Jules Verne moved to Amiens in 1871, he would never leave the Picardy capital again and died there on March 24, 1905. During his 34 years of life in Amiens he actively participated in the local political life and multiplied the mandates of several institutions. Among other things he was Town Councillor, Director of the Academy of Sciences, Great Literature and Arts, member of the Industrial Society and member of the board of directors of the Caisse d’Epargne (Savings Bank).
In December 1875 Jules Verne was nominated Director of the Academy of Sciences, Great Literature and Arts of Amiens. On this occasion he made a speech which remains famous: Une Ville idéale (A Ideal town). |
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It was about a dream. Jules Verne dreamt of his town in the future. Careful not to offend his contemporaries, he evoked Amiens in the future while talking about novelties that were a long time in coming and of things that should already exist!
"Few well-informed scholars claim that dreams, even those which seem to continue the whole night long, in reality only last a few seconds.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I just had a dream of this promenade which might seem ideal to you, in a form that is maybe too fanciful in the Town of Amiens… in the year 2000!"
This fanciful walk that Jules Verne offers to his readers corresponds, except for a few monuments, to the daily path taken by the author.
Starting from the House with the tower, follow our novelist through the town and discover, through his writings, the 19th Century Amiens monuments.
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| Jules Verne’s House: 2, rue Charles Dubois |
"People often ask me why I live in Amiens, I who am so completely Parisian by instinct. Well, because, as I told you, I have some Breton blood and I like tranquillity and I could only be happier in a cloister. A peaceful life of study and work brings me joy. I came to Amiens for the first time in 1856 when I met the lady who is now my wife [...]. It is a good thing because, as Hetzel said to me the other day, if I were living in Paris I would have written at least 10 less novels than I actually have. I like the life here a lot. […] And I am still in love with the theatre: each time that a play is presented in the little theatre, it goes without saying that Mrs. Jules Verne and her husband are present in their box".
Interview granted to Robert Sherard in June 1893 (Jules Verne at home in Mac Clure's magazine)
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| The Jules Verne amphitheatre |
Located at place Longueville, the municipal amphitheatre was built by the Architect Emile Ricquier between 1887 and 1889.
Since November 2003 this monument has been called the Jules Verne amphitheatre in memory of the speech made by the latter at its inauguration on June 23, 1889. |
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Jules Verne was therefore Town Councillor and member of the 4th Commission on cultural affairs of the Town.
"The only excuse for this speech is to express the sincere admiration due to our new amphitheatre. Yes, Amiens can pride itself on owning it. What it will cost, I have no idea!
But what I do know is that it will be worth its price, the importance of what it would have cost is what it will amply bring in for the town [...].
Yes, solid! And even if long ago the Gauls used to say: « We fear nothing, except for the sky falling on our heads! » don't be as worried as your ancestors... The sky of Ricquier will not fall on you!"
Extract from the inaugural speech of June 23, 1889 |
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| The Picardy Museum (rue de la République) |
Built between 1855 and 1867, this edifice that was built thanks to the Société des Antiquaires de Picardie (The Picardy Antique Dealers' Society) was one of the first premises built specifically to house a museum. It was designed like an actual palace for the arts to the pride of Picardy and the State. Inaugurated under Napoleon III in 1867, the Napoleon Museum (its first name) would have its name changed in 1870. The township was trying to eliminate the traces of the second Empire. Jules Verne evokes this in the Ville idéale :
"The crowned Ns which insist on reappearing under the municipal scrapings." |
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| The former Savings Bank (rue de la République) |
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Jules Verne would become a member of the Board of Directors in 1895.
The pediment sculpted by Albert Roze represents "Happy Old age ensured by savings".
Pediment sculpted by Albert Roze |
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| The Town Hall |
Further to the attack by his nephew, Jules Verne would always limp (since the shot which had hit his ankle was never removed). So, from 1886 Jules Verne decreased his travels and put a lot of his efforts into local life. He was among other things, Town Councillor for 16 years from 1888 to 1904. His unexpected presence on Republican Mayor Frederic Petit’s list caused numerous criticisms.
The newspapers attacked Jules Verne about his « change in politics » and he tried to justify himself.
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"My sole intention is to make myself useful and to bring certain urban reforms to a successful conclusion. Why always mix politics and Christianity with administrative issues? You know me well enough to know that for certain essential questions I have never been influenced… I might add that my disability forces me to live a more sedentary life, it is helpful for me to remain in contact with business and with my fellow men, its a question of work".
Letter to his childhood friend, Charles de Maisonneuve. |
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| La
Place Périgord (now Place Gambetta) |
Lost in his dream of a Ville
idéale, Jules Verne was no longer very sure whether he was really in Amiens, except in the area surrounding the Place Périgord (renamed Place Gambetta): |
"I recognized them, the hotels! But how the houses had changed! The rue des Rabuissons had a false resemblance to boulevard Haussmann! I was undecided, I no longer knew what to think… On arriving at place Perigord, I no longer had any doubts!
In fact a sort of flooding had invaded the place. Water sprang up from the cobblestones as if a few artesian wells had been instantaneously drilled into the ground.
"The water main! I exclaimed, the big water main that breaks there every year with mathematical regularity! Yes, I am very much in Amiens and in the very heart of the old Samarobrive*!"
Extract from Une
ville idéale.
* Samarobriva (the bridge on the Somme) is the ancient name of Amiens.
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This sculpture done by Albert Roze was moved during the reconstruction of the Dewailly Clock in 2000 on the current Place Marie-sans-chemise. |
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| The Notre Dame Cathedral |
In Une ville idéale,
Jules Verne hoped to see the cathedral relieved of its corset of houses (the square of that period was a lot narrower) :
"I hurried to the square in front of the cathedral!... It was no longer a narrow cul-de-sac with hideous dilapidated houses, but a wide, profound, regular square lined with beautiful houses which made it possible to place the superb specimen of 13th Century gothic art in its corner."
Extract from Une ville idéale. |
Vue of the big cathedral square
through a quatrefoil |
To write Le secret de
Wilhem Storitz (Wilhem Storitz’ secret), Jules Verne was greatly inspired by his town. As the story progresses we clearly recognize the Picardy capital. The cathedral of the imaginary town of Ragz (Hungary) strongly evokes the cathedral of Amiens :
"The main streets of Ragz end in front of the Saint-Michel cathedral, a 13th Century monument. […] Its facade flanked by two towers, its spire rising from the transept, 315 feet high, its central gate with very detailed arches, its high rose window through which the rays of the setting sun pass and amply light up the big nave."
Extract from Le secret de Wilhelm Storitz. |
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| The theatre (rue des Trois cailloux) |
"I was going back up the rue des Trois Cailloux towards the train station. And what did I see ? To the left, a superb theatre, quite removed from the neighbouring houses, with a wide facade in that polychrome architecture that Charles Garnier so unwisely made fashionable! A comfortably fit out peristyle gave access to the stairs which led to the auditorium. No more inconvenient barriers, narrow aisles of labyrinth which, the previous day still served to restrain a public that was too small, alas! As for the old auditorium, gone, and the debris was doubtlessly being sold in the market at the « clearance sale » like remnants of the stone age!"*
Extract from Une
ville idéale. |
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| *Here Jules Verne evokes an improvement project for the theatre that the municipality of the period could not offer itself! |
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| La
Place Saint-Denis (now Place René Goblet) |
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Designed in 1839 by the Architect Auguste Cheussey, this square was built on the site of an old cemetery. While going up and down the rue de Noyon Jules Verne tells us about two institutions which he used to frequent.
"I was crossing the place Saint Denis […] Finally I rushed down the rue de Noyon like an avalanche. There stood two hotels that I did not know, that I could not know. |
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On one side I noticed the Industrial Society hotel with its already old buildings, expelling from its high chimney, vapours that doubtlessly powered the admirable crafts - Edouard Gand composers- a dream finally realised by our knowledgeable colleague. On the other side rose the Post office building, a superb edifice which contrasted singularly with the damp, obscure shop where the previous day, after twenty minutes of waiting I was able to take a letter through one of those narrow hatches that are so favourable to a stiff neck!".
Extract from Une
ville idéale.
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It was in the Saint Denis salons created in 1855 on the square of the same name (destroyed by fire in 1904) that in 1877 Jules Verne threw a fancy dress ball on the theme of his novel De la Terre à la Lune (From the Earth to the Moon). He therefore welcomed 700 guests all dressed in costume, including the famous photographer Nadar. |
"When you live with provincials you must roar with provincials. The ball in question was magnificent; when I held it I knew that I would make my wife very happy… And my wife was not able to attend! You can see the heartbreak from here !! You know well enough a part of the reason why I live in Amiens. Life in Paris with my wife as you know her, was impossible. Well, I have howled with the wolves but there is no reason to regret it".* |
Letter sent to his editor Pierre-Jules Hetzel on the subject of this ball.
* So Honorine Verne who was suffering from pleurisy was not able to attend this ball. It was her eldest daughter, Suzanne who replaced her in the role of lady of the house. |
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| The rue des otages |
The Lycée de Jeunes Filles (High School for young girls) inaugurated in 1887 can be found on this street (now Lycée Madeleine Michelis). Jules Verne was invited there to give a speech for the distribution of prizes on July 29, 1893 : |
"Dear little girls give yourself the chance to become beautiful young ladies. Young ladies become excellent mothers. Mothers become ancestors crowned with white hair. This crown will fit you better than our premature baldness which leaves our heads bare before time!" |
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| Les petits jardins du chemin
de fer (The little gardens of the railroad) (today
square Jules Verne) |
The monument, a bust of Jules Verne and three children reading Voyages extraordinaires (Extraordinary Voyages) was sculpted in 1908 by Albert Roze (1861-1952). One year after having made Jules Verne’s tomb the Amiens sculptor offered his candidature for the creation of a monument dedicated to the writer. The necessary funds were obtained through a public subscription launched in the schools.
This "homage of the children of the entire world to Jules Verne" was finally not as ambitious as planned. The monument was reduced because of the lack of funds and because of the instability of the ground. The square was built on the Paris-Boulogne train line. |
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Thus ends Jules Verne's journey! After having surveyed the streets and cultural institutions of the town our author returned home at 2 rue Charles Dubois to dine and retire to bed early. Because the following day at 5 o'clock in the morning he would be back at work.
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The Amiens Métropole Tourist Office offers a guided visit of "An Ideal Town"; for all registrations call to 00 33 (0)3 22 71 60 50 or write to ot@amiens-metropole.com. >> |
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