Tales from the tomb of Chateaubriand

Chateaubriand, born in 1768 and passed in 1844, was a famous French writer originally from Saint-Malo. Although he died in Paris, he expressly requested to be buried on the Grand Bé, an island off the coast of Saint-Malo, facing the sea he loved so dearly. Chateaubriand had been searching for the perfect burial island since 1823, an ambition he felt was fulfilled when he received permission to be inhumed on Grand Bé in 1838, ten years before his passing.

However, the tomb was in trouble due to the erosion of the cliffs surrounding it, a problem that persisted up until 1944. During this period, parts of the tomb and its surrounding iron rambardes suffered damage from a shell. While the tomb itself remains untouched, the regulations regarding its preservation and the construction of a new supporting wall are underway. Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Gustave Flaubert were among the notorious French figures who visited the tomb. In 1944, Sartre visited the tomb to express his disdain, an incident that is noteworthy in its history.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons