House of Nicolas Flamel

Paris · France · House

The alchemist died in 1418 — but the grave was opened empty, and long after, people swore they had met him strolling calmly in the quarter.

At 51 rue de Montmorency stands the oldest surviving stone house in Paris, built in 1407 by the scrivener Nicolas Flamel as a shelter for the poor. The rows of letters and saints on its façade have been read for centuries as a hidden formula. Flamel's fortune made him a legend: he was said to have found the philosopher's stone and to be able to turn lead into gold. The legend does not end with his death in 1418. According to it the grave lay empty when it was opened, and Flamel and his wife Pernelle had in fact staged their own funerals in order to live on, immortal. Well into the 17th and 18th centuries there were people who swore they had met him in the streets around Saint-Merri, calm and ageless, with the look of a man who had beaten death.

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Where is House of Nicolas Flamel located?

House of Nicolas Flamel is in Paris, France.