📍Castle of Monte-Cristo , 78560 Le Port-Marly, France.
On July 25, 1847, Alexandre Dumas officially moved into the Château de Monte-Cristo. The building of his dreams quickly became the scene of social events and the place where he devoted himself to writing.
On screen in the film The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte, the Count's castle is reminiscent of Alexandre Dumas' original home in Port-Marly. While the dimensions are different, the architecture is similar - particularly the façade and its domes on the roof. Visit the writer's real home, located on the outskirts of Paris.
In less than fifty years of career, Alexandre Dumas published 600 books, enjoyed dazzling success and built his reputation on his character as a compulsive lover, workaholic and flamboyant spender. Described by the English playwright Watts Phillips as being " the most generous being in the world and also the most deliciously amusing and selfish creature on the face of the earth ", Alexandre Dumas forged strong friendships mixed with admiration with Lamartine and Victor Hugo , lived in excess and broke pre-established rules.
After the success of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo , Alexandre Dumas, at the height of his fame, had a country house built in 1846 at Port-Marly, outside Paris. In an English garden in the Yvelines, Alexandre Dumas called on the architect Hippolyte Durand who designed the Renaissance, Baroque and Gothic style building, and a neo-Gothic pavilion serving as a writing studio. Surrounded by water, the Château d'If with its eclectic architecture is full of architectural curiosities, sometimes inspired by some of his fictional heroes. On the façade of the Château de Monte-Cristo, Alexandre Dumas had the coat of arms of his ancestors affixed as well as his motto: " I love who loves me."
The residence with its entirely sculpted facades, reigning over a 9-hectare forest, opens onto a large vestibule that distributes the lounges, boudoirs, offices and dining room. Upstairs, between the bedroom and the library stands an astonishing Moorish lounge . Decorated with stucco sculptures and arabesques, the lounge was designed by Tunisian craftsmen in the service of the Bey of Tunis, commissioned and brought by Dumas after one of his many trips.
The work was completed on July 25, 1847, his 45th birthday. Alexandre Dumas organized a housewarming party and invited about fifty friends, but more than 600 people crowded in to admire this place that Balzac described as " one of the most delicious follies that have ever been committed ". The successful author only enjoyed his family home for a few months before going bankrupt and losing his historic Parisian theater. He was then forced to sell the Monte-Cristo estate to pay off his debts in 1849. The castle gradually fell into abandonment, but, saved from destruction in 1970 and classified as a Historic Monument, the Monte-Cristo estate established itself as a museum and is now open to the public.
Guided tours on the second Sunday of the month from February to November for individuals only. The Château de Monte-Cristo is closed on Mondays.
In 1848, Alexandre Dumas, pursued by his creditors, was forced to sell the Château de Monte-Cristo. The building and all its furnishings were sold for the sum of 31,000 francs (gold) — a loss-making sale since the writer had apparently spent a crazy amount of money to build the house of his dreams. He left the château for good in 1851 to go into exile in Belgium. Today, the Society of Friends of Alexandre Dumas works to safeguard the historical and architectural heritage of the Château de Monte-Cristo, the association having notably saved the building from destruction in the 1970s.
Il y a deux sortes de révolutions : les révolutions en arrière et les révolutions en avant. Révolutions pour révolutions, il vaut mieux servir celles de l'avenir ; car si l'avenir a des illusions, sans doute comme toute chose humaine, le passé n'a que des ruines.
Alphonse de Lamartine, Les pensées diverses (1869)
Je ne suis pas française, mais j'ai de la famille et des amis français. J'aime vivre en France. En tant que monarchiste, je n'aime pas la Révolution française, mais j'aime son histoire, sa culture et son peuple. C'est pour cette raison que je peux faire la fête aujourd'hui.
Je vous souhaite à tous une très bonne fête en ce 14 juillet !
"Peut-être, dans la foule, une âme que j'ignore Aurait compris mon âme, et m'aurait répondu!..."-Lamartine "Mon humeur était impétueuse, mon caractère inégal. Tour à tour bruyant et joyeux, silencieux et triste, je rassemblais autour de moi mes jeunes compagnons; puis, les abandonnant tout à coup, j'allais m'asseoir à l'écart pour contempler la nue fugitive, ou entendre la pluie tomber sur le feuillage."-Chateaubriand
(Dumas) explained his idea by this parable: "A farm is managed by three friends. The one cuts the harvest, the other gathers it, the third threshes and winnows it. I am the one who threshes and winnows. Anything that remains over I feed to the chickens. And that's why all the chickens run to me when I call: 'Come, my little ones; come, come!' while they don't even know the voice of my two associates who have a higher position on the farm than I. . . . I give form to Lamartine's dreams and clearness to Hugo's thoughts, and so I serve a double portion to the public which would be badly nourished by Lamartine's too unsubstantial fare, and would get indigestion from Hugo's too heavy fare. . . . Lamartine is a dreamer, Hugo is a thinker, and I am a popularizer." - The Fourth Musketeer
Ces impressions étaient-elles joie ou tristesse, douleur ou souffrance ? je ne pourrais le dire ; elles participaient de tous les sentiments à la fois. C’était de l’amour et de la religion, des pressentiments de la vie future, délicieux et tristes comme elle, des extases et des découragements, des horizons de lumière et des abîmes de ténèbres, de la joie et des larmes, de l’avenir et du désespoir ! C’était la nature parlant par ses mille voix au cœur encore vierge de l’homme ; mais enfin c’était de la poésie [...]
Alphonse de Lamartine, Méditations poétiques, Tome 1, préface "Des Destinées de la Poésie" (1834)
Le Petit écho de la mode, no. 50, vol. 22, 16 décembre 1900, Paris. 1. Boléro Lamartine. Modèle de Mmes Forcillon sœurs, 165, rue Saint-Honoré (Place du Théâtre-Français). Ville de Paris / Bibliothèque Forney
1. Vêtement Lamartine en velours noir, ajusté par une pince de chaque côté, croisé et boutonné par une sous-patte; garniture d'astrakan entourant tout le vêtement. Grand revers de satin blanc voilé de dentelle application. Dos uni. Col très haut bordé de fourrure et doublé de velours miroir. Manches avec revers ornés d'astrakan. Manchon en astrakan. Grand chapeau en velours orne de plumes et nœud de taffetas blanc.
1. Lamartine garment in black velvet, fitted with darts on each side, crossed and buttoned with a flap; astrakhan trim surrounding the entire garment. Large lapel in white satin veiled with lace application. Plain back. Very high collar lined with fur and lined with mirror velvet. Sleeves with cuffs adorned with astrakhan. Astrakhan sleeve. Large velvet hat adorned with feathers and white taffeta bow.
Matériaux: 4 mètres de velours, 4 mêtres de satin blanc.
