The Jean Monnet House

About

The Jean Monnet House, sometimes referred to as Houjarray for the hamlet in which it is located, is a country farmhouse in Bazoches-sur-Guyonne, Yvelines, near Montfort-l'Amaury about 27 miles west of Paris. Jean Monnet purchased the house and surrounding land in 1945, upon his return to France after living abroad since June 1940. Monnet mostly lived there until his death in 1979, except in 1952-1955 when he headed the European Coal and Steel Community's High Authority in Luxembourg. Since 1982, the house has been owned and managed by the European Parliament.

Monnet acquired the property in 1945 from Ivan Bratt, a Swedish doctor, and spent the rest of his life there with his wife Silvia. Monnet usually took long morning walks in the forest surrounding the home, before being driven to Paris where he had his office, at the General Planning Commission from 1946 to 1952 and at the Action Committee for the United States of Europe from 1955 to 1976. Some of the foundational ideas of Europe were considered and created at the house, including the May 1950 Schuman Declaration which Robert Schuman would present as a proposal for the creation of the European Coal and Steel...