Event: France

Emile Zola Museum

When:	Weekends only
Where:	Maison Emile Zola
Costs:	€5; 12-18 yrs €2.50; under 12s free
Opening Hours:	Sat tours 3pm & 4.30pm; Sun tours 2.30pm, 3.30pm, 4.30pm & 5pm

The summer home of the great Naturalist novelist Emile Zola is open to the public at weekends and features a museum containing his personal effects, many of his photographs and literary paraphernalia.

Zola moved into his Médan house in 1878 after deciding, somewhat on a whim, that he wanted to purchase a Seine-side summer retreat. Over the years, as the writer's success grew, the building was to slowly change its appearance, gaining two towers, including the Tour Germinal, named after Zola's mining novel.

Many of the author's finest works were written at Médan, including the latter half of his Rougon-Macquart cycle. The Naturalist ethos, a scientific, almost medical take on Realism, often provided controversy for its author and his alleged depraved writing.

Real-life controversy struck Zola in 1898 when his support of Dreyfus required him to go into exile. Shortly after his return to France in 1902, he died in mysterious circumstances, leaving his Médan home empty for a number of years. Previously an orphanage and nurses' home, the villa became the Emile Zola Museum in 1985 - a fitting tribute to a man whose influence on world literature is felt to this day.

A tour of the museum includes the dining room, which displays a series of 12 plates depicting scenes from working-class novel L'Assommoir, the billiard room, bedroom and the study, which displays Zola's motto "Nulla dies sine linea" (never a day without a line) above its imposing fireplace. The room also features his first writing table, his famous pince-nez glasses and the mezzanine in which he stored his extensive research notes and manuscripts. A film, Zola at Médan, traces a typical day in the life of the house.

The museum is open at weekends only, though group bookings can be arranged during the week.