The Villa Paradiso (or Paradisio) is a large villa in
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[World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...]
(1939–45) it was used by the
Académie française
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
for its
Prix de Rome
The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...
scholars.
The villa continues to be used for cultural purposes.
Location
The Villa Paradiso was built around 1900 by the architect Constantin Scala for the baroness
Hélène van Zuylen
Baroness Hélène van Zuylen van Nijevelt van de Haar or Hélène de Zuylen de Nyevelt de Haar, née de Rothschild (21 August 1863 – 17 October 1947) was a French author and a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family. She collaborated ...
, née de Rothschild.
It is an imposing building surrounded by a large garden.
The property is in the north of the old city of Nice, almost east of the ''
Musée Marc Chagall
The Marc Chagall National Museum (Chagall Biblical Message) is a French national museum dedicated to the work of painter Marc Chagall – particularly his works inspired by religion – located in Nice in the Alpes-Maritimes.
History
The museum ...
''. The grounds cover .
After World War II (1939–45) various public facilities were added including a children's playground and an outdoor amphitheater.
In spring the park blooms with many flowers in different colors.
Académie française
The Académie de France en Rome left the
Villa Medici
The Villa Medici () is a sixteenth-century Italian Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with 7-hectare Italian garden, contiguous with the more extensive Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in the historic ...
in 1940 during the war.
The next year, at the instigation of
Jérôme Carcopino
Jérôme Carcopino (27 June 1881 – 17 March 1970) was a French historian, author, and Nazi collaborator. He was the fifteenth member elected to occupy seat 3 of the Académie française, in 1955.
Biography
Carcopino was born at Verneuil-sur-A ...
, the Academy took up residence in Nice at the Villa Paradiso.
Its public rooms and huge stables were hastily converted into studios for the artists. These were the architect
Bernard Zehrfuss
Bernard Louis Zehrfuss (Angers, 20 October 1911 – Neuilly-sur-Seine, 3 July 1996) was a French architect.
Life
He was born at Angers, into a family that had fled from the Alsace in 1870 after the Franco-Prussian War.
Zehrfuss's father was kil ...
, who won the Grand Prix de Rome for architecture in 1939 and led the
Oppède
Oppède (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region in southeastern France. ''Oppidum'' is the Latin word for 'fortified town'.
History
It ...
group, and Pierre-Robert Lucas, who won the Grand prix de Rome for painting in 1937.
René Leleu, who won the Grand Prix de Rome for sculpture in 1939, worked at the Villa Paradiso and then in Fontainebleau.
Later use
The villa and grounds became the property of the city of Nice after the war.
The city let the sculptor
Marcel Mayer use one of the studios, where he executed various public commissions for seven years.
He had been imprisoned in Germany and then in
Rava-Ruska
Rava-Ruska (, ; ; ) is a city in Lviv Raion, Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine. It is a border town between Ukraine and Poland. The Rava-Ruska (border checkpoint), border checkpoint is situated west of the city, along the international autoroute Warsa ...
, Ukraine during the war.
In the late 1940s the Nice Conservatory was installed at the Villa Paradiso.
From 1957–2006 the ''Académie Internationale d'Eté de Nice'' (Nice International Summer Academy) was held at the Villa Paradiso in the premises of the conservatory.
As of 2015 the city's ''Direction centrale de l'education'' was housed in the building.
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Paradiso, Villa
Buildings and structures in Nice
Villas in France
Institut de France