Maison de Victor Hugo

A small yet impressive museum offering a close look at Victor Hugo’s life through his works and personal belongings. Admission to the permanent collections is free, while temporary exhibitions require a paid ticket. Victor Hugo was not only a writer but also an advocate for the preservation of France’s historic monuments, raising awareness and helping strengthen the 19th-century architectural conservation movement. If you have enough time, this centrally located museum in Paris is must-visit.

My visit to La Maison de Victor Hugo in Paris was an unforgettable journey through history, literature, and art. Nestled in the picturesque Place des Vosges, this charming museum offers a unique glimpse into the life and creative world of one of France’s greatest literary icons. The house itself, where Victor Hugo lived from 1832 to 1848, has been beautifully preserved and transformed into a museum dedicated to his life and works. Walking through its rooms feels like stepping back into the 19th century. Each space tells a story — from his personal belongings and manuscripts to the intricate furnishings he designed himself. The Chinese-inspired drawing room, in particular, is a true masterpiece and highlights Hugo’s eclectic artistic tastes. One of the most fascinating parts of the visit was learning about Hugo’s time in exile on the Channel Islands after his opposition to Napoleon III. His years away from France were among his most productive, during which he completed some of his most famous works, including Les Misérables and Les Contemplations. The museum also provides insight into Hugo’s role as a political activist and humanitarian. His passionate advocacy for social justice, abolition of the death penalty, and support for the poor make him not only a literary genius but also a deeply influential figure in French history. Beyond the exhibits, the location itself is stunning. After the tour, I took a moment to enjoy the Place des Vosges, one of Paris’s oldest and most elegant squares, which perfectly complements the timeless charm of the museum. For literature lovers, history enthusiasts, or anyone looking to connect with the soul of Romantic-era Paris, La Maison de Victor Hugo is an absolute must-visit. It’s not just a museum — it’s a portal into the mind and heart of a man whose words continue to inspire the world.

Loved it, so beautiful. The chinoiserie is incredible! It’s a quick house to get through, I enjoyed it and some of the art spoke of poverty, death, humanity. It’s right on the place vosge, worth a peek for sure! I like checking out writers homes, it’s interesting

If you are a fan of the authorised Victor Hugo, who wrote Les Miserables and others, then this is a must visit. It is totally free without needing to do anything in advance and you can just show up. Even if not a fan of the author but near the Place des Voges area, then come for a free entry into a historic house. You can do it express in half an hour if you wish.

Beautiful & free museum. You leave the bustling outside world behind when you enter this historically preserved apartment. A journey into the past! This is the actual apartment of the famous Victor Hugo! The rooms are full of the original furniture and wallpaper (so much wallpaper!!!) The history & things to learn are fascinating. Nice little gift shop at the end for fans of Hugo!

Interesting window into the intimate personal life of the great writer and artist. Fascinating his sketches and aquarelles. And a hidden gem.of a cafe with walled courtyard. Beautiful view

We visited Maison Victor Hugo back in April 2024. I was so glad to find out that it’s free entry for everyone. I like how detailed the information provided for each room and the reason and stories behind his life. Definitely worth a visit.

If you like opera and art, one shall not miss this. So glad I made the effort to come here. Surprise me a lot and very informative. Free of charge on entrance. Paris is huge but do yourself a favor to come here. Its location of the park is gorgeous. What a gem at this quiet district without mass tourists.

Great museum if you're interested in Victor Hugo. Not hard to get to n great location for walking n wandering after or before.

Amazing history. Beautiful interiors. Next to a sweet park. 5 stars. Perfect place to spend a mellow afternoon. Would go again.

This is a cute little free museum that showcases where Victor Hugo lived. I wouldn't go out of the way for it but if you're doing other museums in the area, it's worth a stop.

So fancy, such a great location, a perfect little place for a man with such importance and what an honor to be able to see how he lived. He is art, you can see it all over, writing is more than art, its imagination and as Einstein famously once said, "...Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." You can feel Victor Hugo's presence, especially in his room, for he did write in the nude there and died there too. My favorite room was the Chinese style living room it was amazing. Every part of the house will take your breath away, it's fantastically decorated and it exudes elegance.

Still catching up my reviews from last summers incredible trip to Europe. While visiting and enjoying Place Des Voges, we got lucky to find this beautiful museum dedicated to the incredible Victor Hugo. It was set up as if you took a step back in time to the 1800's. He has always been one of my favorite french writers and poets and is most well known for Les Miserables. In addition, the whole family is extremely creative and artistic. My daughter and I ventured through his family apartment which was adorned with many treasures and a dedication to Asian art. Each room was so unique and interesting and you had to take your time reviewing each piece. There was an offer to utilize an audio guide however we felt that there was enough of a narrative on each piece to gain an understanding of each piece you were viewing. So much history to absorb about Victor and his families life, so take your time should you go. There is a small fee to enter, but I was happy that we came across this museum and glad we took the time to check it out. It is always fun when traveling to keep yourself open to experience someplace or something you were not expecting.

It wasn't free admission when I went but I had Euros to cover it and decided "why not?" Staff was quite friendly to this English speaker. If you're a Victor Hugo fan or really like museums you should definitely check this one out. Hugo had quite an interesting life and the decor is something you must see to believe; there's no bland, boring nonsense here. I got a magnet in the gift shop as part of my souvenir shopping and there's also a really nice courtyard and restaurant here. If you're in the area, it's definitely worth the trip.

Not really a review cuz they are closed. The signs say they will re-open in March of 2020. The top of Yelp says re-open in on March 1st. I wouldn't bet money on the 1st. The official website doesn't even say this place is closed. Surprisingly, only Yelp outright says it's closed. Other sites like Google and TripAdvisor have imbedded comments to say it's closed. Anyway, if you find yourself in the area, there are some very nice art galleries nearby that is absolutely worth visiting. Look for a block with arches. It's on one side of the park adjacent to the park.

Victor Hugo is one of my favorite writers, so I dragged my husband to this small museum when we visited Paris (and made him read the unabridged Les Mis...poor guy). If you're a casual fan of Hugo's work or just saw the musical, this probably isn't going to be worth the time/euros. For me, it absolutely was. First, it's fun to be able to explore an apartment in the Place des Vosges. The staircase up to the apartment has some gorgeous (from the 1500's) stained glass. Once inside, the exhibits detail Hugo's life and work. My favorite things were a map of all of the Les Mis locations, Hugo's sketch of Gavroche and a first edition of Les Mis that happened to be opened to my favorite line: "The forest has a bird and the city has a child - the bird is the sparrow and the child is the gamin."

Somebody once told me that it is impossible to move through Paris without finding yourself standing out the front of a building where a famous person either lived, or simply sat out the front of drinking coffee (or getting drunk as in Hemmingway's case). As such I found myself out the front of the flat in which lived Victor Hugo. Actually, I am probably exaggerating a bit because I knew that there was a museum set up in his flat, and as such was deliberately making my way there. Sure enough, you can go inside, though the flat itself is only on one level (and is actually quite small, though pretty opulent nonetheless). I wouldn't necessarily call it a penthouse suite, though while bigger that pretty much most flats I have lived in, it is still relatively small. Definitely worth checking out.

You have to be a fan of Victor Hugo to take any particular interest in his old home. You pay a small fee to walk through the author's former home in Paris. They have audioguides that you can listen to while taking the tour. It's a modest home and Monsieur Hugo sure had an interesting take on interior design, but well worth a quick peek if you're a fan and it's on your way.

The permanent collection is normally free, but since there was a special exhibition on when I visited, it cost 8€. Well worth it to learn a bit more about this fascinating author/painter and his artistic family. The views onto Place des Vosges are magnificent and even without the audio guide and without fluency in French you will be able to make your way around this museum and really get an appreciation for his life. There are good and free textual guides in English and Spanish throughout the museum. Normally I would have opted for the audio guide, but I was with a group and didn't want to feel rushed.

Historical building with a little flair. Also great views to the square... And a little history learning. And all free... You must have to be able to find this gem. Most likely you would have walked in the arches and are facing the square. This place is in the corner. There should be some signs to find it!! There are several floors to explore. The rooms are all different so there is a lot to see. Hugo decorated a lit of this himself and made a lot of the pieces. Very interesting how he took old things and made them new. The influences of the time are also interesting. There is a LOT of history here to be learned. If you want to.... But this may not be for everyone!! I would come back if I was passing by. But nothing that I would make a special trip for having seen it once.

Victor Hugo, famed author of Les Mis & The Hunchback of Notre Dame, once lived in the Marais area of Paris (4eme). It's tucked away in the corner of Place des Vosges (sp?). Pretty neat overall, but quite small. Sometimes there are special exhibits too. I hate to be a Debbie-Downer, and I am not a huge Victor Hugo fan... but I was not overly impressed with this visit. A huge plus, though, is that a visit to his old Maison is free. 5 euros for an audioguide, but it's a pretty small place that I didn't feel like it was worth it. I wouldn't recommend it to tourists with limited time. But for dedicated fans, it's cool to see where the famous author once lived.

Nice museum to visit but lack of explanations and details (despite the audio guide), as well as references to his poems and books. Pros: - Very nice apartment, with original paintings and decorations that VH or his family owned - Audio guide available in several languages for 5 euros. - They don't seem to have a guide available on site - Staff was rather nice, smiling and efficient. Cons: - Near some high school with some loud and rude teenagers / adults (they looked more like in their 20s). They could walk on you and would not care less.. talking loud (screaming). They were exiting the school as I was entering the museum... They basically looked big cats rushing out of their cage. I was esp. surprised because a few yards ahead some cute little kids were coming out from a kindergarten. The contrast was rather violent lol. - Price with audio guide for 2 was I believe 26 euros. - Wish they had more references to VH's work as well as a deeper exhibit on Leopoldine and her drowning and the poem Demain Des l'Aube, which I think is a major personal event in Hugo's life. - Hard to follow the audio guide (the numbers and the explanations - some parts of it, not all.)

Wandering around the 4er with a friend I ended up here. For the LIFE of me I could not remember who Victor Hugo was... I could have just asked (lol) but instead I just decided to wait until I had WiFi and could look him up..lol. Anyway, even though I did not remember that he was the guy who wrote Le Mis and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, I still enjoyed browsing the apartment. After being able to make the correlation the fact that I went was even that much cooler. A lot of post have mentioned that if you are not a fan this may not be worth the trip. I would say if you have any interest in history, seeing how people lived in other centuries, or of course are a Hugo fan this is great. It is in a cool neighborhood, has an amazing park in front, is surrounded by a ton of shops and cafes, and again..it was free! Check it out!

I love Les Miserables and thought that a visit to the Victor Hugo House would be interesting. It was okay. We stayed in the Bastille area and it is a very short walk from there. It is located next to a nice little park. The house itself is an apartment consisting of multiple floors. The main portion of the Hugo exhibits are on one floor and are mainly recreations of how his home was set up back in the 1800s. Some of the items are originals, some of them are not but nonetheless it was period appropriate. Visiting the house itself is free, but I strongly suggest you spend the 5 Euro for the audio tour. Otherwise, you will likely not know what you are looking at (items are not labeled and do not have descriptions of what you are looking at and why they are significant). I give this visit a "3" because while it wasn't a bad experience, it wasn't that fantastic either. I guess the history of Hugo just wasn't as interesting as what I expected it to be.

this is a fun museum if you are aware of the history of Victor Hugo but its not worth the entry fee of special exhibitions! it has quirky stuff and people who enjoy Le Miserables will enjoy it!

At the time of this review, Hugo's house is undergoing a renovation. A small display of an artist who associated himself with Hugo is on display. This can be a miss.

Victor Hugo's residence is located in Place des Vosges, a ritzy, swanky area of Paris and is now turned into a museum. One highlight of the place is seeing the Red Room. Overall, it's a small, intimate area and evokes an old bygone era where decorum was highly praised.