Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Maison de Jules Verne, or Maison à la Tour, is a mansion built between 1845 and 1854 for the notary Jean-Baptiste-Gustave Riquier, in the residential area of Henriville in Amiens. This red brick building, typical of bourgeois architecture of the Second Empire, is distinguished by its four-storey cylindrical tower and facades decorated with limestone. The house combines exterior sobriety and eclectic interior decorations, blending neo-flamboyant styles, neo-Louis XVI and Empire, especially in the dining room and the large living room, today protected.

Jules Verne settled in 1882 at 54 years old, at the height of his literary glory with the Extraordinary Voyages. He lives there 18 years with his wife Honorine, writes about 40 novels, and actively engages in local life as a councilman and member of learned societies. The house, rented by the couple, became a central place of his production until 1900, when he returned to a previous residence in Amieno, where he died in 1905.

Acquised by the city of Amiens in 1980, the house is transformed into a museum re-establishing its living environment: office, library of 12,000 works, cabin of the yacht Saint Michel III, and small models of its imaginary machines (Nautilus, Albatros). The ground floor, preserved since 1945, retains its original decorations, while the first floor exhibits manuscripts and original editions. Partially classified as historical monuments in 1998 and labeled Maisons des Illustres in 2011, the house-museum is managed by the Bibliothèques d'Amiens Métropole.

In 2000, the city acquired the Piero Gondolo della Riva collection (30,000 pieces), enriching the funds of the Jules Verne International Centre (CIJV). A trompe-l'oeil fresco by François Schuiten, added in 2005, decorates the facade in homage to the author's planetary work. The house, closed for restoration in 2005, reopened in 2006 on the occasion of the 101st anniversary of his death.

Located at 2 rue Charles-Dubois, at the corner of the eponymous boulevard, the house embodies the link between Jules Verne and Amiens, where he lived more than thirty years. Its architecture and collections illustrate both the way of life of the 19th-century industrial bourgeoisie and the literary universe of a visionary writer, deeply rooted in his adopted city.

Future

It now houses a museum that evokes the life, work and public action of the writer. He was awarded the Maison des Illustres label in 2011.

External links