page_title: Victor Hugo
section_title: Declining years and death
hierarchical_section_title: Victor Hugo / Declining years and death
context_page_description: Victor Marie Hugo was a French poet, playwright, novelist, statesman and human rights activist. He played an important part in the Romantic movement in France.
  Hugo first became famous in France because of his poetry, as well as his novels and his plays. Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles are his most famous poetry collections. Outside of France, his novels Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris are his most famous works.
  When he was young, he was a conservative royalist. As he got older he became more liberal and supported republicanism. His work was about many of the political and social problems as well as the artistic trends of his time. He is buried in the Panthéon, in Paris.
context_section_description: When Hugo returned to Paris in 1870, the country hailed him as a national hero. Despite his popularity Hugo lost his bid for reelection to the National Assembly in 1872. Within a brief period, he suffered a mild stroke, his daughter Adèle’s internment in an insane asylum, and the death of his two sons. (Adèle's biography inspired the movie The Story of Adele H.) His wife Adèle had died in 1868. His faithful mistress, Juliette Drouet, died in 1883, only two years before his own death. Despite his personal loss, Hugo remained committed to the cause of political change. On 30 January 1876 Hugo was elected to the newly created Senate. The last phase of his political career is considered a failure. Hugo took on the role of a maverick and got little done in the Senate.
  In February 1881 Hugo celebrated his 79th birthday. To honor the fact that he was entering his eightieth year, one of the greatest tributes to a living writer was held. The celebrations began on the 25th when Hugo was presented with a Sèvres vase, the traditional gift for sovereigns. On the 27th one of the largest parades in French history was held. Marchers stretched from Avenue d'Eylau, down the Champs-Élysées, and all the way to the center of Paris. The paraders marched for six hours to pass Hugo as he sat in the window at his house. Every inch and detail of the event was for Hugo; the official guides even wore cornflowers as an allusion to Cosette's song in Les Misérables.
  Hugo died on 22 May 1885 in Paris, France from an infection, aged 83. His death generated intense national mourning. He was not only revered as a towering figure in literature, he was a statesman who shaped the Third Republic and democracy in France. More than two million people joined his funeral procession in Paris from the Arc de Triomphe to the Panthéon, where he was buried.  He shares a crypt within the Panthéon with Alexandre Dumas, père and Émile Zola. Most large French towns and cities have a street named for him. The avenue where he died, in Paris, now bears his name.
caption: Victor Hugo, by Alphonse Legros.
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