GUIDED TOUR
Hall
This residence has been restored to the charm and splendor of the time when Victor Hugo and his family stayed there. A XIX-th century romantic atmosphere has been recreated to enhance the collections on display.
Blue room
Decorated with the favourite colours of the poet, it presents documents linked with various moments of his life and his various activities. Are particulary exhibited significant pieces from the period he spent living at the Roches, a fertile and decisive period for his political and artistic evolution.
Bertin literary salon
The ties between the Hugo family and the Bertins were very close. In the evenings, by the fire, Hugo and his children would often build a house of cards and play music. Hugo called Louise Bertin « the Good Fairy ». He wrote the music for the opera « Esmeralda », based on Hugo’s » Notre-Dame de Paris ».
Beige room
First intended to accomodate temporary exhibitions, it is now part of the main exhibition. Air conditioning, subtle lighting and wide windows enhance some of the most important pieces.
Red room
Room of honour, in a Hugo style which reminds us of his house of exile, in Guernesey. The end of Victor Hugo’s glorious life is here illustrated by many contemporary testimonies and engravings.
Library
Furnished in mahogany, it is opened to researchers and students. The collection is kept in the best temperature and humidity.
Park
The garden and park reflect the landscape that was ever-present in Hugo’s verses. Writing to his friends by the banks of the Rhine river, the poet declared: « All the fir trees of the Black Forest are not worth the acacia of the court of the Roches ». Made up of many species of trees, some planted by Mr. Bertin, it allows visitors to stroll along the paths laid out to the lake where Hugo liked to walk…
Visitors will rediscover the virginia creeper, the chestnut trees and the willows by the river as well as the well-tended meadows the poet so often spoke of.
