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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Cypris villa, built in 1904 in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, is a neo-Byzantine style villa inspired by the Cathedral of Notre-Dame-Immaculée in Monaco. It was commissioned by Madame Robert Douine, wife of the director of the Louvre department stores in Paris, and designed by architect Édouard Arnaud, also a watercolourist painter. His name pays homage to the goddess Aphrodite (Kypris) and the owner, Cyprian Dubernet, while allowing to observe the regattas of her daughter, the sailor Virginie Hériot.

The gardens, created by landscape architect Raffaële Mainella, offer a central perspective leading to a covered colonnade overlooking the sea. A pergola of sixteen marble pillars, evoking a ruined mosque, and brick arches complete this set. Mainella, an Italian painter from Benevent, also designed the gardens of the Torre Clementina villa, strengthening the artistic link between these properties.

The villa was used as a setting for several film productions, including Aphrodite (1982) by Robert Fuest and Mortelle trekking (1983) by Claude Miller. It was listed as a historical monument on September 19, 1990 and was awarded the "Twentieth Century Heritage" label on March 1, 2001, recognizing its architectural and cultural importance.

Located on Avenue Douine, the villa is today a private property. Its eclectic architecture and terraced gardens reflect the opulence of the seaside residences of the Belle Époque, while integrating unique Byzantine and Mediterranean elements. The villa reflects the taste for exoticism and the luxury of Parisian elites who settled on the Riviera at the beginning of the 20th century.

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