In 1841, during one of his inspection tours, he stayed at the Château of Boussac, Creuse in the Limousin district of central France, in the company of George Sand, who lived nearby. Together they explored the castle, which had recently been taken over by the Sub-Prefecture. In an upstairs room they found the six tapestries of the series "The Lady and the Unicorn". They had suffered from long neglect, and had been damaged by damp and mice, but Mérimée and Sand immediately recognized their value. Mérimée had the tapestries inscribed in the list of monuments and arranged for their conservation. In 1844 Sand wrote a novel about them and correctly dated them to the 15th century, using the ladies' costumes for reference. In 1861 they were purchased by the French state and brought to Paris, where they were restored and put on display in the Musée national du Moyen Âge, which Mérimée had helped create, where they can be seen today.