RESIDENCE YVES SAINT-LAURENT

Few people know it, but Yves Saint-Laurent was born in Oran in 1936, and it was here that he spent his childhood and adolescence. He attended the Lycée Lamoricière, now the Lycée Pasteur, in the center of Oran, before moving to Paris at the age of 18 to begin his career in fashion at the Christian Dior couture house.

The house was bought by a private individual, businessman Mohamed Affane, who renovated it and turned it into a museum, the country's first private museum since 2022. Inside this yellow and blue house - the famous "bleu d'Oran" that the designer loved - built over two floors, the living room tiles have remained unchanged and some of the furniture has been preserved. Others have been purchased from the family's archive photos, to recreate as closely as possible the surroundings of the couturier's time. Structural and woodwork work was carried out to consolidate the building.

Museum staff will be delighted to guide you through the lovely rooms of the house: the study, the salon, the dining room, the bedrooms, the bathroom and, above all, Yves Saint-Laurent's studio. On display are sketches by the designer, photographs of his family and the house, and period objects such as the gloves worn by his mother...

A beautiful house that has come back to life and is well worth a visit, despite a very quick guided tour and a rather prohibitive price for the locals.