Anankè: A Smoking Menhir in Victor Hugo's Courtyard

In Notre-Dame de Paris, Victor Hugo describes finding a word carved into the stone of a tower: ἈΝΆΓΚΗ, fate. It is the word that gives its title to the installation set this autumn in the courtyard of his house, place des Vosges — and the starting point for a piece that is looked at as much as it is breathed in.

What you'll find

Lucas Huillet and Alexandre Helwani have installed a contemporary menhir at the centre of the courtyard, which releases incense. Around it, ceramic furniture fitted with olfactory capsules, the compositions signed by the perfumer Nathalie Lorson. The whole thing reaches back to what architecture was before it became a discipline: a standing stone, a smell of smoke, a memory.

Why here

Because the house is currently showing Hugo et l'architecture, an exhibition of around one hundred and sixty works on paper — travel sketches, dreamed-up architectures, ruins — on view until 22 November. Hugo drew buildings as he wrote about them: he fought for heritage long before the word was in use. The courtyard installation is the contemporary extension of that exhibition, in three dimensions and in scent.

What stays with you, as object

Ceramic used as furniture — not as tableware, not as sculpture — remains rare, and that is where the piece becomes interesting for anyone who looks at furniture. An object that releases a smell becomes a piece with an invisible function: a territory that domestic design is only just beginning to explore.

Getting there

Maison de Victor Hugo — 6 place des Vosges, 75004 Paris. Anankè, in the courtyard, from 4 to 20 September 2026. The exhibition Hugo et l'architecture is on view until 22 November 2026.

The Beyit gesture: photograph a piece and scan it — the tool tells you whether it is in production, by whom, and what comes close to it.