Pierre Loti (1850–1923) was a French naval officer and novelist. After a stay in Constantinople, he anonymously published his first novel Aziyadé in 1879, reflecting his passion for Islamic countries and the Ottoman Empire. A second journey to Turkey, as well as further trips to south-east Asia, China, Japan, and the Maghreb followed. In 1891, Loti was elected to the Académie française. In 1894, he embarked on a journey to Egypt (Sinai), Palestine, and Turkey and subsequently published a trilogy about the trip (Le Désert, Jérusalem, La Galilée).
In 1877, Loti had begun to convert his birthplace and an adjacent house in Rochefort into a Gesamtkunstwerk with several period rooms. In the first phase of construction, two orientalizing rooms were created: the salon turc (1877–1894) and the chambre arabe (1884). These were followed by a Japanese pagoda, a Gothic room and a Renaissance room, a monk’s cell, a mummy chamber, and a Chinese room, as well as by the so-called mosque on the second floor (1895–1897). In 1892, Loti also bought a house in Hendaye in the Basque country.

Liot, T. (1999). La maison de Pierre Loti à Rochefort 1850–1923. Chauray: Patrimoines et médias.

Vercier, P., Quella-Villégier, A., & Dugas, G. (1997)(eds.). Pierre Loti. Cette éternelle nostalgie. Journal intime (1878–1911). Paris: La table ronde.