Beaulieu-sur-Mer (; ; ; "Beautiful Place on the Sea"), commonly referred to simply as Beaulieu, is a seaside commune on the

French Riviera The French Riviera, known in French as the (; , ; ), is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending fr ...

between

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Principality of Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is a semi-enclave borde ...

. Located in the

Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; ; ; ) is a Departments of France, department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the France–Italy border, Italian border and Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'A ...

department in the

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (commonly shortened to PACA), also known as Région Sud, is one of the eighteen Regions of France, administrative regions of France, located at the far southeastern point of the Metropolitan France, mainland. The main P ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

, it borders the communes of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and

Villefranche-sur-Mer Villefranche-sur-Mer (, ; ; ) is a resort town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera and is located southwest of the Principality of Monaco, which is just west of the French-Italian ...

, not far from

Èze Èze (; ; ) is a seaside commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. It is located on the French Riviera, 8.5 km (5.2 mi) to the northeast of Nice and 4.5 km (2.7 ...

to the northeast. In 2018, Beaulieu-sur-Mer had a population of 3,731. Its inhabitants are called ''Berlugans'' (masculine) and ''Berluganes'' (feminine).

History

Beaulieu-sur-Mer was inhabited in

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

times; a port was built by

Liguria Liguria (; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is roughly coextensive with ...

ns before Romans took over the site. The area was part of the commune of

until mid-1891, when the

French Parliament The French Parliament (, ) is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of the French Fifth Republic, consisting of the Senate (France), Senate (), and the National Assembly (France), National Assembly (). Each assembly conducts legislative sessi ...

voted in favour of the bill allowing for the separation following local support and a positive recommendation from the General Council of Alpes-Maritimes. The first municipal elections were held on 20 September 1891 after President Sadi Carnot signed the bill into law the preceding 23 July. The commune was renamed Beaulieu-sur-Mer from Beaulieu in 1908; the name has previously been changed from the Italian name Belloloco in 1860, after the incorporation of the

County of Nice The County of Nice (; ; Niçard ) was a historical region of France and Italy located around the southeastern city of Nice and roughly equivalent to the modern arrondissement of Nice. It was part of the Savoyard state within the Holy Roman Emp ...

into France. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, it became a popular destination for the international elite in the winter season. Tourism helped the commune develop economically, as it welcomed writer

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

, civil engineer

Gustave Eiffel Alexandre Gustave Eiffel ( , ; Bonickhausen dit Eiffel; 15 December 1832 – 27 December 1923) was a French civil engineer. A graduate of École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, he made his name with various bridges for the French railway net ...

, publisher

James Gordon Bennett Jr. James Gordon Bennett Jr. (May 10, 1841May 14, 1918) was an American publisher. He was the publisher of the ''New York Herald'', founded by his father, James Gordon Bennett Sr. (1795–1872), who emigrated from Scotland. He was generally known as ...

, composer

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

, as well as other personalities and monarchs from major European countries. Beaulieu-Sur-Mer, Vue Generale. 768-45 (NBY 418609).jpg, Beaulieu-sur-Mer in 1909 Beaulieu-sur-Mer - Vue générale (CP ND).jpg, View from the heights of town Today Beaulieu-sur-Mer is renowned as a Mediterranean resort village with quality

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : "related to the sea") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo ...

facilities. It is also known for its the Villa Kerylos, built between 1902 and 1908 following the plans of architect Emmanuel Pontremoli.

Geography

With a territory of 0.92 km² (0.36 sq mi), Beaulieu-sur-Mer is the smallest commune in Alpes-Maritimes in terms of surface area. However, it is also one of the most densely populated. It forms part of

Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur The Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur () is the ''métropole'', an Communes of France#Intercommunality, intercommunal structure, centred on the Communes of France, city of Nice. It is located in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department, i ...

Demographics

Sights

The Villa Kerylos is a structure on a low rocky promontory by the sea. It was built at the beginning of the 20th century by archeologist

Théodore Reinach Théodore Reinach (3 July 186028 October 1928) was a French archaeologist, mathematician, lawyer, papyrologist, philologist, epigrapher, historian, numismatist, musicologist, professor, and politician. Academic career Educated at the Lycée Co ...

in the style of an ancient Greek villa at the time of

Pericles Pericles (; ; –429 BC) was a Greek statesman and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Ancient Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed ...

. The villa was bequeathed to the

Institut de France The ; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the . It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute manages approximately ...

in 1928. It is currently classified as a ''

monument historique () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, ...

''.

Transport

Beaulieu-sur-Mer is served by TER Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (TER PACA) services at Beaulieu-sur-Mer station on the Marseille–Ventimiglia railway.

International relations

Beaulieu-sur-Mer is a sister city of

Tempe, Arizona Tempe ( ; ''Oidbaḍ'' in O'odham language, O'odham) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2020 population of 180,587. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in t ...

, US. Every year, four French students are paired with four American students; they each spend five weeks in one another's country. This student exchange is with the Tempe Sister Cities organisation, which was voted "Best Overall Sister City Program" in 1998 and 2004.

In popular culture

Beaulieu-sur-Mer was used in the 1970 film '' Cold Sweat'' and served as the fictional town of "Beaumont-sur-Mer" in the hit 1988 film '' Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'' and the 2019 film '' The Hustle.''

Notable people

* Aleksandr Sukhovo-Kobylin (1817–1903 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer), a Russian philosopher and playwright * Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield (1832–1909 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer), a Conservative politician * Napoléon Adrien Marx (1837–1906 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer), journalist, playwright, and writer *

Richard Belzer Richard Jay Belzer (August 4, 1944 – February 19, 2023) was an American actor, comedian, and author. He was best known for his role as BPD Detective, NYPD Detective/sergeant and investigator John Munch, whom he portrayed for 23 years in the NBC ...

(1944–2023 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer), an American actor and comedian *

(1841–1918 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer) publisher of the ''

New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the '' New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. Hi ...

''. * Ralph Wormeley Curtis (1854–1922 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer) an American

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painter. * Elizabeth Sarancheva (1860–1923 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer) Tereshchenko family philanthropist. * Sir Frederick John Jackson (1860–1929 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer) administrator, explorer and ornithologist. * Henry Beckles Willson (1869–1942 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer) Canadian journalist, soldier, historian and author * Jacques Schneider (1879–1928 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer) balloonist and aircraft enthusiast, he created the

Schneider Trophy The Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider, also known as the Schneider Trophy, Schneider Prize or (incorrectly) the Schneider Cup is a trophy that was awarded first annually, and later biennially, to the winner of a race for seaplanes and ...

. * Hans May (1886–1959 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer) an Austrian-born composer and British exile in WWII * Mark Slonim (1894–1976 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer) a Russian politician, literary critic and scholar. * Adrienne Górska (1899–1969 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer) a Polish architect who worked in the

Modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

and

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

styles * Elvira Chaudoir (ca.1910–1996 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer) a Peruvian socialite and

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

double-agent in WWII. * Peter de Francia (1921 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer – 2012) an Italian-British artist and Professor of Painting at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

, London from 1972 to 1986. * Madanjeet Singh (1924–2013 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer) an Indian diplomat, painter, photographer and writer. * Nadia Nerina (1927–2008 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer) a South African ballerina of

The Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded ...

Gallery

06011-Beaulieu-sur-Mer-Sols.png, 2018 map of Beaulieu-sur-Mer Beaulieu-Eglises-20071102.jpg, Chapelle Sancta-Maria-de-Olivo Beaulieu-sur-Mer La Rotonde.jpg, Congress Centre "La Rotonde" 06310 Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France - panoramio.jpg, Marina of Beaulieu-sur-Mer

References

External links

Official Tempe Sister Cities Website

Official web site of the Villa Kerylos

Official web site of the Royal Riviera Hotel

Beaulieu-sur-Mer Photo Gallery
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beaulieusurmer Communes of Alpes-Maritimes French Riviera Alpes-Maritimes communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia