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Les Charmettes, House of Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Address
890 chemin des Charmettes, 73000, Chambéry
Opening
From 01/01 to 31/12/2023, every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday between 10 am and 6 pm.
Closed exceptionally on January 1st, Easter Monday, Feast of the Ascension, Whit Monday, May 1st, May 8th, July 14th, August 15th, November 1st, November 11th and December 25th.
Description
Nestling in a quiet valley overlooking Chambéry, this country house was the home of Jean-Jacques Rousseau when he stayed with Mme de Warrens from 1736 to 1742.
The House of Charmettes is described in books V and VI of the Confessions and in the 10th of the Reveries of the solitary walker. From the revolutionary period, it became a pilgrimage site for visitors from all over the world and many celebrities (George Sand and Alphonse de Lamartine tell their visit with emotion).
Classified as a historic monument in 1905, it is also a preserved natural site, and a botanical garden. This place, where the personality of one of the greatest writers of the French language was formed, is testament to Rousseau's influence in the evolution of universal thought: nature, romance, education, happiness, the century of Enlightenment, human rights and citizenship.
With its peaceful atmosphere, Les Charmettes is today a museum of literary memories. The French garden of Les Charmettes contains a collection of medicinal plants, vegetables, fruits and condiments as in the eighteenth century.