Places, museums, monuments : 83
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Place, museum or monumentThe Briars Park
Update (January 2019): The historic (in terms of Australian history, 1850s) Briars Park, Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia, used to display the Napoleonic Collection of Dame Mabel Brookes (a Balcombe descendant), including a copy of Napoleon’s death mask, in the historic “Homestead”. Unfortunately, due to a burglary a couple of years ago, a number of Napoleonic […]
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Place, museum or monumentThe Athenaeum Museum of Pennsylvania
The Athenaeum society was founded in 1814, and it was to benefit from the general cultural enrichment of Philadelphia brought about by successive waves of French, particularly French émigrés fleeting the French Revolution, the rise of power of Napoleon I, the revolt of Toussaint Louverture on Haiti, the collapse of the First Empire and subsequently the political turmoil generated […]
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Place, museum or monumentMusée Murat (Labastide-Murat, Lot)Given to the Lot department by the descendants of the comtes Murat (the branch derived from the Marshal's brother), the house in which that proud cavalier, but also 'grand amiral', grand-duc de Berg and King of Naples was born, is open to the public, offering…
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Place, museum or monumentMusée Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo's works are frequently related to the First and Second Empires: on the one hand, they played a major part in forging the epic legend surrounding Napoleon I, and on the other, they were filled with open criticism of the imperial regime created by Napoleon III. Such is the context for any visit to […]
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Place, museum or monumentStibbert Museum – Florence
Thomas Stibbert, originally from Norfolk (UK), emigrated to Italy after the fall of the First Empire and settled in Florence with his young Tuscan bride, Giulia Cafaggi. And it was their son, Frederick, who put together, and set up as a museum, the rich collection today known as the Museo Stibbert, dedicated to the history of […]
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Place, museum or monumentPalais Galliera – Costume and Fashion Museum
Founded in 1977 in the Galliera Palace, the Costume and Fashion Museum contains an exceptional collection of about 100,000 items: 30,000 costumes and 70,000 accessories. The museum displays male as well as female clothing. Amongst the women's garments there are some truly extraordinary items dating from the First Empire, notably: muslin dresses belonging to Josephine, […]
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Place, museum or monumentFontainebleau Château Museum
The palace in which every king of France since the Middle-Ages had lived was spared during the Revolution, but the furniture was either destroyed or sold. Napoleon had the palace both restored and refurbished, thus making it once again a residence fit for royal guests. Almost 600 rooms were transformed to accommodate the court, and […]
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Place, museum or monumentLittle Malmaison
The Petit Malmaison (Little Malmaison) is a private and listed historicalmonument, commissioned in 1803 by the Empress Josephine, who desired to have a space on the Malmaison estate reserved for her passion, botany. Initially, she called on the landscape architect Jean-Marie Morel (1728-1810). But he was soon to be replaced by Jean Thomas Thibault(1757-1826) and […]
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Place, museum or monumentMuseum of Napoleon I – Brienne le Château
It was at the Military School in Brienne, in the Champagne region of France, that Napoleon Bonaparte spent part of his youth, from May 1779 to October 1784. Brienne had been chosen by Count de Saint-Germain, the Secretary of State for War, as one of the twelve preparatory schools for the main Military Academy in […]
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Place, museum or monument / 2nd Republic / 2nd EmpireVilla Eugénie (Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz)
Villa Eugénie was commissioned by Napoleon III and built in 1854. Queen Hortense had been taken by the region as early as 1807, but it took Empress Eugenia’s persuasion before Napoleon III set up the imperial court’s summer residence there. Eugenia was but a child when she discovered the beauty of the Basque coast with […]