The daughter of the architect of the National Theater of Nice opposes its destruction

The daughter of the architect of the National Theater of Nice (TNN) opposes the project of Mayor LR Christian Estrosi to raze the building to create an "urban forest", denouncing an "infringement of moral rights" in the face of "interest public "advanced by the town hall.

"Of course, nothing is eternal, but it is a fairly recent work and there are ways of doing it!" Protests Martine Bayard, 58, the sole beneficiary of Yves Bayard, an internationally renowned architect. died in 2008 after numerous achievements on the Côte d'Azur.

Nice owes him in particular the first and only inhabited monumental sculpture, "The Square Head", a cube of which one of the facades forms a face inspired by a model of his friend sculptor Sacha Sosno. It houses the offices of the municipal library.

Parisian, Ms. Bayard, who says she was informed by the press, wrote at the end of March to the municipality. "The suggestion of the town hall is to find an agreement, but I do not see how to find an agreement, except not to remove the building," she said, hoping for "a miracle" and claiming to want "to avoid an arm wrestling. ":" You cannot destroy a building like that to make it pass through the lawn! "

For the town hall, "the right to respect for the integrity of an architectural work is not intangible and absolute" and "a public structure can evolve or be demolished because of the public interest". The city claims to demonstrate its attachment to the work of Yves Bayard by keeping "the central and significant part" that is the building of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Mamac), "insufficiently highlighted" at present.

For Ms. Bayard, the octagonal building with gray marble facades could be integrated into the "urban forest" project by adding footbridges, planned from the design of the entire "Promenade des Arts" in 1988-1992: "There is a total possibility of evolution of the building", she assures.

Mr. Estrosi is to meet "in the coming days" Ms. Bayard, with her heritage deputy and lawyer Me Gérard Baudoux.

Surprise announcement of the 2020 municipal campaign, Mr. Estrosi's shocking project to extend the "green belt" over eight hectares by razing the TNN and the Acropolis convention center has been on track since January, and the call for tenders has was launched for 75,6 million euros, against 33 million announced before the election.

Initially Mr. Estrosi had also announced the demolition of two hotels, without warning them, but their emphyteutic leases being too expensive to terminate they will finally be integrated into the new landscape.