Work could begin on Victor Hugo Centre within 18 months
Construction on the Victor Hugo Centre could begin in the next 18 months, if fundraising is a success.
Victor Hugo Centre chairman Larry Malcic is positive he can bring the plans into fruition.
‘I’d like to think that within 18 months we can start construction and then it’ll be a two-year construction period, so we’re still several years away from opening, but right now we’re focused, we have the dream and we just have to bring that dream to reality,’ he said.
‘We are in the early stages of fundraising but over the past year there has been a number of events that have shown a huge amount of support and interest in the project.’
The Guernsey Information Centre will eventually become the Victor Hugo Centre, where the ground floor will be a performance and event space, the first floor a museum, and the top floor a learning space.
‘Hauteville House is magnificent and like walking into Victor Hugo’s mind but because it is as he left it, nothing can be changed and there isn’t space for temporary exhibitions or for a learning space,’ said Mr Malcic.
‘We want to complement Hauteville House by providing those things that it cannot, so that it becomes not only a major tourist attraction, but a centre of creativity in the island.’
Victor Hugo’s great-great-grandson, Jean-Baptiste Hugo, has been visiting the island this week to photograph restorations made to his ancestor’s island home.
He is a member of the ambassadors group for the Victor Hugo Centre and the Hugo family are involved in the process.
