Château de Saint Point - Alphonse de Lamartine's house

Saint-Point, a listed 12th and 14th century château and Maison des Illustres, became the family home of poet and politician Alphonse de Lamartine in 1820.

Considered the father of Romanticism in literature, he was also one of the founders of the Second Republic, contributing to the abolition of slavery, the death penalty and universal suffrage.

On his marriage to English aristocrat Mary-Ann Birch, he received the Château de Saint-Point in advance of his inheritance, and set about restoring it in the Anglo-Saxon Gothic style he had discovered on a trip to England. Lamartine commissioned the construction of a four-lobed gallery, a Gothic porch and English-style gardens.

A visit to the Château de Saint-Point includes Alphonse de Lamartine's bedroom and study, furnished as they were at the time, the kitchen, the 18th-century dining room, his private secretary's study and the Lamartine Museum. Located in the grand salon on the first floor, the museum houses the poet's personal objects and memorabilia, preserved by his niece, Valentine de Cessiat.

Visitors can also explore the English garden, the orchard, the vegetable garden, the former greenhouse and the poet's family vault, which he had built after his mother's death. It is located on the edge of the château, next to the Romanesque church of Saint-Point, which features two paintings by Marianne de Lamartine.