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Les Colombières (The Dovecote) is a villa in Menton, in the Alpes-Maritimes department on the French Riviera. The gardens of the villa were designed by Ferdinand Bac between 1918 and 1927. Bac also designed modernist furniture for the house and personally painted all the villa's frescos and paintings. The gardens are in size, and have been described as full of "wit, brilliance and imagination" that "inspire both the intellect and the imagination".〔 Bac's friends Émile and Caroline Ladan-Bockairy bought the Domaine des Colombières in 1918; before this, it was the property of the philosopher Alfred Jules Émile Fouillée. The Ladan-Bockairys invited Bac to come to live with them and to rebuild and enlarge the building. His design for the house drew on his memories from visits to different Mediterranean countries. Bac painted the frescoes in the house and designed the Modernist furniture. The villa, built in 1790, is set over three storeys, and is in size.〔 It has 14 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms, with an exterior painted red and yellow.〔 The interior of the house is adorned with frescos painted by Bac, featuring idealised landscapes from Mediterranean countries including Greece, Turkey, Italy, and Morocco.〔 Some of the rooms are themed; a carnival scene is depicted in the Venetian Room, a room also decorated with a Murano glass chandelier and gondola lights. Wooden cabinets painted with birds line the Parrot Room.〔 During the Second World War, the villa was used in the rehabilitation of Italian soldiers and, subsequently, as a bed-and-breakfast.〔 Prominent visitors to Les Colombières included the artist Jean Cocteau and the French war hero Marshal Joseph Joffre.〔 Bac died in Compiègne in November 1952, aged 93; he survived Émile Ladan-Bockairy by three days. Caroline Ladan-Bockairy lived for several years afterward, and the three of them are buried in a mausoleum on a rock overlooking the garden at Les Colombières.〔 ==Garden== Bac planned a garden around the house with pavilions, colonnades, bridges, and secret gardens. There were quiet, enclosed spaces and open areas of wild plants with broad vistas. Bac wrote that "the soul of gardens shelters the greatest sum of serenity at man's disposal." Bac wrote two books about his Mediterranean gardens, ''Les Colombières'' and ''Jardins enchantés''. Created on the site of an olive grove, the gardens are set over several levels, studded with Mediterranean cypresses. The gardens reference classical literature such as Homer's ''Odyssey'', including Nausicaa's fountain, a garden named for Ulysses, and a head of Medusa.〔〔 At the centre of an avenue of large olive jars is a 600-year Caroub tree, said to have the oldest caroub tree in France. Twelve small buildings guide visitors through the garden.〔 The site is located on a hillside above Menton's harbour.〔 and noted for its fine views of the Bay of Menton and Menton's old city.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Les Colombières」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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