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Origin and history

The Rohan-Guéménée hotel, or Hotel Arnauld, is a private hotel built in the early seventeenth century in the Marais district of Paris, on a location purchased in 1605 by Isaac Arnauld, king's adviser and intendant of finance. Located at 6 and 6 bis place des Vosges and 17 rue des Tournelles, it was first sold in 1612 to Marshal de Lavardin, companion of Henri IV, then in 1621 to Pierre Jacquet, lord of Tigery, before being acquired in 1637 by Prince Louis de Rohan, Grand Veneur of France. Its architecture, typical of the hotels of the Place des Vosges, includes a central house body and two wings in return, with stable-lined courses and discounts.

The last owner Rohan, Henri Louis Marie de Rohan-Guéméné, lived there until his bankruptcy in 1782, resulting in the sale of the hotel in 1797 to Louis-Denis Péan de Saint-Gilles. In the 19th century, a part was rented to Victor Hugo, who lived there from 1832 to 1848 and wrote major works such as Ruy Blas. The hotel was partially ceded to the city of Paris in 1873, then housing a school and, from 1903, the Victor-Hugo museum, thanks to a gift from Paul Meurice. Its facades and roofs were classified as historical monuments in 1954.

Among the famous occupants were the Marquise de Sévigné, who stayed there in 1677, the courtesan Marion Delorme (1639–48), and Prince Louis de Rohan, executed in 1674 for conspiracy against Louis XIV. The wing of the Tournelles, intact, preserves a fountain Louis-Philippe and 17th century stairs. The hotel was also a place of manufacture of the coffins of Napoleon I at the Invalides, and served as a decor for the film The Magnificent. The sculptor Lucienne Heuvelmans installed her workshop there at the beginning of the 20th century.

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