La Maison Léopold
Sédar Senghor
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The visit of the house takes about 45 minutes. Barthélémy
Sarr, the man who does the guided visit actually worked on Senghor’s security
detail while he was president, which was from 1960 to 1980. This house was
built for the Senghors as their residence for after they left the presidential
palace in 1980. Mr. Sarr actually oversaw the building of the house and
everything that had to be done in order for the former president, his wife and
their son to move in. The house was built on the Corniche (the road that
follows the coastline of Dakar).
Senghor was passionate about architecture and
had the house designed following a concept he’s credited for inventing:
asymmetrical parallelism, which is why it’s such an interesting shape. The
people of Dakar called it “The Sea’s Teeth” after a film of the same name that
had been released in 1975, just 3 years before the building of the house. The
architect was French, Fernand Bonamy, as was the interior decorator that they
used, Jean-Pierre Brossard.
The Senghors moved into the house in January of 1981, the
moment he handed the reigns over to Abdou Diouf, the 2nd president
of Senegal. We learned that Senghor didn’t spend all his time living in Dakar,
but also spent time at their property in Normandy, where his wife Colette was
from. While he was very involved in the design of the home, tragedy struck in
1981 that left them little affection for the home they had so meticulously
created: their son Philippe, who had moved with them into their new house, died
in a car accident that June. The Senghors spent less and less time there as the
years went on, especially after 1983 when he was the first African to be
elected to the Académie Française. After a heart scare in the late 90s, his
doctors in France advised him not to travel by plane anymore and he never
returned to his home in Dakar, which was practically abandoned. When his wife
and eldest son decided to donate it to the Senegalese government, a Senegalese
company, Eiffage Sénégal, donated their services in order to restore it to as
close to its original state as possible so it could be opened as a museum. None
of the interior decorations were changed, and even the books, which were all
cleaned a restored, were returned to the exact place Senghor left them.
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What I found amusing was how much the décor, the look, and
feel of the house changed as soon as we left the formal ‘presidential’ section
of the house. The ‘Salon Vert’ was the first private part of the house we saw,
where the president and mrs. Senghor entertained their personal guests, friends
and family. No more beige and white! A bold, beautiful green covered the walls
and the upholstery. Apparently green was Colette Senghor's favorite color,
which would be apparent when we went upstairs and saw the other rooms. ![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP_8vYES08gualrNzXpteFYO6Y6Qo8WwPNcrlnDQhmcsks_YDAOOpA2uM_64BdOigU6Bb7VWuJWB-acSuvGcMWLMsAK8RXaPVzZEmO1xSX3qIH9CdiFqA9rSJ7HTKnFKvNoRydiSTwbV0B/s320/20170715_094449.jpg)
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But before
we went upstairs we stopped at their son Philippe’s room, which was cobalt
blue. The walls, the bed, the curtains, the art. It is an ode to the 70s, with
graphic art on the walls, a rotary dial telephone and a large stereo system as
the centerpiece of the room. The bathroom has a sunken bathtub the size of a
public pool Jacuzzi!
We also visited the two guest rooms, one statelier than the
other, with beiges and whites, and the other more striking with a burgundy floral
pattern adorning the walls and bed. Apparently Mrs. Senghor would show both
rooms to her guest and have them choose which they preferred. I think I’d
choose the beige room, just because it’s on the corner of the house and
therefore has 2 walls with large windows, making it much brighter. After the
guest rooms, we saw President Senghor’s room and that of his wife. The funny
story that goes along with this particular part of the visit is the stipulation
that Colette Senghor put on this part of the visit. You see, when they were
decorating the house, Mrs. Senghor gave President Senghor the interior design
book Brossard had containing all the options and had him choose his room. Being
the head of the household, she felt it was important that he have first choice
of the type of room he wanted. He chose the one he liked the most, which
happened to be the simplest of the options.
She told him he had to look again
and choose a ‘nicer’ room because it wasn’t fitting for a former president to
have such a basic room. He told her that she had told him to choose what he
wanted and that was what he’d chosen, so that’s what he’d have
thank-you-very-much!! Her room, on the other hand, is a bit more luxurious, with
the walls covered in a beautiful green floral wall paper and white-lacquered
wooden furniture, including a cathedral-esque headboard. Her stipulation to Barthélémy
Sarr when the museum opened was that he explain very clearly to people, lest
they think badly of her, that she had not chosen a lesser room for her husband,
but that he had made that decision himself!
I think my favorite room in the house is actually the one
they call ‘La Chambre de Mamie’ because it’s where Colette’s mother stayed when
she came for Philippe’s funeral. It is done simply, in various shades of
lighter greens. It has a sliding glass door on one wall that leads to a
terrace, which makes the room very bright. The sole painting above the bed is
of two horse-back riders on a trail in a modern, geometric forest, a nod to Colette’s
Normandy roots. The whole house was really interesting and definitely worth the
visit, especially when the person giving you the tour is like a museum himself!
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Statue of Senghor outside his house |
Loved this post as we've had the pleasure of reading Senghor poetry too. Merci et bonne fin de séjour in beloved Sénégal.
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