Literary House of Victor Hugo, exhibition "Victor Hugo and the great universal minds: Honoré de Balzac

Name: Literary House of Victor Hugo, exhibition "Victor Hugo and the great universal minds: Honoré de Balzac
Start: 2022-09-17T10:30:00+02:00
End: 2022-09-18T18:30:00+02:00
Location: Maison littéraire de Victor Hugo

Guided tour of the exhibition "Victor Hugo and the Great Universal Spirits: Honoré de Balzac"

17 and 18 September 2022Passed

Guided tour of the exhibition dedicated to Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac presenting remarkable pieces of French literary heritage (original editions, manuscripts, proofs, sculptures, engravings, period photographs and Murano porcelain, etc.) to highlight and make accessible to the general public the careers of these two major writers, their particularities, their relationships, their ways of working… and to emphasize the universal character of their works.

About the location

Maison littéraire de Victor Hugo

Château des Roches - 45 rue Vauboyen 91570 Bièvres

Essonne
Île-de-France

The castle of Les Roches was in the nineteenth century the property of Bertin the elder, director of the Journal des Débats. He hosted a literary salon where Chateaubriand, Ingres, Girodet, and Berlioz Liszt mingled. Victor Hugo, a privileged guest, also stayed for a family holiday. Now known as the Literary House of Victor Hugo, the castle houses a prestigious collection of manuscripts, rare original editions, corrected proofs, signed autograph letters, engravings and period photographs. In May 2000, 5 documents were classified as Historical Monuments: the proofs of Contemplations, the Legend of the Centuries and the Miserable, the manuscript of the draft decree of general amnesty of the Communards and finally the last words written by the great writer three days before his death: "To love is to act". The landscaping of the garden and the park has restored a landscape that is always present in the poet’s verses. Writing from the banks of the Rhine to his friends, Victor Hugo says: "Al