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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Belvedere, now the Maurice-Ravel Museum, was acquired in January 1921 by the composer thanks to his friend Georgette Marnold, who discovered this modest house on the side of the hill offering a view of Montfort-l'Amaury and the Rambouillet forest. Ravel lived there sixteen years, until his death in 1937, and composed emblematic works such as Boléro, L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, and his two piano concertos. The house, carefully furnished and decorated with unusual objects collected by the artist, became a place of creation and reception for his relatives, including Arthur Honegger or Hélène Jourdan-Morhange.

In 1928, a surprise party called "L This period also marked the inauguration of a bust of Ravel carved by Léon Leyritz. After the composer's death, the house remained in the custody of his Breton governess, Marie Reveleau, until 1952. A commemorative plaque was placed there in 1947 by the town hall, followed by regular tributes, as a concert in 1957 for the 20th anniversary of his disappearance.

Bequeathed in 1960 at the National Museum Meeting by Edward Ravel, the composer's brother, the house became a municipal museum after work in 1972-1973. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1994 and then in 2022 (including the garden), it benefited from successive restorations, such as the reconstruction of the "japonizing" garden in 2000 or major works in 2002-2003. The museum, labeled Maison des Illustres in 2011, preserves Ravel's Érard piano (1908), its office, family portraits, and the trinkets collected by the artist.

In 2017, a conflict around the Claude Moreau historical guide broke out, leading to a report by the General Inspectorate of the Museums of France in 2018 advocating improvements, including the final classification of the site. Since 2023, a conservation officer, Anne Million-Fontaine, has supervised the collections, enriched in 2023 by a donation of works and archives (busts, paintings, photographs). The museum, which can be visited by reservation, regularly lends pieces for exhibitions, such as the one planned at the Philharmonie de Paris in 2024-2025 for Ravel's 150th anniversary.

The Belvedere remains a place of living memory, welcoming film shoots (like the film Boléro by Anne Fontaine in 2023) and commemorative events. His musical salon, his dining room decorated with family portraits, and his garden replanted according to the composer's wishes make it a unique testimony of Maurice Ravel's life and work, between intimacy and international influence.

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