Villa Leopolda is a large villa in the French town of Villefranche-sur-Mer on the French Riviera. It was built in 1902 by King Leopold II of Belgium and takes its name from him.
The villa appeared in the news in the summer of 2008 when the previous owner, Lily Safra, a famous Jewish philanthropist, decided to sell it. First Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich was named as the buyer, but later the buyer was said to be Russian Mikhail Prokhorov, a...
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Villa Leopolda is a large villa in the French town of Villefranche-sur-Mer on the French Riviera. It was built in 1902 by King Leopold II of Belgium and takes its name from him.
The villa appeared in the news in the summer of 2008 when the previous owner, Lily Safra, a famous Jewish philanthropist, decided to sell it. First Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich was named as the buyer, but later the buyer was said to be Russian Mikhail Prokhorov, at a price of approximately €500 million. ($736m:£397m) However, Prokhorov's spokesman denied he was the purchaser, and said he refuses to do business in France until he receives an apology for being investigated in a prostitution probe..
When the villa would be sold for such a price, it would make it the most expensive villa in the world.
The villa was used as the location of Lermontov's villa in The Red Shoes. The heroine climb the steps to the villa thinking that she's been invited to dinner when really she is going to be given the star role...
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