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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

Colette's home, 8 rue Colette (formerly rue de l'Hospice) in Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, Yonne, was built in the early 19th century. This place deeply marked the writer Sidonia-Gabrielle Colette, born here on 28 January 1873. She lived there a happy childhood and adolescence, surrounded by her family, until the forced departure in 1891, a traumatic event that inspired her literary work.

The gardens (Jardin-du-haut and Jardin-du-bas) and the house became central characters of his novels, such as Claudine at school (1900) or Sido (1930). Colette drew his love of nature and his art of observation, recurring themes in his writings. In 1925, thanks to the usufruct offered by an admirer, François Ducharne, she was able to find this "lost paradise", symbolized by a commemorative plaque affixed to the facade: "Ici Colette est né".

Classified as a Historic Monument in 2011, the house was acquired in 2011 by the association La Maison de Colette after a popular mobilization. Restored with care by the architect Pascal Prunet and the decorator Jacques Grange, it reopened in 2016 with its interiors and gardens reconstituted according to Colette's descriptions. Today, the site offers visits, festivals (As it pleases me!, International Women's Writing Festival) and workshops, celebrating its literary heritage.

The gardens, recreated by landscape architect Françoise Phiquepal d'Arusmont from the texts and iconographies of the period, complete this immersion in Colette's universe. The property, including the house, the communes, the walls and the gates, has been protected under the Historic Monuments since 2011 and labeled Maison des illustrieux since 2012. This place embodies both a family memory and an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the writer's work.

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