Victor HUGO

Victor Hugo was born on February 26, 1802 in Besançon. He became one of the greatest French writers of the XIXᵉ century. A leader of Romanticism, he revolutionized theater with Hernani in 1830. He published major works such as Notre-Dame de Paris and Les Misérables. Hugo was also a recognized poet with Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles.after Napoleon III's coup d'état in 1851, he went into exile in Jersey and then Guernsey. His exile lasted nearly twenty years, during which time he wrote extensively. He returned to France in 1870 to a triumphant welcome. He died on May 22, 1885 in Paris and received a state funeral.

1. A Provençal passage: Victor Hugo is said to have stayed in Cuges-les-Pins during a trip to the south of France in the early XIXᵉ century, when his father, an officer in Napoleon's army, was frequently on the move.

2. Mediterranean inspiration : The light and landscapes of the region, particularly the relief of the Sainte-Baume massif, would have left their mark on him and nurtured his taste for the powerful descriptions of nature found in his poetry.

3. Local memory : Local tradition in Cuges evokes the young Hugo's visit to a Cuges inn located on today's Place de la Libération