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This plan of Longwood is entitled “Habitation de l’Empereur Napoléon à l’Isle S. Hélène telle qu’elle était vers la fin de l’année 1816” [“Habitation of the Emperor Napoleon on the Isle of St Helena as it was towards the end of 1816”]. It is signed: “Napoleon Baciocchi fecit” [Élisa Napoléone Baciocchi]. It is part of the historic Arenenberg collection, i.e. those left by Empress Eugenie when she donated the estate to the canton of Thurgau in May 1906. It bears the number 477 in the handwritten list of the library of Prince Louis Napoléon Bonaparte.
In the centre of the sheet is a plan of the Longwood estate, the buildings and gardens. On the left-hand side are Observations (in French).
These notes give details concerning:
The valley: The Emperor used to call this place the vallée du silence [Valley of Silence] and used to go horse-riding there;
The climate on the island: There are three quite different climates on St Helena Island, even though it is only ten leagues long;
The water supply: There is no water on Longwood. Lead pipes have been laid to carry water from Diana’s Peak to within about 1000 yards [“paces” in the original] of Longwood;
The winds: The winds are continually blowing from the south-east;
The house: When it rains which is non-stop in this part of the island, the walls, which were built of very poor-quality materials, are always so damp that everything in the house is rotten, which makes this dwelling about as unhealthy as it could possibly be. The roof is almost flat and made of tarred paper, quite uneven. Millions of rats are nestled beneath the floorboards and they have so ravaged the house that the rain finds its way in everywhere. And even if one adds to this list of inconveniences the stench caused by the quantity of dead rats under the floor, one would still have only a vague idea of the [conditions of] Emperor Napoleon’s current residence.
The gardens, with their miserable trees, five feet high, without foliage and which seem to be dead.
On the right-hand side of the plan, there is a “Table de la distribution de l’habitation de Longwood” [key to the different rooms at Longwood] with a list of each room and sometimes a short description, as well as for the “Logement des officiers” [the Officers’ Quarters].
Text by Christina Egli (curator of the Napoleonmuseum), October 2021 [Translation by Rebecca Young]
This document is part of the 2021 exhibition 1821. The end of Napoleon. St Helena, Arenenberg and the birth of a legend commemorating 200 years since the death of Napoleon. The Napoleonmuseum-Thurgau is a partner of 2021 Année Napoléon.