The Victor Hugo Museum

Tomorrow, at dawn, the moment the countryside is whitened…

The museum at Villequier was set up in 1959, in the former second residence of Isidore Vacquerie, a shipowner from Le Havre. One of his sons, Auguste met Victor Hugo, of whom he was a great admirer, whilst studying in Paris. Links were forged between the two families during the holidays that Madame Hugo and her children spent in Villequier. The destinies of the two families were further joined by the marriage of the writer’s eldest daughter to Charles Vacquerie and by their tragic drowning in the Seine only a few months later. The descendants of the Vacqueries have also contributed to this bond by giving many donations to the museum. Today, the museum recreates the lives of the Hugo-Vacqueries through things such as objects, furniture and furnishings. Through manuscripts, first editions, photographs, drawings and letters, the career of Victor Hugo is traced as well as that of Auguste Vacquerie, who was not only the executor of the writer’s will, but also a journalist, actor, and photographer, alongside Hugo’s two sons.