A house in which Maria Skłodowska-Curie used to spend summers with her husband Pierre Curie has been purchased by Kulczyk Foundation. Built in the late 19th century, the house that once belonged to the Polish double Nobel Prize laureate, which has 120 square metres and is surrounded by a garden, has been placed on the French heritage sites list. Once the building has been renovated, it will host the House of Sisterhood, a place where exceptional women from across Europe will be meeting and working together.
Kulczyk Foundation spokesperson Grzegorz Łaguna informed about the purchase of the house in a press release.
"We want to pay tribute to Maria Skłodowska-Curie's heritage. The home of the Polish Nobel Prize winner is a property of all of humanity and a natural place for meetings between women whose work surpasses all barriers known to us," Kulczyk Foundation chairperson, Dominika Kulczyk was quoted as saying.
The house of Polish Nobel Prize double-time winner has a surface of 120 square metres. It is located west of Paris, some 15 kilometres from the Versailles. It is surrounded by a 900-square-metre garden with a historic dovecote. Elements of the original decor have been preserved inside the building.
The property is to become vibrant again. Once the house has been renovated, it is to host a House of Sisterhood - "a place for meetings between exceptional women from all over Europe". In the future, Skłodowska-Curie's home is to also become a venue for award ceremonies for "outstanding women who have followed in the footsteps of the Polish scientist".
First woman to win Nobel Prize
Maria Skłodowska-Curie was the first woman in history to win the Nobel Prize. Polish physicist and chemist is also among only four people who won the prize twice. She is the only woman among the double-time winners.
In 1903, Maria Skłodowska-Curie - along with her husband Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel - won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their research on radiaactivity. In 1911, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering two new chemical elements - radium and polonuim.
Pierre Curie died in a road accident in 1906. Maria, who was 38 at the time, took over the reins of the faculty of physics at the Sorbonne, thereby becoming the first female professor at this university.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, tvn24.pl
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: Kulczyk Foundation