Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

François Mitterrand's home, located in Jarnac, Charente, is a large traditional family home built in the early 19th century. It replaces the former Protestant temple of Jarnac, destroyed in 1685 after the revocation of the edict of Nantes. Acquised in 1850 by Léon Beauprés Lorrain, Mitterrand's great-grandfather, it successively houses carpentry, timber trading, then cognac and cooperage production. The Mitterrand family settled in 1919 when Joseph Mitterrand, the father of the future president, took over the family business.

François Mitterrand was born in this house on 26 October 1916 and spent his childhood there until 1934. He lives there surrounded by his parents, grandparents, and cousins, in a preserved setting where still remains the original parts, furniture, and family objects. After studying in Angoulême and then in Paris, he began a political career leading him to the presidency of the Republic (1981-1995). Attached to Jarnac, he regularly returned and inaugurated in 1995 a museum presenting gifts received during his mandates.

Transformed into a museum in 2006 at the initiative of the municipality of Jarnac, the house is renovated to preserve its original appearance, with its Breton dining room, pink living room, vinaigrerie-tonnellerie of the 1920s, and gardens. Classified as an additional inventory of historical monuments in 2006 and labeled "Maisons des Illustres" in 2011, it is now managed by the François-Mitterrand Institute. The site houses archives, permanent exhibitions over four generations of the family, and welcomes researchers and visitors.

The adjoining vinegar factory, built in 1920 instead of an old establishment, operated under the name Mitterrand Frères until the 1970s. It bears witness to the local economic activity, linked to the cognac and the cooperage, which marked the history of the family. After François Mitterrand disappeared in 1996, his older sister Colette Landry bought the house back in 1968, before her heirs gave it to the city in 2005. The museum opened in 2006, marking the 10th anniversary of the President's death.

Future

She has been labeled Maison des Illustres since 2011.

External links