Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Victor Hugo


As an American, I knew Victor Hugo as the author of Les Miserables, hard to escape if you ever turned on public television during the 1990s.  And though this epic, set during the revolution of 1832, along with The Hunchback of Notre Dame, is probably his best known work even in France, to the French, he is much much more.  Poet, politician, human rights activist, visual artist, and force behind the restoration of Notre Dame, he was honored in his lifetime and also in death with a parade of 2 million accompanying his body to its resting place in the Pantheon.

You can visit his home in the Place des Vosges, now a free museum operated by the city of Paris.  Or get off the Metro at the stop bearing his name and walk down the avenue which also bears his name and you will find this sculpture above the doorway of no. 124, the site of a now gone building where he once lived.

3 comments:

Starman said...

Those of us who marvel at Notre Dame, will always owe M. Hugo a huge debt of gratitude.

Shelli said...

He apparently lived for a time in a pretty building on rue du Dragon in the 6th. I think I posted about it but can't seem to find the link. That's what happens when you don't label.

Anonymous said...

For the record, at the end of his life he lived on the avenue which had already been given his name ! You could therefore pay a visit to Victor Hugo, on Victor Hugo Street...

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