Berlioz’s Birthplace – La Côte Saint-André
Hector Berlioz Museum
The Berlioz family home, which is now Hector Berlioz Museum, was built around 1680, and was acquired by Berlioz’s great grand parents about fifty years later. The house was almost completely rebuilt at the beginning of the 18th century and has changed little since. The family lived there until July 1848, when Berlioz’s father, Dr Louis Berlioz, died. The house although unoccupied remained in the family until 1874. It had two further owners for just over fifty years, and was then purchased by Madame Dumien who donated it to the Association of the Friends of Berlioz in 1932. The museum was formally inaugurated on 7 July 1935. The building, which was classified as an historic monument in 1942, underwent a series of restorations. Since 1967 it has become a departmental museum under the control of the Ministry of Culture. It is also the seat of l’Association Nationale Hector Berlioz and houses the office of the Berlioz Festival.
The Museum, closed since 1 January 2002 for renovation and development in preparation for the bicentenary of the composer’s birth, was reopened to the public on 29 June 2003.
Postal address of the museum: 69 rue de la République, 38260 La Côte Saint-André, Isère,
France.
Tel: (+33) 04 74 20 24 88
Fax: (+33) 04 74 20 83 33
The museum’s fine web site can be reached at: Musée Berlioz. Here you will find some very useful information about the museum, its history, its permanent exhibits, and the temporary exhibitions which it stages from time to time. The site also has numerous pictures of the museum and its collections.
Unless otherwise specified, all the photographs reproduced on this page were taken by Michel Austin
in April 1998; other pictures have been scanned from postcards in our own
collection. © Monir Tayeb and Michel Austin.
All rights of reproduction reserved.
Hector Berlioz Museum in 1998
Hector Berlioz Museum in 1998
Hector Berlioz Museum in 2003
Hector Berlioz Museum in 2003
We are grateful to our friend Pepijn van Doesburg for
sending us the photographs of the Hector Berlioz Museum taken in 2003.
Hector Berlioz Museum in 2006
Hector Berlioz Museum in 2006
Hector Berlioz Museum in 2006
The above four photographs were taken by our friend Mary Weber
during her visit in May 2006. We are most grateful to her for sending us these
copies.
You may read an
account of her visit to La Côte and the museum elsewhere on this site.
An old photo of the Hector Berlioz Museum
A copy of this photo is in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
A room in the Museum before the recent restorations
This old postcard is from our own collection.
© 1998-2008 (unless otherwise stated) Michel Austin and Monir Tayeb for all the pictures and information on this page.
Copyright notice: The texts, photos, images and musical scores on all pages of this site are covered by UK Law and International Law. All rights of publication or reproduction of this material in any form, including Web page use, are reserved. Their use without our explicit permission is illegal.
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