TO SEVEN WIVES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9308, 7 August 1908, Page 2

TO SEVEN WIVES.

— ■ » — A MEMORIAL MANSION. One of the " sights " of breezy Biarritz — the Basque seaside village on the Spanish border of France, which has become so famous as a fashionable watering place during recent years — is • a curious chateau-like structure known as the House of the Seven Wives. It has a story. Its owner is a somewhat eccentric and mysterious count, reputed to be immensely wealthy. Seven times has this magnate been wedded, and seven times he has had the mis>fortune to be/ left a widower. In order that none of the seven spouses he had loved and lost in turn might be" forgotten, the count personally planned and had built a costly mansion to serve as their monument. The chateau is situated in a finely-laid-out park, and the building in construction is not unlike a lighthouse, being entirely round. On the top he caused to be erected seven magnificent towers, each being a memorial to and bearing the name of a departed wife. Further, to obviate the danger of forgetting any of his dead, the conn* had made seven remarkable life-size wax figures, which are dressed in magnificent gowns of the latest Parisian styles, and each evening they are brought in with much ceremony and seated at the table while he dines in solitude. The chateau arid its strange owner naturally excite the curiosity of every visitor to Biarritz.