Places, museums, monuments

This Lille art gallery was founded by an act of parliament passed by Bonaparte on 1 September 1801. At that time, when the art pieces seized during the Revolution and the works of art stolen from Flanders, Italy and Germany were filling up the Louvre (soon to be called the Musée Napoléon), the First Consul […]

The Hôtel des Invalides was commissioned in 1670 by Louis XIV in order to provide accommodation and hospital care for wounded soldiers. In 1815, after Napoleon’s abdication, over 5,000 survivors of the Great Army were listed there. Napoleon inspected the place and visited his men in 1808, 1813 and 1815. The chapel of the Invalides […]

In 1866, after his town planning projects had removed a section of the heart of Paris, Baron Haussmann decided to create a museum dedicated to the history of the capital. It was thus at his instigation that the city of Paris purchased the Carnavalet Hotel, a splendid building constructed in 1548 for Jacques de Ligneris, […]

That Louisiana is one of the most mysterious and culturally rich states in America is well known. That it houses a wealth of Napoleonic history would come as a surprise to most.More than any other landmark, the Cabildo is a symbol of Louisiana's early history. Completed in 1799, the present structure occupies a site associated […]

Set in a beautiful Renaissance house surrounded by an Italian-style garden, the Amboise Postal Museum traces the history of postal services in France. In fact, the word 'post' comes from the posts or stations where horses were kept for sending on the mail, newspapers and printed matter in general. Later on, there were also to […]

One hundred thousand tin, lead, card and papier-maché figurines, recounting the military and civilian history of France, go to make up the Musée de la Figurine Historique. And the museum spreads out over 5,300 square feet, six chronological sections, and includes twenty dioramas devoted to the First Empire. Two historical reconstructions present 'The victory at Austerlitz, […]

Although the royal château at Compiègne had been rebuilt by Ange-Jacques Gabriel in the period between 1755 and 1788, Napoleon I nevertheless thought the residence not sufficiently imperial, and so in 1807 he ordered further architectural work. The architect Berthault rearranged the interior, the wel-known artists Girodet, Dubois and Redouté were responsible for the painted […]

The Baron Gérard Museum has been located since 1900 in the oldest wing of the bishops' residence of Bayeux. It owes its name to the large legacy donated in 1898 by Henri-Alexandre Gérard (1818-1903), great art lover, deputé for the arrondissement and nephew of the painter François Gérard. The museum possesses an interesting collection of Neoclassical […]

This enormous fortress constructed in the 14th century by Louis d'Orléans, the brother of Charles VI, the Château de Pierrefonds, was besieged and then torn down by Louis XIII at the beginning of the 17th century. For almost two centuries the imposing ruins stood unattended – nearly unnoticed. It was not until the end of […]

Started by Prince Louis II and enlarged by Prince Rainier III, the Napoleonic collection of the Princely Palace of Monaco is exhibited in the southern wing of the building, on the ground floor. It is composed of one thousand various objects and documents and features a few exceptional items such as the flag of the […]