Châtenay-Malabry · Hauts-de-Seine
Chateaubriand's House — Vallée-aux-Loups Departmental Estate
French name: Maison de Chateaubriand — Domaine départemental de la Vallée-aux-Loups
Free admission
- Free 1st SundayFree on the first Sunday of every month
- Always freeFree every day (grounds only — the building is ticketed)
- Special days onlyFree during the European Heritage Days
- Special days onlyFree during the European Museum Night
- Free under 26Free every day for under-26s
- Free for certain visitorsFree every day for Jobseekers
- Free for certain visitorsFree every day for Receiving income support
- Free for certain visitorsFree every day for Disabled visitors
- Free for certain visitorsFree every day for Companion of a disabled visitor
- Free for certain visitorsFree every day for Teachers
- Free for certain visitorsFree every day for ICOM cardholders
Closed: Thu, Jan 1, 2026 – Thu, Jan 1, 2026
Closed: Fri, Dec 25, 2026 – Fri, Dec 25, 2026
Address
87 rue de Chateaubriand, 92290 Châtenay-Malabry
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Opening hours
Nov–Feb Tue–Fri 13:00-16:30 · Nov–Feb Sat, Sun 10:00-12:00, 13:00-16:30 · Mar, Oct Tue–Fri 13:00-18:00 · Mar, Oct Sat, Sun 10:00-12:00, 13:00-18:00 · Apr–Sep Tue–Fri 13:00-18:30 · Apr–Sep Sat, Sun 10:00-12:00, 13:00-18:30
Standard admission
Full price €6.00, reduced €4.00
Chateaubriand bought the Vallée-aux-Loups in 1807 and spent about ten years there, planting the park's trees himself and beginning the Mémoires d'outre-tombe. The house still shows the mark of its successive owners: the central block is the one he lived in, the turret was added by Mathieu de Montmorency and the brick wing by Sosthènes de La Rochefoucauld. On the south front, the neoclassical peristyle with black marble columns and caryatids was installed by the writer in memory of his stay in Athens. The interior has been restored in early 19th-century spirit. The dining room, formerly Chateaubriand's drawing room, is hung with a white and green marbled wallpaper copied from an 1810s-1820s pattern; the large drawing room, formerly the dining room, holds Charles X furniture in speckled maple inlaid with amaranth and a blue opaline chimney set that belonged to the duchesse de Berry. The double-flight staircase recalls a ship's, a memory of Saint-Malo. The blue drawing room keeps the chaise longue on which Juliette Récamier posed for David in 1800, and the winter garden in the Montmorency wing houses a bush of stuffed birds evoking the writer's taste for travel. Two regimes coexist on the county estate. The outdoor spaces — the house's park, the arboretum, the Île Verte, the woodland park, the jardin de l'Aigle blanc — are open and free all year round. The house itself is visited with a single 6 € ticket (4 € reduced) covering permanent collections and temporary exhibitions. It becomes free for everyone on the first Sunday of the month, as well as during the European Heritage Days, European Museum Night, Rendez-vous aux jardins and Nuit de la lecture; it is permanently free for under-26s, jobseekers, recipients of means-tested benefits, disabled visitors and their companion, teachers and ICOM card holders. The house is closed on Mondays, and on 1 January and 25 December.