In 1920, the poet, novelist and journalist Edmond Haraucourt, author of the famous line ” Partir, c’est mourir un peu ” (Rondelet de l’Adieu) decided with his wife Mathilde to offer his house on the Island of Bréhat, nicknamed the Maison Kervarabes, to the University of Paris. This house will be dedicated, by will, to receive students for summer stays. In 1959, Mathilde Haraucourt transferred the usufruct to the Cité internationale.
As the donors wished, this house allows the Cité “to send a certain number of French or foreign students to the seaside”. The Haraucourt Foundation is a real holiday home, which has been welcoming residents from all over the world for over 50 years. For some years now, the house has been open for rent to Cité internationale employees outside the summer holidays.
The Edmond Haraucourt Foundation is managed by the Fondation nationale Cité internationale universitaire de Paris.
Invited by Ernest Renan to visit the Island of Bréhat, Edmond Haraucourt suffered from the treatment inflicted on the rocky coast by disrespectful entrepreneurs. He acquired 120 cadastral plots of land that extended over 200 metres of coastline. He had dreamed of building a small house that would remain discreet, integrated into the site so as not to distort the landscape.
The income from his alexandrines finally enabled him to build a manor house in 1896, erected on a mound near the sea. The building, built of granite rubble, has a slate roof with dormer windows. On its northern side, it takes the form of a rotunda overlooking the sea. On the south side, the roof slopes down in a double pitch. This particular volumetry gives it the appearance of an overturned boat with its keel in the air, as he wished.