Giverny

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Coordinates: 49°04′37″N 1°31′48″E / 49.0769444444, 1.53

Administration
Commune of Giverny Nympheas in Claude Monet's garden in Giverny
Location

Country	France
Region	Haute-Normandie
Department	Eure
Arrondissement	Les Andelys
Canton	Écos
Intercommunality	Communauté d'agglomération des portes de l'Eure
Mayor	Guy Colombel (2001-2008)
Statistics
Elevation	10 m–139 m (avg. 17 m)
Land area^¹	6.46 km²
Population^² (1999)	524
- Density	81/km² (1999)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	27285/ 27620
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once.

Giverny (pronounced [ʒivɛʀˈni]) is a village and commune of the Eure département, in France. It is best known as the location of Claude Monet's garden and home.

1 Location
2 History
3 Monet at Giverny
4 Attractions
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Location

Giverny sits on the "right Bank" of the River Seine. The village lies 80km (50 miles) from Paris, west and slightly north, on the border between the province of Normandy and the Île-de-France (it is officially in the département of Eure, in the région of Haute-Normandie).

[edit] History

A settlement has existed in Giverny since neolithic times and a monument uncovered attests to this fact. Archeological finds have included tombs dating from Gallo-Roman times and to the earlier 1st and 2nd centuries AD. The town was known in ancient deeds as "Warnacum". The cultivation of grapes has been an occupation of the inhabitants of Giverny since Merovingian times. The village church dates from the Middle Ages and is built partially in the Romanesque style, though additions have since been made. It is dedicated to Saint Radegonde. The village has remained a small rural setting with a modest population (numbering around 300 in 1883 when Monet discovered it) and has since seen a boom in tourism since the restoration of Monet's house and gardens.

Monet's "Water Lily Pond" in his garden at Giverny, painted 1899.

[edit] Monet at Giverny

Claude Monet noticed the village of Giverny while looking out the window of a train he was riding. He made up his mind to move there and rented a house and the area surrounding it. In 1890 he had enough money to buy the house and land outright and set out to create the magnificent gardens he wanted to paint. Some of his most famous paintings, such as his water lily and Japanese bridge paintings, were of his garden in Giverny. Monet lived in Giverny from 1883 until his death in 1926. He and many members of his family are interred in the village cemetery.

[edit] Attractions

Monet's house and gardens were opened to public visit in 1980, following restoration work. They have become a popular tourist attraction (the Fondation Claude Monet), particularly in the summer when the flowers are in bloom.

The other main attraction of the village is the American Art Museum.

The Hôtel Baudy was a center of artistic life in the Giverny heyday. It is now still a café and restaurant, with period decoration.