Maison de Berlioz

Hector Berlioz once lived in a house on the north slope of Montmartre, a residence he cherished for its expansive views of the plain of Saint-Denis. During his time there in the mid eighteen thirties, he and his wife, the actress Harriet Smithson, enjoyed the relative isolation of the area while they raised their young son. The composer found the setting productive, as he spent his days in the garden composing works like Harold in Italy. He also regularly hosted prominent figures of the era in that same garden, including composers Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt. Though the original house was demolished in the early twentieth century to make way for modern apartments, a commemorative plaque at the corner of rue du Mont-Cenis and rue Saint-Vincent marks the site where this pivotal chapter of his life unfolded.