Listed historic monument

Maison de La Boétie

XVIᵉ siècle · Sarlat-la-Canéda

Maison de La Boétie

Birthplace of Étienne de La Boétie

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Renaissance mansion, Sarlat-la-Canéda

Listed historic monument·XVIᵉ siècle·Mérimée PA00082964

A Renaissance-style mansion built around 1520-1525 on the place du Peyrou, where the writer Étienne de La Boétie, the friend of Montaigne, was born in 1530. The house has been a Listed Monument Historique (France's national heritage listing) since 1889.

XVIᵉItalian Renaissance style

1520Renaissance construction

1530Birth of La Boétie

1889Listed Monument Historique

History

The story, stage by stage

Scroll down to follow the monument's evolution. A one-minute read.

1520–1525
1520–1525
Construction
Antoine de La Boétie, criminal lieutenant of the sénéchaussée of Sarlat, has the house built.
1530
1530
The birth of Étienne de La Boétie
On 1 November 1530, the future writer is born in the family home.
1889
1889
The listing
The house is Listed as a Monument Historique.
2023
2023
The Loto du patrimoine
The house is selected by the Mission Patrimoine to represent the Dordogne
2024
2024
The restoration
The restoration works begin in September 2024.

Key figures

The great figures involved

The places

Explore the building

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Did you know?

3 things to remember

1530

A famous birth Étienne de La Boétie, future author of the Discours de la servitude volontaire and the friend of Montaigne, was born in this house on 1 November.

François Iᵉʳ

A fashionable façade the façade was built around 1520-1525 in the style of the Italian Renaissance, brought into fashion in France under François I. Sarlat would soon receive a Florentine bishop, Niccolò Gaddi, a cousin of the Medici, appointed in 1533.

2024

A house under restoration selected by the Mission Patrimoine (Loto du patrimoine 2023), the house is undergoing a restoration begun in September 2024.

The site's future

What future for the Maison de La Boétie?

The birthplace of Étienne de La Boétie is completing its restoration: what life it will hold tomorrow is still to be decided. Its use remains largely open.

264 habitants ont déjà donné leur avis · la commune s'en saisira.

House of Letters

A place dedicated to La Boétie, Montaigne and humanist friendship: readings, exhibitions, small-press editions.

168 votes

Literary café & debates

Gatherings around the "Discours de la servitude volontaire" and the theme of liberty.

102 votes

A humanists' stopover

A welcome and visitor point on the Montaigne route and the Périgord of the Enlightenment.

73 votes

Writers' residency

Hosting writers and translators in residence in the Renaissance house.

39 votes

Another idea for this place?Propose your vision: it will be put to the vote and passed on to the town.

Questions

The questions we get asked

Who was Étienne de La Boétie?

A magistrate and writer born in this house on 1 November 1530, author of the Discourse on Voluntary Servitude. A counsellor at the Bordeaux parliament, he was Montaigne's friend and died in 1563, aged thirty-two.

Can you visit the maison de La Boétie?

The house has been under restoration since September 2024, after being selected by the French heritage lottery in 2023. Its façade can be seen from the place du Peyrou, and the interior explored in the virtual tour on this page.

Why does the façade look like an Italian palace?

It was built around 1520-1525 in the vocabulary of the Italian Renaissance, brought into fashion in France under François I. The Périgord had close ties with Italy at the time, confirmed by the arrival of a Florentine bishop in Sarlat in 1533.

What is written on the walls of the bedroom?

In 2010, the artist Arno Fabre copied out by hand the whole of the Discourse on Voluntary Servitude in a first-floor room. The text, in its original Middle French, covers every wall.

4,0· 11 avis de visiteurs

Jules Andrieux