The City of Nice and its Historical Heritage, Archaeology, and Niçoise Language and Culture delegation, led by Jean-Marc Giaume, invite you until the end of May 2012 to attend conferences on the theme “Nice, Capital of the French Riviera.” These conferences, featuring eminent speakers, will shed light on three centuries of British presence in Nice.
The eighth conference of this series will take place on Saturday, May 5, 2012, at 3 PM at the Théâtre de la Photographie et de l’Image in Nice. Titled “The British Way of Life in the Belle Époque on the Riviera,” it will be presented by Isabelle Pintus, head of municipal archives in Cagnes-sur-Mer and a member of the Association for the Protection of Written Heritage of the Alpes Maritimes (ASPEAM).
During the Belle Époque, captivated by the charms of the azure coastline like hundreds of their aristocratic compatriots, Queen Victoria and later her son King Edward VII chose Nice and Cannes for their winter stays, making the Riviera the “living room of Europe,” while embodying remarkably different values and lifestyles.
Whether they came to our shores to leisurely “vacation” for long months or to participate in all the social events and great happenings of the tourist season, the wealthy British aristocrats, inventors of tourism, cultivated all paradoxes: they came to Nice to stay among themselves, often in isolation, yet they managed to establish themselves as leaders in all areas, becoming essential over time.
Reflecting the international context and the rapprochement between peoples, these insatiable pioneers imposed their whims, set trends and activities, and quickly saw all their behaviors imitated on this dreamland where they had anchored a few centuries earlier. As a symbol of the friendship born from their committed patronage of the Côte d’Azur, they were honored by local authorities simultaneously in Nice and Cannes in April 1912, with magnificent Franco-British festivities, exactly one hundred years ago.
-Isabelle Pintus has been in charge of the municipal archives of Cagnes-sur-Mer since 2006. A former student of History and Applied Foreign Languages at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, author in 1995 of a master’s thesis entitled “The English Aristocracy in Nice during the Belle Époque” under the supervision of Professor Ralph Schor, published in 2000 by Alandis (out of print), she is a member of the Association for the Protection of Written Heritage of the Alpes Maritimes (ASPEAM) and author of articles in the departmental archives review Regional Research.
-Upcoming conferences on the theme “Nice, Capital of the French Riviera”:
● Saturday, May 12, 2012 ● 3 PM ●
“A ‘Folly’ English on the Mont Boron Hill”
by Véronique Thuin, Doctor of History, university lecturer.
This series will conclude on Sunday, May 13, 2012, with a conference-visit on the restoration of the Anglican Church (11 Rue de la Buffa in Nice) at 3 PM, followed by an English music concert at 4:30 PM, again at the Anglican Church.
All these events will take place in the presence of Jean-Marc Giaume, City Councilor, Delegate for Historical Heritage, Archaeology, Niçoise Language and Culture.
