Ludovic Vitet (18 October 18025 June 1873) was a French dramatist and politician. Early life and career Ludovic Vitet was born in Paris. He came from a wealthy bourgeois family, as the grandson of former member of the National Convention Louis Vitet (17361809), and son of Pierre-Jean Vitet and Amélie Arnaudtizon. He was educated at the École Normale. His politics were liberal and he was a member of the society "Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera." At the École he took courses in philosophy and studied law, practicing and teaching until 1824, when he abandoned these professions to travel around France and to Italy, since he was interested in history, architecture, archeology and music. In the 1820s, Vitet became one of the contributors to the Globe, a liberal-leaning journal founded by Paul-François Dubois which also featured the writing of Charles de Rémusat, Victor Cousin, and Étienne-Jean Delécluze. He also contributed to the Revue française and the Revue des deux Mondes, of which he was one of the main editors, as well as to the Journal des savants. Between 1827 and 1829 Vitet published several dramatic scenes (Les Barricades, Les Etats de Blois, and La mort de Henri III), which ensured his notoriety and which were later reunited in volume under the title La Ligue (1844). Orleanist Monarchy One of the main advocates of liberalism, both political and economic, he was a friend of Madame de Staël, Alessandro Manzoni and Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi. With a few friends, he founded the society "Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera" (Help yourself, the sky will help you) in order to support the Liberals in the elections of 1827. The enterprise failed, but the Revolution of 1830 opened up new perspectives for it. Vitet unsuccessfully requested a prefecture from the Minister of the Interior, François Guizot; however, on 25 November Guizot created for him the new post of Inspector General of Historic Monuments, which foreshadowed the current Ministry of Culture. The report submitted by Vitet in 1831 at the end of his first tour in the north of France shows that he was in charge not only of monuments but also of museums, libraries, archives and schools of artistic education. This report was soon used by Victor Hugo for his pamphlet War on the Demolishers, published in 1832. Vitet made two other tours: one to Burgundy, Lyons and its environs, and Puy in 1831; the other to