Maison de Victor Hugo

About Maison de Victor Hugo

Maison de Victor Hugo sits at 6 Place des Vosges in the Marais, inside the apartment where the author of Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame lived from 1832 to 1848. Hugo rented rooms on the second floor of the Hotel de Rohan-Guemenee, and the house is now a museum run by the City of Paris dedicated to his life, his work, and the long exile years that followed. It isn't a huge collection, but it's a rare chance to stand in the actual rooms a writer of his stature used, laid out to follow his life from the years before exile through his time on Guernsey and his return to Paris.

The rooms hold furniture, portraits, first editions, and personal objects, along with drawings Hugo made himself, since he was a prolific and genuinely talented artist as well as a writer. The standout for many visitors is the Chinese salon, a room Hugo decorated for his companion Juliette Drouet's house on Guernsey and later reassembled here, dense with lacquered panels and painted detail. The windows look out over the Place des Vosges, the oldest planned square in Paris, so the setting itself is part of the visit.

The museum's permanent collection is free to enter, though temporary exhibitions usually require a separate paid ticket. Plan on roughly an hour, a little more if there's a special exhibition on. The Marais is easy to combine with a visit here, with the Place des Vosges arcades, cafes, and other small museums all within a short walk. It's worth checking current opening days and any exhibition arrangements before you go, as hours can shift.