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Origin and history

Victor Hugo's home is a historic apartment located on the 1st floor of 140 Grande Rue (now Victor-Hugo Square) in Besançon, Doubs. Built between the 4th quarter of the 15th century and the 18th century, this stone and stone house also houses the ancient Jacques pharmacy, founded in the 18th century. The poet was born there on February 26, 1802, son of Léopold Hugo, officer in garrison, and Sophie Trébuchet. The façade has been a commemorative plaque since 1879, and the square was renamed in his honour in 1896.

Acquired by the city in 1932, the house was restored in 2012-2013 to become a museum dedicated to Victor Hugo's humanist commitment, with a budget of 1.2 million euros. The ground floor reconstructs the period pharmacy, while the floor retains the family apartment. The facades and roofs have been classified as Historical Monuments since 1942. Gustave Courbet lived there briefly during his studies, and painters such as Melchior Wyrsch or Arthaud had their workshop there in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The museum highlights Hugo's political struggles through mural quotations, evoking freedom of expression, the rights of the child and human dignity. The pharmacy, founded by Joseph Baratte in 1754, was held by the Maire and Jacques families until 1909. Its 18th century woodwork and pots, sold in 1910, are now exhibited at the Lascaris Museum in Nice. A glass window installed in 1911 still illuminates the painters' workshop, located in the attic.

The house, organized around a courtyard, includes a main house and three secondary houses, with two entrances: one on the Grande Rue (boxed by shops, including the pharmacy) and a cochère on Renan Street. The staircase with an open cage, designed by architect Jean-Charles Colombot in 1761, serves the floors. The vaulted basements and heterogeneous buildings reflect centuries-long construction campaigns, from the 16th century for secondary houses to the 19th century for the elevation of the main house.

The armored plate affixed in 1879, completed in 2002, recalls Hugo's birth with a quote: "I want the great peoples, I want the free men. The museum, inaugurated on September 13, 2013, is part of the network of Houses of the Illustrators and celebrates the poet's literary and political heritage, while preserving the memory of the artisans and artists who have marked the place, such as the pharmacists Baratte or the painters Wyrsch and Tremorières.

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