Paris 2017: Cimetière Nord de Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne (94) #1: Juliette and Claire Drouet

This plaque is outside the entrance to Saint-Mandé cemetery (Nord), and explains the reason for the twin tombs here relating to Victor Hugo. Before becoming Hugo's mistress, Juliette Drouet had a relationship with Jean-Jacques (or James) Pradier, from which Claire was born in 1826. Hugo loved her as his own daughter, was inspired by her when writing Les Contemplations, and she grew up in Saint-Mandé but died there in 1846 at the age of twenty. Juliette died in 1883 and, according to her wishes, was buried next to her daughter. The plaque says that Hugo, devastated, could not lead the procession and that it was Auguste Vacquerie who gave the farewell speech.