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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The House of Aunt Léonie, located in Illers-Combray (Eure-et-Loir), is a 19th-century bourgeois house where Marcel Proust (1871–1992) spent his childhood vacation between 1877 and 1880. This place became a major source of inspiration for his work In search of lost time, especially through the character of Aunt Léonie, inspired by her aunt Elizabeth Proust. The iconic scene of the madeleine soaked in tea, triggering memories, is directly linked to it. The house, owned by the Société des Amis de Marcel Proust, has been listed as a Historic Monument since 1961 and labeled Maisons des Illustres in 2011.

In 1954, the house was bought and transformed into a museum by Germaine Amiot, a cousin of Proust, with the help of Philibert-Louis Larcher. She exhibits furniture, objects, photographs and documents belonging to the writer, including the rooms of Marcel and Aunt Léonie, as well as an exotic garden called "Pre-Catelan". The museum, inaugurated in 1972, was temporarily transferred in 2021 for renovation, before reopening in May 2024 with new museum spaces.

Illiers was renamed Illiers-Combray in 1971, in tribute to Proust, by the decision of interior minister Raymond Marcellin. The Société des Amis de Marcel Proust, founded in 1947, has been managing the site since 1976, organizing exhibitions, conferences and enriching the collections (such as buying a new closet at Sothebys in 2018). It also publishes an annual Bulletin and lists the Proustian activities on its website.

The house, characteristic of regional architecture, includes a facade on a wood-paned garden, a top illuminated by cast iron windows, and outbuildings (kitchen, laundry, orangery). Two orientalist paintings were restored in 2022, and five new works joined the collection at the end of 2024. The museum, labeled Musée de France, perpetuates Proust's memory through family objects and reconstituted spaces.

The property was classified at the Historical Monuments in 1961 for its connection to the Proustian work. The garden and interiors (like the oriental salon) reflect the passions of Jules Amiot, uncle of Proust, for the Orient. In 2021, two models of Monegasque stamps evoking the secret correspondence between Proust and Pierre de Monaco were exhibited, revealed by Prince Albert II in 2016.

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