Maison de George Sand
The House of George Sand is an estate in Nohant-Vic , France . It was built in the 18th century for the governor of Vierzon on the remains of a medieval manor house. In 1793 the grandmother of the writer George Sand , Madame Dupin de Francueil, bought the property. Sand spent her childhood and youth here and wrote much of her work in Nohant. In 1953, her granddaughter bequeathed the country estate to the state, which is now subject to the national monument administration.
Rural castle life
According to the writer, the building, which was built in the style that is widespread in the region and located on the edge of the village square, “shows no greater pomp than any other village house”. The aim of the house was to create an atmosphere of communal and free coexistence. George Sand's friends who went on the trip to Nohant should be encouraged and the exchange between them encouraged. Among the writers and artists she gathered around her and who temporarily lived in Nohant were Balzac , Delacroix , Liszt , Chopin and Flaubert .
For Delacroix, George Sand had a studio set up on the loft in the servants' wing. The painter writes:
“The house is very pleasant and the hosts are very kind to me. If you don't have lunch or dinner together, play billiards or go for a walk, you can stay in your room, read or relax on the sofa. Every now and then the wind carries in the sounds of Chopin's play through the window open to the garden, plus the singing of the nightingales and the scent of the roses. "
interior
The interior of the house today corresponds to that of George Sands' time. The traces of family and social activities cannot be overlooked. This includes the vestibule designed in pastel shades by George Sand's son, Maurice. Likewise, the table in the dining room, which is set with the porcelain from the Creil-Montereau manufacture preferred by George Sand, is illuminated by a magnificent chandelier made of Venetian glass.
In the drawing room, with portraits of George Sand's ancestors and descendants hanging on the walls, there were evening games or puppet plays. In the beginning, the puppet stage was improvised with simple means. George Sand later set up a theater room on the ground floor and had her plays performed there on a trial basis before they were played in Paris. It was mainly a puppet theater , but actors and guests themselves often appeared.
You can also see the writing cabinet in which George Sand wrote her first novels, as well as the so-called blue chamber, furnished in the Louis-seize style, in which she passed away on June 8, 1876.
The largest room in the house is the Aurora Lauth-Sands room, restored in 1998 and furnished in Art Deco style . The granddaughter George Sands lived here until her death in 1961.
garden
On the 6 hectare grounds of the property there is a graceful French garden with a flower- filled beech parterre , a rose garden, a wooded area, an orchard and a part of the park with a pond. Two large cedars are reminiscent of George Sand's children, one each planted when Maurice and Solange were born.
Today's use of the property
The sheepfold was converted into a concert hall. The “Festival of Romanticism” and the international Chopin Days take place here every year. There is also an annual open-air film festival dedicated to cinematic adaptations of great novels. The reception building in the courtyard houses the “literary storeroom” on the top floor, a space for readings, writing workshops and meetings with authors.
literature
- Jean-Marie Pérouse Montclos (Editor): Le Guide du Patrimoine - Center, Val de Loire . Hachette Livre, 1995, p. 473.
- Camille Bourniquel: Frédéric Chopin . Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH, Hamburg 1959, p. 93, ISBN 3-499-50025-6 .
- Enzo Orlandi (editor): Chopin and his time . Emil Vollmer Verlag, Wiesbaden 1972.
- Christiane Sand [Hrsg.]: Guest of George Sand: Culture and table pleasures in the Château Nohant. Cologne: DuMont 1989. ISBN 3-7701-2281-X .
Coordinates: 46 ° 37 ′ 30.3 " N , 1 ° 58 ′ 31.4" E
