Monte-Cristo Castle, Saint-Germain-en-Laye

The Château de Monte-Cristo is the former residence of Alexandre Dumas, built between 1844 and 1847 on a hillside in Le Port-Marly overlooking the Seine valley. Dumas commissioned architect Hippolyte Durand to create a Neo-Renaissance château with sculpted facades featuring portrait medallions of literary figures including Homer, Shakespeare, Dante, and Goethe. The estate includes a separate Neo-Gothic pavilion called the Château d'If, surrounded by a moat, which served as Dumas's private writing retreat — its facades are carved with the titles of 88 of his works.