The women of Lutèce
On the island of the Hotel L de Lutèce a magic feel graces the air: the place’s magnetic appeal is derived from its truly memorable centuries-old heritage. Not just in its buildings, but also in the heritage bequeathed to it by the awards and distinctions won by the illustrious women who lived here. (Elles de Lutèce is also a homonym of the letter L in French and the plural of they in the feminine.). Over the centuries, the island has notably brought together a great many emancipated women who had an avant-garde talent in their particular field, with an incredible freedom of character for the times.
To name but a few who are special to us: the virtuoso musician Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, acclaimed by the court of Louis XIV for her refined harpsichord compositions, which she created in the rue Le Regrattier, just a stone’s throw from our hotel. In the 18th century, in the elegant salons of the Hotel Lambert, the mathematician — and marquise — Émilie du Châtelet, who popularised Isaac Newton’s principles of gravity. Many years later, until 1913, the quai de Bourbon housed the studio of sculptor Camille Claudel, whose works of striking sensual modernity created a stir in an art form that had primarily been a male preserve. A few months on and a short distance away, Quai de Béthune was home to double Nobel Prize-winner Marie Curie, who made outstanding breakthroughs in 20th-century chemistry and physics. These erudite women, all residents of the Île Saint-Louis opened the way to entirely new ways of thinking with regard to their status as women, whose legacy still resounds to this day… well beyond the island of Hotel L de Lutèce.
