Places, museums, monuments : 26
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Place, museum or monumentMusée national du château de Compiègne – the historic apartments
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 […]
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Place, museum or monumentDomaine de la Pagerie
In 1763, in a truly beautiful spot overlooking the Caribbean Sea, was born a child with a most extraordinary future ahead of her: for this little girl was none other than Marie-Joseph-Rose Tascher de la Pagerie, who was to become Josephine, Empress of the French.Josephine spent the first sixteen years of her life in the […]
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Place, museum or monumentMusée du Second Empire – Musée de l’Impératrice – Compiègne
Alongside the Tuileries, Saint-Cloud and Fontainebleau, Compiègne was one of the palaces where the imperial couple and the court regularly resided. Indeed it was one of the preferred houses because of the freer lifestyle which reigned, in that respect for etiquette weighed less heavily there. Compiègne also played a key role in lives of the […]
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Place, museum or monumentMusée national de la Voiture et du Tourisme
Founded in 1927, on the initiative of the Touring Club de France, the French National Car and Tourism museum takes as its theme the history of road transport from its origins in horse-drawn vehicles to the beginnings of the motor car. Examples of two types of horse-drawn vehicle are on display, namely four-wheelers and two-wheelers. […]
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Place, museum or monumentBaron Gérard Museum
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 […]
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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 monumentBiarritz Historical Museum
Located in a former Anglican church, the Biarritz Historical Museum was set up in 1986 by the Association of Friends of Old Biarritz as a concrete expression of their intention to revive interest in the city's past. The porch houses a memorial to the English who fell in the Napoleonic wars, particularly in the battles which […]
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Place, museum or monumentSalon napoléonien, Hôtel de Ville – Ajaccio
The Hôtel de Ville or town hall in Ajaccio was built during the reign of Charles X between 1824 and 1830. In it is the Salon napoléonien which houses various napoleonic paintings and statues, and memorabilia of the imperial family. For reasons of lack of space, a part of the collection is on show at […]
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Place, museum or monumentSedan Castle Museum
The main museum of Sedan is located in the largest castle of Europe with an area of 35,000 m². The battle of Sedan, which took place on 1 September 1870, saw the defeat of the army of Marshall MacMahon, who was beaten and made prisoner by the troups of the royal prince of Saxony. Napoleon […]
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Place, museum or monumentMusée Fesch – Ajaccio
In the heart of Ajaccio lies Palais Fesch, and in that building is the Musée Fesch displaying the painting collection amassed by Cardinal Joseph Fesch (1763-1839), Napoleon's maternal uncle and archbishop of Lyons, the primate of the Gauls, a great art lover and important patron. It was Fesch's desire to found an Intsitute of Arts […]