Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

La Vallée-aux-Loups is a property in Châtenay-Malabry, Hauts-de-Seine, acquired in 1807 by François-René de Chateaubriand. The writer, already famous for Atala (1801) and The Genius of Christianity (1802), is looking for a refuge to write, far from Parisian agitation. He built a 14-hectare park, planted with exotic trees reminiscent of his travels, and worked in the Velleda Tower, named after the heroine of his novel The Martyrs. The estate became an emblematic place of romanticism, where Chateaubriand wrote major works like Itinerary from Paris to Jerusalem and began his Memoirs d'outre-tombe.

The house, built at the end of the 18th century by brewer André-Arnoult Acloque, was sold by Chateaubriand in 1817 due to financial difficulties. She passed into the hands of the Duke of Montmorency-Laval, who added a wing and an orangery, then to the family of La Rochefoucauld. In the 20th century, Dr. Henri Le Savoureux made him a resting home and a meeting place for the intelligentsia (Paul Valéry, Marc Chagall, Paul Léautaud). Classified as a historical monument in 1964 and 1978, the property is now a departmental museum dedicated to Chateaubriand, Romanticism and its literary history.

The park, labeled "remarkable garden", and the house retain original elements such as the Velleda Tower, the neoclassical peristyle added by Chateaubriand, or furnished rooms evoking his life and work. Temporary exhibitions explore the links between the writer, his time and contemporary creation. The adjacent arboretum, created in 1986, extends the botanical heritage of the estate with more than 500 species of trees.

Among the notable pieces, Madame Récamier's room, close friend of Chateaubriand, exhibits a copy of the famous meridian painted by Jacques-Louis David. The Girodet lounge features a portrait of the writer by Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson, while the dining room retains a faience stove and period wallpaper. The site, marked by tragic events such as the suicide of Jacques Rigaut in 1929, remains a place of memory and inspiration.

The protection of the estate includes the facades, the Velleda tower and the park (classified in 1978), as well as the Montmorency wing (registered in 1964). Chateaubriand House, managed by the Hauts-de-Seine department, perpetuates its heritage through collections, archives and cultural activities open to the public.

The history of the place also reflects the social and cultural transformations of France, from the First Empire to the present day. From a private residence to a medical institution and then to a museum, the Vallée-aux-Loups embodies the posterity of a major writer and the evolution of the uses of historical heritage.

External links