In Cambo-les-Bains, 6 kilometers from our campsite in the Basque Country, discover Villa Arnaga, the “poem of stone and greenery” so dear to Edmond Rostand. The sumptuous residence is full of treasures to discover. And what about the superb French and English gardens that serve as a backdrop to the building? That’s right, we tell you everything!
Edmond Rostand’s Basque dream
Before becoming a museum, the Villa Arnaga was the Basque dream of one of France’s greatest playwrights, Edmond Rostand. At the age of 32, the author of Cyrano de Bergerac was suffering from chronic pleurisy. His attending physician advised him to take a cure at Cambo-les-Bains. He stayed at the Villa Etchegorria and immediately fell in love with the Basque country. The following year, his play L’Aiglon opened the door to the Académie française. But a victim of his own success and still weak, Edmond Rostand preferred to flee the capital and settle in Combo-les-Bains. The Academician sold his Paris hotel and bought 15 hectares of land on a hill at the foot of which flows the Arraga stream, which means “place of stone” in Basque. The man of letters dreamed of building “a beautiful house in a beautiful garden”. He called on the services of renowned architect Albert Tournaire.
From 1903 to 1906, the writer had a veritable “Little Versailles” built, surrounded by magnificent formal and formal gardens. The house was inspired by traditional Labourd farmhouses, with their whitewashed facades and red-painted half-timbering. A new architectural trend was born: the neo-Basque style!
Guided tour of the villa-museum
Edmond Rostand imagined his villa as a work of art. Thus, the decoration of the forty living rooms was conceived as a theatrical set.
On the first floor, a large English-style hall leads to a succession of rooms, all richly furnished and decorated with paintings, wood panelling and objets d’art in display cases. We pass through the Salon chinois, the library, the dining room, the Bureau Empire and the Studio des Enfants with its paper theater.
Upstairs, the décor is just as sumptuous. You’ll discover elegant bedrooms, the wardrobe of Rosemonde, the playwright’s poet wife, original play manuscripts, stage costumes and a host of other treasures that plunge visitors into the writer’s intimacy.
If you’re observant, you won’t have missed the modernity of the house’s facilities, even though it was built at the beginning of the last century. From the outset, the Arnaga estate was equipped with electricity, hot water, telephone, central heating, floor ventilation grids and even an astonishing hydrotherapy room, exceptional for its time. A hot-air calorifier, deemed healthier, also replaced the fireplace. And this was only 1906.
A beautiful house with two lovely gardens
To create the setting for his villa, Edmond Rostand designed a vast garden complex covering more than 15 hectares. On one side, he created a French garden of ostentatious symmetry, with ponds, fountains and pergolas. On the other, an English garden of curves and roundness, perfect for the solitary stroller’s reverie. Ying and yang.
PRACTICAL INFO
– The Arnaga estate is open every day from April 1st to November 3rd.
– Address: Avenue du Dr Alexandre Camino, 64250 Cambo-les-Bains (10 minutes from the campsite)
– Don’t miss the “Cyrano” and “Chantecler” theatrical walks staged by actors from the Compagnie Irrinigar (July and August).
– Allow 2 hours for the visit (guided tour of the villa + gardens).
Photo: © Gentil Hibou, CC BY-SA 3.0
