Victor Hugo Museum House Victor Hugo's House History

History

When Victor Hugo stayed in this house in the summer of 1843, he could hardly have imagined that years later his travel journals would attract so many visitors eager to retrace his steps. Coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the author's birth, two exiled French deputies, Paul Déroulède and Marcel Habert, inaugurated the world's first Victor Hugo House to be known as such on 14 August 1902. Here they exhibited a collection of objects they themselves had collected by means of French donations. In this way, the story of the house begins.

Over the years the Victor Hugo House has been open to the public on and off, although the author's name will always remain in the collective memory of the town of Pasaia. The various owners have taken the opportunity to pay homage to the writer, expressing their gratitude for the great literary and personal value of the works Hugo wrote in and about this town.

In the 1940s, Antonio Orueta was responsible for showing this early collection to the public, while at the same time adding new objects and furnishings. Years later, in 1977, the building was bought by the financial institution known today as Kutxa, which reopened the museum and took charge of the collection's safekeeping.

During this period, several events were organised with the presence of distinguished personalities to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the author's death in 1985. As a result, information of all kinds was disseminated about Hugo's own impressions of Pasaia.

Since 2001, the department of tourism of the regional development agency, , has been responsible for the museum's administration. The provisional tourist information office, established in the house in 1999, is now permanent.

2002 was a special year in Pasaia because of the bicentenary of Victor Hugo's birth. Among the various organised events (performances, talks, films, exhibitions, etc.), perhaps the most striking was a street theatre performance with over 80 local extras of Hugo's visit combined with passages from his best-known works, including "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "Les Miserables".

Since then the museum has been replenishing its material for the enjoyment of local and foreign visitors alike, showing the relevance of the brief but intense visit by this great writer to "this humble corner of land and water". This relevance, like Hugo's texts, has not diminished with the passing of time.