Five Enchanting Houses of Famous Writers You Can Visit for Inspiration
by Maria Blazz on 15/02/09 at 1:22 am
Feel the magic of being in the actual place where some of the greatest works in Literature were conceived.
If you’re a writer or just a Literature lover, you must have dreamed sometime of sitting at the real desk of any of your admired authors, take a look at their libraries, be in the actual place where they used to be (in case of dead writers), try to see the world as they saw it. Well, your dream may come true because many of the original houses of famous writers around the world has become museums preserving most of their personal belongings and opening their doors to the public. Since there are so many greatest writers places to discover, let’s start with some of the classics.
William Shakespeare (Strattford, United Kingdom)
Strattford-upon-Avon is a town in the South West of England well known for being the birthplace of the Bard, who lived in two different houses here in the XVI and XVII centuries. His first residence, in Henley Street, is the original site where he was born, grew up, became an adult and also spent the first five years of his marriage with Anne Hathaway. Then he moved to London where he got great success as an actor and dramatist, but he used to come back once in a while to Strattford to the called “New Place“, where he finally died in 1616. The New Place or “Nash House” (named after the husband of Shakespeare’s granddaughter, Thomas Nash) is also open to visitors who can enjoy the beautiful gardens surrounding.
Shakespeare’s birthplace in Strattford. Image source
Victor Hugo (Paris, France)
The “maison” that French author of “Les miserables” inhabited from from 1832 to 1848 is still intact in Paris at Place des Vosges. In Victor Hugo’s times the building was a hotel (Rohan-Guéménée) and the writer rented an apartment there at the second floor. It is said that here he created some of his greatest works and received notable guests. Transformed into a fantastic museum, the house amuses with its rich decoration, unique furniture and other elements of XIX century daily life.
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Alcalá de Henares, Spain)
Museo Casa Natal de Cervantes is a museum located in Alcalá de Henares, a Castilian city 15 miles from Madrid. According to his biographer Luis Astrana Marin, this was the birthplace of the author of “Don Quixote” in 1547 and although the original XVI century building couldn’t be preserved intact, the community of Madrid developed a project in the 50s to reconstruct the house with the same characteristics of the old times. Today it receives 150,000 visitors per year in search of the spirit of the greatest Hispanic writer of all times.
Dante Alighieri (Florence, Italy)
It’s hard to tell if this building looks today as it did during medieval times when the poet Dante Alighieri wrote his famous “Divina Commedia” (Divine Comedy), but the work of reconstruction took long years and an exhaustive research. Anyway, the Museo Casa Di Dante is still an splendid opportunity to get close to the life of the “Father of Italian language”.
Fyodor Dostoevsky (Saint Petersburg, Russia)
The great Russian author of “Crime and Punishment” lived in many places around Saint Petersburg city, but the building on the corner of Kuznechny Lane and the formerly Yamskaya (a street that today is named Dostoevsky in his honor) was one of the most significant. He rented an apartment there for a short time when he was starting his writing career in 1846 and decided to come back many years later to write his last novel, The Brothers Karamazov. After his death in 1881, the building suffered some changes but kept its original design. Since 1971, it has become a museum where one of the apartments recreates the writer’s environment according to his wife’s memoirs.
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34 Comments
CHAN LEE PENG
Feb 15th, 2009
Thanks for the tour.
rutherfranc
Feb 15th, 2009
So very nice of you to share this.. don`t need to go there, you have inspired me with this article already! great piece of literature!
JK Kristie
Feb 15th, 2009
Nice concept for an article, great piece of information.
RJ Chamberlain
Feb 15th, 2009
I always wanted to go and see Hemmingway’s place down in the Florida Keys. Ironic that I went to the Keys but completely forgot to visit his hideaway. Nice work Maria.
RJ
Patrick Bernauw
Feb 15th, 2009
Great article!
CutestPrincess
Feb 15th, 2009
excellent post! it really inspire me.
Maria Blazz
Feb 15th, 2009
Glad to read your comments!
RJ, Hemingway’s house in Key West is a good example for an article like this too. But maybe in a second part. I had to select some of them (they’re too many!) and finally opted for some of the classics.
Joe Dorish
Feb 15th, 2009
Very nice article Maria!
nobert soloria bermosa
Feb 15th, 2009
great writers and their amazing houses,congrats for making it to the hot content list
autornonimo
Feb 15th, 2009
I do not speak English
.
Saludos
Darla Smith
Feb 15th, 2009
A very interesting article. Thanks for sharing.
Sharona
Feb 15th, 2009
Beautiful pictures, the aritcle is interesting, this would inspire any author with a true desire to understand the masters.
Critic
Feb 15th, 2009
Honestly I couldn’t get through the article because of the sorry use of grammar. Simple things really that could have been corrected before publishing it. Came that should have been come…has that should have been have…”you must have dreamed sometime of being sitting at the real desk of any of your” you really should have left the being out right there…but hey what do I know…All’s I can say is I would have liked to enjoy the article…
Robertos1319
Feb 15th, 2009
Maria, I am not a CRITIC, and my spanish grammar is excellent, so I really enjoy this article. Thanks for bringing my masters’memories back.
Vikram Chhabra
Feb 15th, 2009
Very informative piece. I have always dreamed of visiting Shakespeare’s birthplace. Maybe someday….
mythos
Feb 15th, 2009
Me gusta mucho este tema.
Muy bueno.
Saludos
denus
Feb 15th, 2009
very informative. nice!
MariaArte
Feb 15th, 2009
Congratulations, Maria! Very nice!
Adry
Feb 15th, 2009
It’s impressive all this people and is respective place. I went to Madrid and visit the museum. Very interesting and you learn too much.
Great publication.
Sharazad
Feb 15th, 2009
Oh, what wouldn’t I give to visit Dostoevsky’s house!
But Mark Twain’s house is beautiful-I don’t just want to visit it, I want to buy it, lol.
Great wor, Maria!
James DeVere
Feb 15th, 2009
Don’t you mean, “Five ENCHANTING houses…?”
I really liked the coupling of the author with the house. It spooks me to think that one day we will all just be plaques on someone’s doorway.
Excellent article, Maria, thank-you . j
valli
Feb 15th, 2009
Very interesting read.
Tel Asiado
Feb 15th, 2009
Very interesting, and great images. Thanks Maria.
I’ve written a lot about most of these writers – both their bio and works. Terrific!
LP Jardine
Feb 15th, 2009
Great article.
Debra.
Feb 15th, 2009
Whether your English is your first language or not this is impressive. I love the pics as well. I would love to visit each and every one of them. Good work.
papaleng
Feb 15th, 2009
great article and very informative, also thanks for the tour.
R.B. Parsley
Feb 15th, 2009
Maria,
I just finished your article. Very informative, and the pictures were great too. I think you should do a part two of this article,
and include authors such as Mark Twain, Edger Alan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and maybe for extra measures throw in some more modern authors such as Stephen King, Mary Higgins Clark, and Dean Kootz. Excellent article! Keep up the great work.
Randy
Matt John
Feb 15th, 2009
great article!
vevel
Feb 16th, 2009
I thought it was great how you took the criticism to heart and used it as a blessing. that shows you are a great writer and researcher. great article.
Brave Photographer
Feb 16th, 2009
Amazing article.
Mr Ghaz
Feb 16th, 2009
Bravo! Gracias Maria! I loved it! great work! very attractive article. Nice to read and thanks a lot for sharing. Arios amigos! Areeeeeba!
The Quail
Feb 16th, 2009
Very impressive article.
Sandra Tapia
Feb 18th, 2009
Great research writing. I would prefer a much simpler life style.
Mark Bentley
Feb 24th, 2009
Thanks. Interesting article.
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