Place de Vosges and the Maison Victor Hugo

We took another walk in the Marais district today, going through the Place des Vosges which is a symmetrical square of brick buildings surrounding a pretty park.  This archway is the southern entrance to the square.

There is a large cluster of shady trees in the center of the park, and four identical fountains forming a square around the center.  More shade trees line the outer edges of the square.

It's a pleasant, quiet spot.  On nice days, you'll see lots of people enjoying the sun or a picnic on the grass.  We opted to picnic on a bench in the shade, since we get plenty of sun exposure back home!

One of the more famous former residents of the Place des Vosges is Victor Hugo.  We visited his house (which is now a museum) on a previous walk through the area a few weeks ago.

Victor Hugo was a poet, statesman, and writer.  He is probably best known for his novels The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Misérables.  He lived at the Place des Vosges from 1832 to 1848, and shortly afterwards he was exiled from France for his opposition to the reign of Napoleon III. This bust of the writer around age 30 was done by his friend David d'Angers.

Rodin sculpted this image of an older, saggier, Victor Hugo.

There were only a few rooms open to the public.  The Chinese-themed living room was extremely interesting.

The mid-1800's seemed to be an age of gaudy decor, judging by this overwhelming chandelier and the top-to-bottom patterned wallpaper in the study.

This is a pane from one of the windows in the stairwell.

Hugo returned to France from exile in 1870, after Napoleon III fell from power.  He was very popular with the people of France and his 81st birthday was celebrated almost as a national holiday, including a parade and other festivities.  He died two years later and was buried in the Panthéon with other heroes of France.