Places associated with Ninon de Lenclos

The influential courtesan and intellectual Ninon de Lenclos held her salon from 1667 onwards in the Hôtel Mansart de Sagonne in rue de Tournelles in the Marais district. It is also where she died, in 1705. The building is still there although now it is nondescript apartments and it cannot be visited. There is this though:

Photo: Nemorino

This area was home at the time to many aristocratic hôtels, or, more specifically hôtels particuliers, meaning mansions or townhouses, and not really "hotels" as we know them today, although their (usually absent) owners allowed guests to stay. Of those that remain in central Paris, most are now either official residences, museums or luxury apartments.

Ninon de Lenclos

The Domaine de Villarceaux, N.W. of Paris, is also associated with de Lenclos. "Le Manoir de Ninon," as one part of it became known, was a place of refuge for her in the early 1650's when things became too hot for her in Paris. In 1652, she took up with Louis de Mornay, the (married) marquis de Villarceaux, and they had a son, also named Louis but, in 1655, she returned to Paris. Madame de Maintenon also lived at Villarceaux after the death of her first husband in 1660.

Photo: Jerome347