Monuments to visit Saint-Peter-Port

After 18 months of extensive renovations, Hauteville House reopened in April 2019. To get your bearings, a French flag marks the large white house located on the heights of the city. The Paris City Council is responsible for the conservation of the site, attached to the mansion on the Place des Vosges in Paris.

After his departure from Paris following the coup d'état of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (future Napoleon III), the writer chose to go to the islands to remain close to France. After a stay in Jersey, he was forced to leave the island. His presence was indeed considered undesirable after he had defended a journalist who had strongly criticized the visit of Queen Victoria to Napoleon III. When he arrived in Guernsey, he bought this house in 1856 and stayed there until 1870. It was here that Victor Hugo wrote Les Travailleurs de la mer, dedicated to the inhabitants of Guernsey, La Légende des siècles and L'Homme qui rit. He also completed Les Misérables here. The decoration of the house is the work of the writer. It is based on contrast and organized abundance. Fascinated by second-hand goods and driven by an overflowing imagination, he decorated Hauteville House with Delft earthenware, chinoiseries, antique chests, mirrors, tapestries, oriental embroideries..

The first floor - the vestibule. It is very dark and the atmosphere is heavy. The hallway is divided into two parts and has many carved oak panels. Some of the scenes depicted are taken from his novel Notre-Dame de Paris.

The billiard room. At the time of the departure of his sons, Charles and François-Victor, he used it as a storeroom. On the walls hang copies of family paintings, the originals of which are in Paris, as well as drawings by the poet.

The tapestry room. Walls and ceilings are decorated with tapestries from Gobelins and Aubusson. A huge sideboard is fixed on the fireplace in Delft earthenware with blue and white decoration. The adjoining smoking room is decorated in the same way. The decoration is conceived from elements found by the poet, who designed the projects and entrusted the realization to the cabinetmaker Mauger.

The dining room. A large fireplace covered with earthenware bears the initials of Victor Hugo and HH. Between the two windows is the ancestor's chair, intended for the spirits. It bears the Latin inscription Absentus Advent (the absent are present).

Second floor. The red salon faces the blue salon. Victor Hugo liked to believe that every object in this room had belonged to royal personages, although there is no proof of this. In a play of contrasts and a theatrical atmosphere, the two monumental fireplaces face each other. A winter garden overlooking the blue salon allowed Hugo to observe the French coast when the weather was clear.

Second floor. The oak gallery. The chandeliers and woodwork were designed by Hugo. In the center of the room stands the fire tree. Hugo stored his manuscripts and papers here. The room is called "Garibaldi's room". Victor Hugo had invited his Italian colleague to join him, but he never came.

Third floor. Victor Hugo had installed his apartments in the attic. The look-out, from which he dominated the city, served as his study. The decoration is much more sober and on a human scale.

The garden is finally very pleasant, with its fountain and its camellias in particular.

The fortifications of this castle are almost eight centuries old. When King John Lackland lost Normandy to France in 1204, Guernsey chose to remain loyal to the English king. The island was immediately threatened by the French and the islanders decided to build Castle Cornet to protect themselves. Construction began in 1206 and lasted nearly twenty years. During the Hundred Years' War, the French and the English fought bitterly over it and it passed from hand to hand several times, after fierce battles.

As military techniques progressed, the castle was constantly reinforced and modified. During the civil war that tore England apart, the governor of Guernsey, Peter Osborne, withdrew there and challenged the rest of the island who had sided with Cromwell. The castle had to endure a siege of nearly nine years, during which it received the invaluable support of Jersey, which remained loyal to its sovereign. More than 100,000 cannonballs were fired against the castle.

At the time of the restoration of royalty, it was the prison of Sir John Lambert, Cromwell's former general, who was feared to be taking over the succession. But Lambert had become peaceful again, and he spent his captivity lovingly landscaping the castle gardens, which can be visited today. In 1672, a dramatic accident occurred. During a violent storm, lightning fell on the ammunition depot, which exploded. The blast caused the keep to collapse, taking with it the dwelling where Lady Hatton, the governor's wife, was staying.

During the Napoleonic era, for fear of another French attack, Castle Cornet was modernized and armed with formidable cannons, which were never used. When hostilities between the English and French ended, the castle was used as an arsenal, prison and barracks. Its military function was abandoned until 1940, when the Germans invaded the island. The Germans concreted some parts of the castle in order to integrate it into their defense system, the Atlantic Wall.

The gardens are maintained with a very English care. The many rooms of the fortress present a wide variety of exhibits, 4 small museums are housed there: the Royal Guernsey Militia Museum, 201 Squadron RAF, the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry Museum (former armory of the castle presenting a collection of weapons from the Middle Ages to the present) and a painting gallery, The Story of Castle Cornet Museum.

This Market Place, or French Halles, or Commercial Arcane (depending on the period), dates back to 1780. As the population grew, they soon became too small. They had to be enlarged, and the architect John Wilson was commissioned to build a new market with three halls: a fish market (1877), a vegetable market (1879) and a meat market (1822). From these halls, you can reach High Street, a pedestrian street, which, along with Le Pollet, is one of the main shopping streets of the island.

Also called Ivy Castle by the islanders, this 13th century castle was one of the first defenses of Guernsey. It stands a little behind Belle Grève Bay. Fallen into ruin in the 14th century, it was restored during the 18th century and used by the Germans as a bunker during the Occupation. They installed an anti-aircraft battery there. After the liberation of the islands, it was largely restored again in the 1970s. It is now classified as a historical monument by the States of Guernsey, the island's parliament.

This fort was conceived at the end of the 18th century, in 1780 to replace Castle Cornet which had become very vulnerable to the technical progress of artillery at that time. Fort George ensured the defense of the harbor of Saint-Peter-Port and Guernsey from the beginning of the 19th century. Located on the heights of the main town of the island, it also had a choice location. And today it offers a superb view of the Guernsey coastline.

The states meet on the last Wednesday and Thursday of the month, except in August. To attend a session, contact the tourist office. The Royal Court House was built in Chausey granite in 1799, then enlarged in 1822 and 1904. It is the seat of the Guernsey Parliament and the Court House. It also serves as the Bailiff's office and the RegistryOffice. The Registry Office (visit upon request) holds a valuable collection of documents.

On the site of an ancient menhir, and on the very site of the mill of L'Hyvreuse, here is a tower with beautiful lines was built to commemorate the visit to Guernsey of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1846. The Victoria Tower was designed by a certain William Colling and built by Matthieu and Jacques Tostevin. You can climb to the top of the tower by its stairs and from there you will have a very nice panoramic view of the lower town of St. Peter Port, but also of the small islands of Herm and Sark.