Journées du patrimoine au château de Saint-Point / Maison d'Alphonse de Lamartine

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

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

When he married an English aristocrat, Mary-Ann Birch, he inherited the Château de Saint-Point and set about restoring it in the Anglo-Saxon Gothic style he had discovered on a trip to England. Lamartine had a four-lobed gallery built, a Gothic porch and English-style gardens laid out.

The tour of the Château de Saint-Point includes Alphonse de Lamartine's bedroom and study, furnished as they were at the time, the kitchen, a new addition to the tour, the 18th-century dining room, his secretary's study and the Lamartine Museum. Located in the grand salon on the ground floor, the museum houses the poet's personal objects and souvenirs, preserved by his niece, Valentine de Cessiat.

To mark Heritage Days, two additional rooms will be added to the guided tour: the neo-Gothic salon and Marianne de Lamartine's former bedroom, both of which are listed Historic Monuments.

The tour will end with a free visit of the park, which will be open in its entirety for Heritage Days. A poetry trail, where visitors can listen to recordings of extracts from Lamartine's works, has been set up in the château grounds.

The poet's tomb is located on the edge of the château, next to the Romanesque church of Saint-Point, which contains two paintings by Marianne de Lamartine.

There will be fifteen guided tours a day over the two days, at the following times: 10am, 10.30am, 11am, 11.30am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 2.30pm, 3pm, 3.30pm, 4pm, 4.30pm, 5pm, 5.30pm and 6pm.

Online booking strongly recommended.