This is one of those towns we came in my local road warrior trails while living in Versailles, the choices are endless just here alone. It is worth the detour for the quant pretty real towns and villages of my belle France, I am glad to have found me this picture in my cd rom vault that made me do it for you and me. Therefore, here is my take on this is Biévres !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
The town of Bièvres is located in the Essonne department no 91 in the Île-de-France region of my belle France. It is in the far northwest of the Essonne department, bordering the Yvelines department 78, and the Hauts-de-Seine department 92. Bièvres is located 24 km from Paris-Notre-Dame, the zero point for French roads, 5 km from Palaiseau, 36 km from Étampes, 29 km from Dourdan, 43 km from Milly-la-Forêt, 12 km from Versailles , and 446 km from my current home, However, here I came when living in Versailles going across town by the potager du roi and parc balbi to connect with the N12 highway dir Vélizy-Villacoublay which same road continues as the A86 outer beltway of Paris ,but just before at exit/sortie 1 bear right onto Rue Etienne du Jouy or D53 road which changes name but same road into Biévres but again just before continuing into City center/Downtown bear right onto Rue de la Martiniére then quick right onto Rue de Vauboyen to the Château des Roches on your left hand side.
The roads here are good and you have the old road from Versailles to Fontainebleau that is now the D117. This road is extended from Bièvres by the D 444, which connects the national road N118 and the A10 autoroute in Champlan. The N 118 intersects the D 117 perpendicularly and therefore crosses the valley from side to side, following the route of what was the old road from Chartres to Paris. The road network also includes the D53 , which connects the N 118 in Bièvres to the old N10 in Viroflay. Finally, the A86 autoroute outer beltway of Paris passes near the famous Petit-Clamart roundabout and a short section of the N306 road. Which I used to go by all,
The Château des Roches, is located in the hamlet of Vauboyen, part of the town of Bièvres, at 45 bis rue de Vauboyen, it was built in the 18-19C. The north and east wings were constructed around 1740, at the same time as the outbuildings. The west wing was added at the beginning of the 19C. In 1804, the journalist Louis-François Bertin, founder and director of the Journal des débats, acquired the property and, from 1815 until his death in 1841, hosted a literary salon there, inviting artists such as Victor Hugo and his mistress Juliette Drouet, Charles Gounod, Hector Berlioz, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Franz Liszt, and François-René de Chateaubriand, who lived nearby in the Vallée-aux-Loups,Juliette Dodu and her brother-in-law Odilon Redon,who died in 1916 and is buried in the municipal cemetery as are his wife and son, Maurice Utrillo, Camille Saint-Saëns, Vincent d’Indy, and Marie Adrienne Anne Clémentine de Rochechouart de Mortemart stayed in the village. Frédéric Soulié, a French novelist, playwright, critic, and journalist, also lived in Bièvres. In 1989, the property was acquired by the Sōka Gakkai Buddhist organization, founded in 1930 in Japan, which renamed it the Maison Litteraire de Victor Hugo or the Victor Hugo Literary House and opened it to the public in 1991.
The Rue de Vauboyen is narrow in the hamlet and I just got in to take a peek which is the fruit of the picture, The text is from wikipedia, The castle consists of a main building constructed of rubble stone and rendered limestone, with three stories built above a U-shaped basement. The north wing has two bay windows and a window opening onto a terrace on its south side, surmounted by an attic floor under a slate and zinc roof. The narrower west wing has three levels, the top one being an attic, and is topped at the south end by a square tower crowned with a weather vane. At the second level, a terrace surrounded by a balustrade is situated above the ground-floor extension. The west wing, the last to be added, has six windows on three levels on both the west and east sides, and one window at the south end; the facade is surmounted by a broken triangular pediment. The entrance hall is lit by a glass roof and topped by a mezzanine accessible by a double staircase, and several drawing rooms and a library have been restored in the Romantic style. The castle’s park is decorated with ornamental ironwork near the entrance, garden follies, and two artificial lakes created by diverting the Bièvre river, which flows south of the park.
Other things to see if more time are the Rue de l’Abbaye aux Bois: This street commemorates the existence of a former Benedictine convent for women. Having become a country residence, in 1820, the nuns were transferred to the Val-de-Grâce monastery before the French revolution, and the convent was destroyed. Also located here are the Château de Vauboyen and its 19C outbuildings, the 18C Château de la Martinière, the 18C Château de Bel-Air, occupied by the training center of the RAID (an elite unit of the French National Police: Research, Assistance, Intervention, Deterrence), the 17C Château de la Rochedieu, the 14C Saint-Martin Church, the 18C Château Silvy, occupied by the City/town hall, the French Museum of Photography, opened in 1964, and the Museum of Tools, opened in 1996. In 1959, the Vauboyen mill was restored to become a contemporary art center.
A bit of history I like tell us that the oldest document mentioning Bièvres dates back to 1171; it is a charter from Maurice, Bishop of Paris, by which Philip and Matthew de Villa Escoblen, his brother, sell to the Hospitallers Jocelin and Gerard, procurators of the House of the Hospital, the land, the people, and the manorial rights in Bièvres. This part of Bièvres would give rise to the Hospitaller priory of Saint-Jean de Latran. The first certain mention of the village dates back to the beginning of the 12C when Louis VI the Fat, King of the Franks, united the entire parish with the French royal domain. In the 14C, King Charles V elevated the domain to a lordship for the benefit of his friend Pierre de Chevreuse. The 17C saw the construction of the Vauboyen watermill. The Queen of France, Anne of Austria, visiting the ruined convent of Val Profond, invited the nuns to settle in the new Val-de-Grâce Abbey in Paris. The 18C saw many changes in the village. At the beginning of the century, when the Favreuse canal was dug to drain water from the Saclay plateau towards the lower Saclay ponds, which fed the Sun King’s river and the fountains of the new Palace of Versailles, Located in the immediate vicinity of the new center of absolute power, it saw the construction of several castles. The French revolution redistributed property. Very quickly, an Empire-era nobility acquired the land and built opulent residences, such as that of Louis-François Bertin, Château des Roches (see above). In 1858, it was above Bièvres and Petit-Clamart that Félix Nadar took the first aerial photograph. In 1901, the town purchased the Château Silvy to house the City/town hall. During the Great War or WWI, Bièvres opened the Bel Air military hospital, a large hospital with over 100 beds. In 1925, the oldest “strawberry festival” in Europe was established. In 1936, Air Base 107 Villacoublay was established on the plateau north of the town , still there.
The official Maison Litteraire de Victor Hugo : https://www.maisonlitterairedevictorhugo.net/
The City of Biévres on the Maison Litteraire de Victor Hugo : https://www.bievres.fr/la-maison-litteraire-victor-hugo/
The Paris tourist office on the Maison Litteraire de Victor Hugo : https://parisjetaime.com/culture/maison-litteraire-de-victor-hugo-p958
The Versailles tourist office on the Maison Litteraire de Victor Hugo : https://www.versailles-tourisme.com/la-maison-litteraire-de-victor-hugo-a-bievres-visite-guidee-et-gouter-1.html
There you go folks, enjoy this wonderful ride into the French soul, and the countryside of the Essonne dept 91 at quant nice off the beaten path town of Biévres, there is a lot more to see around here ! Just need more time, and be back, eventually, Again ,hope you enjoy this post on this is Biévres !!! as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 