Articles : 1396
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ArticleEditorial: RussiaFor years, the Fondation Napoléon has maintained close relations with Russian historians, and we were about to sign a partnership agreement with a historical research institution of the Russian Academy of Sciences for joint work. This second event has obviously been postponed. It will only… -
ArticleTalking Point with Peter Hicks: Writing about Napoleon 1821-1921-2021Just like the year 2021, 1921 was a period when people were remembering Napoleon and his extraordinary story. On 5 May 1921, Napoleon was uppermost in the minds of politicians and voters on both sides of the channel. Emblematic is the fact that when Foch… -
ArticleTalking Point with Victor-André Masséna, Prince d’Essling: co-writing History“- Madame, I strongly dislike women who take an interest in politics. – Monsieur, in a period when their heads are being cut off, it is perfectly normal for women to wonder why that may be happening. This piquant exchange took place between Napoleon and Madame… -
ArticleTalking Point with Peter Hicks > The “Portuguese Hymn” / “O come all ye faithful”: Napoleon’s truly European funeral musicThe melody to “O come, all ye faithful” (“Peuple fidèle” in French) is perhaps the most famous of all Christmas carols (after “Jingle Bells”, probably). Not only on both sides of the channel, but also in the US and elsewhere in the English-language world. Though…
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ArticleTalking Point with Thierry Lentz: a splendid bicentenaryLe bicentenaire de Napoléon a été une belle réussite : 500 événements recensés par la Fondation Napoléon, des modestes cérémonies, reconstitutions ou conférences locales aux prestigieuses expositions parisiennes dont celle de La Villette et ses probables 250 000 visiteurs d’ici au 24 décembre ; 130… -
ArticleTalking Point with Claude Collard: the Festivities for Napoleon’s Consacration and CoronationOn 2 December 1804, the day of Napoleon’s consacration and coronation at Notre-Dame; it was freezing cold. At 6am, the first of the 15,000 guests settled in the aisles and in the galleries; at 10.30am, Pope Pius VII took his place on the throne; at… -
ArticleTalking Point with Amélie Marineau-Pelletier: Joan of Arc, heroine of the French nationProbably the most famous equestrian statue of Joan of Arc [Jeanne d’Arc] is the one by Emmanuel Fremiet, erected in 1874 on the Place des Pyramides and which has become a veritable Paris landmark. And this is but one example of the omnipresent place that Joan of Arc occupies not only in French public space but […]
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ArticleTalking Point with Juliette Glikman : Were liberties the essence of the Second Empire or its downfall?Immediately after the coup d’état of 2 December 1851, the question of liberalising the regime, still in limbo, was raised. On 31 December 1851, the Prince-President Louis-Napoléon [future Napoleon III] announced his intention to create a “system that would restore authority without harming equality”, in order to found the “only edifice capable of sustaining a […]
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ArticleTalking Point with Peter Hicks > The Musical Triumphs of NapoleonFor the Fondation Napoléon, the bicentennial twenty years (2000-2021) really got going properly in 2004 with a major international conference, the first ever exhibition of the collection, but most of all (and I would say this wouldn’t I?) the concert commemorating Napoleon’s consecration and coronation…
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ArticleTalking Point with Pierre Branda: Napoleon’s Hat! Again…HIS bicorn hat remains the quintessential Napoleonic object. As soon as it’s announced that one is to be sold at auction, collectors start getting into a flap, the press spreads the news. Then comes the killer question: is it authentic? On 27 October 2021, in…