Domaine des Enclos

About

The estate of Enclos is a 33-hectare park located in Benerville-sur-Mer, Normandy, acquired in 1937 by Calouste Gulbenkian (1869-1955), a businessman who was one of the greatest collectors of art of the twentieth century. During a stay in Spain in 1928, Calouste Gulbenkian is charmed by the discovery of the Retiro gardens near Malaga. At the end of this visit, he notes in his journal "Man of science and dreamer in a garden in my own way, these are two great goals of my life that I could not achieve".

Whatever, nine years later, during one of his stays in Deauville, he acquired Domaine des Enclos, in the commune of Bénerville, bordering Deauville. It is then a hotel surrounded by a vast park. He will realize there the garden of which he dreams and entrusts the realization to Achille Duchêne.

Calouste Gulbenkian died in 1955 at the age of 86. The Parc des Enclos was then managed by the Gulbenkian Foundation, which in July 1973 donated it to the city of Deauville.