The Three Musketeers and the Château de Monte-Cristo

100 Days of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers

100 Days of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers

June 1 - August 31, 2024

All for One and One for All: "The Three Musketeers" at 180

June 1

Do you know how much money Dumas made from The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo - which he was writing simultaneously in 1844, 180 years ago?! THIS MUCH!!! Behold - the Château de Monte-Cristo in Le Port-Marly, Yvelines, north-west of Paris!!! I visited it in 2015 and 2022 and was immensely impressed!!! Constructed between 1844 and 1847 with proceeds from his greatest and most successful novels published in 1844 and named after one of them, the Château de Monte Cristo had to be sold in 1848 because Dumas’ staggering expenses exceeded his immense literary earnings!!! A lovely and ghostly ruin for over a century (one of my Iowa City friends grew up in the neighborhood and used to sneak onto the property with his childhood friends!!!), it was renovated under the patronage of King Hassan II of Morocco, who financed the restoration of the Moorish room pictured below. In 1994 the Château opened to the public as a literary museum. More images from the chateau in the course of the summer!!!

First history post on June 2!!! Chapter 1 commentary on June 11!!! Patience!!! We don’t want to read fast - we want to savor and understand!!!