Opening hours and tickets
- Opening hours
- 3 April to 8 November: Friday to Sunday, 14:00 to 18:00
- Admission
- Free entry
- Booking
- Not needed
Checked on on destinationgrandvezelay.com.
Maison Jules-Roy
The writer Jules Roy's last home in Vézelay, with his study kept as he left it and terraced gardens facing the basilica.
- Heritage site
- 1 h 28 from Beaune
- Open 3 April to 8 November
- Allow 30 minutes to 1 hour
€320one way from Beaune with a private driver
At a glance
- Official website
- yonne.fr
Getting there
Private driver from Beaune: 1 h 28 by road (125 km), €320 one way for the whole car.
Coming by train or plane? Transfers from stations and airports →
About the place
The Maison Jules-Roy is the house at the top of Vézelay where the writer Jules Roy spent the last twenty years of his life. The Yonne department now runs it as a writers' house. Visitors can see his study, left as it was, and walk in terraced gardens that look out on the basilica and the valley of the Cure.
What you will see
The visit centres on Jules Roy's study, with his desk, his books and windows that frame the basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine. You can browse his works and those of other writers who lived in Vézelay, such as Georges Bataille, Max-Pol Fouchet and Romain Rolland. Outside, gardens laid out in terraces drop down the slope, with wide views over the basilica and the Cure valley. Artists' exhibitions are held in the house during the season.
History
Jules Roy was born in 1907 at Rovigo, in Algeria. He left the seminary in Algiers for the army, served first in the infantry and then in the air force, and flew bombing missions with the Royal Air Force in the Second World War. In 1953 he resigned as a colonel in protest at the methods used in the Indochina war, and in 1960 he was one of the first intellectuals to denounce the abuses of the Algerian war. He settled in Vézelay in 1978, at the Clos du Couvent, opposite the basilica, and kept writing there until his death on 15 June 2000. He is buried in the town's cemetery.
The Yonne department bought the property in 1999, with his approval, to make it a writers' house open to all. Jules Roy left it his manuscripts, his library and his study. Run with the departmental library, the house holds the Maisons des Illustres label and each year hosts two writers for two-month residencies on the theme of the Mediterranean. It also stages exhibitions, readings and talks.
Planning your visit
Tips for your visit
Allow 30 minutes to an hour. The house is in the upper part of Vézelay, near the basilica, about 1 hour 30 minutes from Beaune, and pairs well with the basilica and the Zervos museum. Entry is free. The study opens from early April to early November, on Friday to Sunday afternoons, while the gardens are open every day. The upper town is steep, so wear comfortable shoes.
Around here
What to combine with Maison Jules-Roy on the same day, nearest first.
Irancy
28 km away
- Abbey or church
Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay Basilique Sainte-Marie-Madeleine de Vézelay
1 km away
Questions
Maison Jules-Roy is about 1 h 28 from Beaune by road (125 km). With a private driver, the trip from Beaune starts at €320 for the whole car, up to 4 guests.
Did you know? Jules Roy's war novel La Vallée heureuse, drawn from his night bombing raids over the Ruhr, won the Prix Renaudot and earned him fifteen days of close arrest from his superiors.
Sources
Maison Jules-Roy with a private driver
€320 one way from Beaune · up to 4 guests