Thirty-six houses of red brick and pale stone, all built to the same design, around a garden of linden trees and fountains. Arcades below, steep slate roofs above. The Place des Vosges, inaugurated in 1612 as the Place Royale, is often called the oldest planned square in Paris. It's also one of the most peaceful.
From 1832 to 1848, Victor Hugo lived on the second floor of number 6, in a corner of the square. Here he worked on many of his plays and poems, received friends, and began the novel that would become Les Misérables. His apartment is now the Maison de Victor Hugo, a museum whose permanent collection is free to visit.
A slow walk through Hugo's Marais
1. Start under the arcades. Walk the full square slowly in their shade, looking at the vaulted ceilings, the old doors, the galleries and cafés. 2. Visit the Maison de Victor Hugo. Climb the stairs to his apartment. Look at the rooms, the drawings, and especially the extraordinary Chinese drawing room he designed himself. Fewer people know that Hugo was also a remarkable artist, making strange, beautiful ink drawings. 3. Sit in the garden. Find a bench under the linden trees and watch children play, couples read, the fountains move. 4. Slip into the Hôtel de Sully. In one corner of the square, a passage leads through to the garden and courtyard of a seventeenth-century mansion, a quiet shortcut few visitors notice. 5. Wander the Marais lanes. Rue des Francs-Bourgeois, rue de Sévigné, the small streets around them, with old mansions, hidden courtyards and bookshops.
What Hugo teaches about attention
Hugo was famous for noticing everything: the stones of Notre-Dame, the faces of the poor, the light on the sea. His books are vast because his attention was vast. Walking in his footsteps is a good reminder to look carefully, and to care about what we see.
More walks, more stories
The Digital subscription brings you walks, writers, places, books, opera and music, with at least one video each month, photo stories and the digital edition of "(meditating) On Art". For readers who like to visit the rooms where stories were written.
Remember to take as much time as you need, and meet me at the next one.
Love, Evi