The homes where genius is born
Montaigne, Rabelais or Madame de Sévigné
They have seen brilliant minds pass through their doors. Some of literature's masterpieces were born within their walls. Writers' houses can be found all over France, not just in Paris. In Périgord, the château de Saint-Michel de Montaigne still preserves the tower of the librairie - in those days, the word meant a library, as the English word library shows. This is where Michel de Montaigne wrote his famous Essais. Further north, at Seuilly in Touraine,the Devinière house probably saw Rabelais imagine Gargantua. In Brittany, the Château des Rochers, near Rennes, still remembers the Marquise de Sévigné, who wrote her famous letters there (1120 letters recorded: 764 to her daughter Françoise-Marguerite, 126 to her cousin Bussy, and 220 to other correspondents).
The Château de Rocher in Brittany where Madame de Sévigné lived / Photo selected by monsieurdefrance.com : By Guerric - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51303369
From Romanticism to exile
Victor Hugo and Chateaubriand.
The château de Combourg saw Chateaubriand's youth/ Photo chosen by monsieurdefrance.com: Jérôme Prod'homme
Not far from here,the Château de Combourg, with its tall round towers, saw the growth of François-René de Chateaubriand, father of Romanticism. Not far from Saint-Malo, where he often visited, the Channel Island of Guernesey is home to Hauteville House, the house where Victor Hugo, in exile, wrote facing the sea. The house, now a museum, has just been restored. Besançon preserves the house where the author of Les Misérables was born, while Paris is home to the house where he breathed his last, place des Vosges.
It was on Place des Vosges that Victor Hugo ended his life / Photo selected by monsieurdefrance.com: depositphoto
Memory of letters and places
Jules Verne, Pierree Loti, Edmond Rostand and Bizet
Amiens retains the Maison de Jules Verne and its distinctive tower. In Rochefort, the house of Louis-Marie-Julien Viaud, alias Pierre Loti, was the birthplace of the author of Pêcheur d'Islande and his far-flung reveries. He even set up a mosque there. Sarah Bernhardt was a frequent visitor. In Berry, at Nohant-Vic, the estate of George Sand perpetuates the memory of this woman of letters. At Cambo-les-Bains, the Villa Arnaga was designed by Edmond Rostand, the author of Cyrano de Bergerac. In Savoie, Voltaire resided in Ferney, where he defended the Callas family against obscurantism.
George Sand's estate in Berry (can be visited) / Photo chosen by monsieurdefrance.com : By Manfred Heyde - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7921956
In the Paris region, Bougival preserves Georges Bizet's house. This is where the composer of Carmen completed his opera, and it's also where he died after a bath in the Seine. In Médan, at 26 rue Pasteur, Émile Zola's country house still stands. Each of these homes offers a tangible link to the spirits who inhabited them - women and men whose genius continues to inspire the world long after they're gone.
Article photo: minervastock via depositphotos
