La Tour Apollinaire was built in la
Belle Epoque (the 1890’s),
by Baron Hippolyte Despres-Apollinaire to provide a grand
residence from which to survey his wine estate and enjoy
the pleasures of the region. Since 2003 the property has
been transformed to blend post-modern comfort with classic
French and Catalan charm, while respecting the heritage of
the building and its Italian Gothic and Art Deco features.
The Baron's legacy includes a Templar-inspired chapel
with stained glass window, and Da Vinci Code style rose,
castle and heart motifs in the ceilings and ironwork in the
tower entrances and balustrades.
Perpignan was a base for both the
Templars and the Crusades, and the chateau's interior
design echoes their historical presence. There is every
possibility that the Baron was a
member of the Priory of Sion, the secret society made famous
by the book and film The Da Vinci Code, and which counts
Leonardo da Vinci, Sir Isaac Newton, Thomas Jefferson and
numerous other historically famous people amongst its ranks.
The Baron's cousin, Guillaume Apollinaire,
is one of France’s greatest poets. Wilhelm Albert
Vladimir Apollonaris de Kostrowitzky was born on August
26, 1880,
in Rome, Italy to a Russian born mother, In Monaco he received
a French college education and assumed the identity of a
Russian Prince. Apollinaire was fluent in French, Russian,
and Italian. He settled in Paris at the age of 20. In 1903
he founded his own magazines, 'Le Festin d'Esope', and 'La
Revue immoraliste', alluding to the 1902 work of his friend
André Gide. In 1909 Apollinaire brought Pablo Picasso
and Georges Braque together. Living at 'La Ruche' artists
community at Monparnasse, he was arranging art shows and
writing reviews about his friends, such as Henri Matisse,
Marc Chagall, Giorgio De Chirico, Andre Derain, Marcel Duchamp,
Ossip Zadkine, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and other artists.
He collaborated with writers Max Jacob, Blaise Cendrars,
Jean Cocteau, Pierre Reverdy, Gertrude Stein. Apollinaire
was the artistic adviser to Sergei Diaghilev and worked with
the "Ballets Russes" in Paris. He write librettos
and collaborated with composers Erik Satie and Francis Poulenc
among others. Guillaume Apollinaire contracted influenza
during the 'Spanish Flu' pandemic of 1918. He died on November
9, 1918, in Paris, France.
