Writer’s house

Robert Edward Hart Memorial Museum

Robert Edward Hart was born in Port Louis on 17 August 1891. Curator and librarian of the Mauritius Institute, he retired to Souillac in 1941. When a cyclone destroyed his first house, his friends clubbed together to build him, by the water, a bungalow of coral stone known as La Nef. The poet died here on 6 November 1954; he lies in Souillac cemetery, which can be seen from the house. The State acquired the property in 1963 and the museum opened on 6 November 1967. Fully renovated, it reopened on 17 August 2003.

At a glance

Opening hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9am to 4pm; Wednesday 11am to 4pm; Saturday 9am to noon
Closed: Sundays and public holidays
Telephone: +230 625 6101
Founded: 1967

What sets it apart

The house has four rooms: two bedrooms, a drawing room that served as his study, a bathroom. The drawing room gathers his desk, his library, his violin, his typewriter, his manuscripts and his letters; his bedroom keeps his spectacles, his medals and his papers. In an annexe, a film in his memory is shown. In 1937 Hart received the Prix Edgar Poe for his Poèmes solaires.

Highlights

La Nef, a coral stone bungalow by the sea
The poet’s desk, violin and manuscripts
A house kept in its original state
Free entry

Good to know

On Wednesdays the museum opens only at 11am.
On Saturdays it closes at noon.
Publications and postcards are on sale at the desk.

Getting there

On Autard Street, in Souillac, on the shore of the south coast.

Where to stay

Stay around this place

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In the journal