The former president of Senegal has spent much of the last 20 years of his life near Caen. His wife bequeathed the family home to Verson Township. The house is open to the public for the first time this weekend for Heritage Days. And it could soon welcome artists and researchers.
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Nothing has changed. Or so little. It is as if the house is awaiting the return of its owners. For the occasion, only a few writings exhibited on a bulletin board and the sword of an academic resting on the bed of the master bedroom were arranged. But the walls, the furniture, the objects left by the ancient masters of these places already tell a lot, of a family intimacy but also of an extraordinary destiny. On the first floor, photos of President Kennedy, Emperor Hirohito of Japan, the Queen of England or the King of Spain testify to a past as head of state. In the library, the tragic Greeks are confronted with the great names of French literature, Chateaubriand but also the traveling companion Aimé Césaire. And on the Norman trunk transformed into a desk, the portrait of Colette, the love of a lifetime, is clearly visible.
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This Saturday morning, Félicien and his wife Agnès are among the first visitors to discover the Verson house, which was opened to the public for the first time on the occasion of the European Heritage Days. “I have the impression of living with President Senghor and above all, when we are there, in this library, we find objects that look so much like him“explains this visibly very moved Cameroonian.”When I visit a place that has been inhabited by a personality, there is curiosity. But it is also arriving, feeling … it helps to understand a person a little better“, Says his partner,”And then, it’s such a beautiful story, the story of the Senghor couple, the story of this mixed couple that came quite early in history. It speaks to us because we know what it is. We suspect it must not have been easy every day.”
Born in Senegal, of which he was the first president, for 20 years, Léopold Sédar Senghor was also from Versonnais “as he himself said“, remembers Marie-Hélène Brioule, deputy mayor of the municipality in charge of culture,”Norman among the Normans“. In 1956 Colette Hubert, from a Norman family that includes a companion of Guillaume Le Conquérant among her ancestors, was to be secretary of the Senegalese deputy. Despite the differences (of origin but also of age), it is love at first sight. two lovers got married the following year. And the Norman woman followed her future head of state husband into the country. But the couple returned regularly to recharge their batteries in Normandy, in Gonneville-en-Auge, then in Verson, two houses of Colette.
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And it is in the town of 3600 souls near Caen that the former president will come to spend a pension dedicated to his other passion, writing. At the beginning of the 1980s, the statesman definitively gave his place to the man of letters elected on 2 June 1983 at the French Academy. “It is he, with two or three others, who gave birth to the Francophonie. And France waited until 85 or 86 to get to the point“, recalls Jean-Claude Raoult, former mayor of Verson (from 1983 to 2001),”Francophonie and his notion of universal civilization were two main themes for him.“
And it is precisely in the Norman town that Léopold Sédar Senghor died on December 20, 2001 at the age of 95. Colette chooses to stay in her family home before having to leave it in the early 2000s, forced by her illness. Before leaving for her in 2019, she decided to bequeath it to the municipality. After a long succession, Verson recovers the places and heritage of Léopold Sédar Senghor last July (2022).
“Ms. Senghor’s wish, when she bequeathed the house to the city, was that it be open, that her husband’s values, legacy and work be radiated. So we will respect what you asked of us“, says Marie-Hélène Brioule, Deputy Mayor in charge of culture. This opening to the public on the occasion of the Heritage Days is only a first step.”We have been working with various partners for many years – the state through the DRAC (Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs), the Region, the Department, the University – to set up a protean project because President Senghor was a plural man: grammarian, academic, head of state, poet, humanist.“
Several pieces are planned: a house of poets, meetings of authors, artist residences, but also, in the park, ballads of tales, temporary exhibitions and live performances. “Perhaps one or two rooms, such as the president’s office, will remain as they are. But the idea is that this house is not glazed, that it does not become a museum that does not move, that we only open from time to time.“
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The Verson house does not only arouse the curiosity of the general public. It is also the dream of seekers who hope to find treasure there. “At the BNF there is a Senghor collection of 629 sheets but it is by no means complete. Senghor gave access to versions 2, 3, 4 but not the first version of the texts, where he hesitated, tried and experimented“, Explains Claire Riffard of the CNRS to AFP.
Recently the municipality discovered a large squared notebook in a cupboard, entitled “Chant pour Naëtt, poesie”, a handwritten document that “priceless“, according to Jean-René Bourrel, who is preparing a Senghor dictionary to be published by Classiques Garnier.”Here is a nugget. We can expect to find more“adds Souleymane Bachir Diagne, a professor at Columbia University in the United States, because”Senghor elaborated his poetic work during the holidays in Normandy“.
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And the house, which hasn’t been inventoried yet, may just be the tip of the iceberg. Because a few kilometers away, in the nearby town of Bretteville-sur-Odon, no less than 25 m3 of archives evacuated in 2015 are stored in a warehouse because some of them were attacked by rodents. A potential gold mine, also not yet explored by researchers.
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