Maison de Balzac

The Maison de Balzac is a writer's museum in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, occupying the garden pavilion in Passy where Honore de Balzac lived from 1840 to 1847 under an assumed name to escape his creditors. Here he completed large portions of the Comedie humaine. The house opened as a museum in 1949 and has belonged to Paris Musees since 2013. It preserves manuscripts, proof sheets covered in Balzac's feared marginal corrections, his heavy coffee pot and his writing furniture. Visitors enter the downhill pavilion through a quiet garden with views toward the Eiffel Tower. Rotating exhibitions complement the permanent collection. Admission to the collection is free.