lights of the south, have never been documented by archaeologists. They are anachronistic as well as the flaps. The best in Greece, it is occultait the openings by a plate of alabaster polished. It doesn't matter : it is here the dawn of the Twentieth century, which is expressed, demonstrating highly the desire for the rebirth of an idyllic world.

The vestibule is called the " thyrôreion ", the music room, l'" Oikos "and the reception room of the" andrôn ". A mosaic represents Theseus who decapitates the Minotaur in the centre of the maze. It is much less fun than the octopus that adorns the dining room. Continue. The rooms are old heroes or half-gods : Daedalus, Icarus, Philemon, Baucis... The beds have blankets embroidered sphinx. The walls are making waves.

Wednesday, may 27, from 18 hours on the page Facebook of the Meeting of national museums (www.facebook.com/leCMN) as well as on his account Instagram.

SujetsVilla KérylosBeaulieu-on-MerFacebookMuséeTrésors museums provinceAucun comment

there are currently no comments on this article.
Be the first to give your opinion !