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Napoleon III year
The 20th of April 2008 will be the bicentenary anniversary of birth of Napoleon III. The Fondation Napoléon and its partners have decided to organise several events to mark date.
On the 4th of January next year, history enthusiasts in France will be able to buy a new magazine: Napoléon III, le magazine du Second Empire, published by the Hommel groups (those who for the past nine years have produced the magazine Napoléon 1er). We at the Fondation support this quarterly and invite all those who read French and who are interested in the Second Empire to sign up.
The second commemorative event will be the international conference, "Napoleon III, the man, the politician". It is to be held on 19 and 20 May, 2008, in the large amphitheatre of the Collège de France. Two dozen specialists are to bring to the public their latest conclusions regarding the second emperor. The proceedings are to be published in the following autumn, and those wishing to subscribe can sign up from February next year – details to follow later.
We have furthermore provided ourselves with a «Napoleon III» logo which is to appear on the Fondation's official documents in 2008, and we have given a special grant to the Souvenir Napoléonien so as to encourage them to organise conferences and other events dedicated to this bicentenary and the Second Empire in general.
We here on the site will be making a special effort to bring to a larger audience the fascinating history of the Second Empire.
Now is the time to encourage the writing of serious and unbiased history of a key moment in the creation of modern France, one all too often forgotten in the French national story.
Excellent Napoleonic week and Happy New «Napoleon III» Year
Thierry Lentz
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THIS MONTH'S PAINTING
The emperor visiting the flood victims in Tarascon (June 1856), by William Bouguereau
'History painting' had an illustrious career. Considered by the ancients, renaissance theorists and all thereafter as art's noblest genre, it had evolved by the 19th century to become type of picture that what we would call today a 'documentary' view, albeit the scenes were often carefully staged. The public demanded modern subjects, often from current affairs, almost newspaper snapshots. At the Salon of 1857, the 440,000 or so visitors expected to be presented with views of recent events. And they were not disappointed. Harrowing pictures of the Crimean War were displayed in one of the principal exhibition halls. And these were followed by Views of the dreadful Rhone and Loire floods which had ravaged many French regions in the spring of 1856...
© Mairie de Tarascon
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THE FIRST MAGAZINE DEDICATED TO NAPOLEON III AND TO THE SECOND EMPIRE
The Second Empire has had a chequered history in the French version of the French national story. But in recent years there have been signs that the tide is turning, and the Second Empire is being rehabilitated. A square in Paris has been renamed Place Napoleon III, and a statue of the emperor has been inaugurated in Paris (see below). And so a French magazine publishers, in partnership with the Fondation Napoléon, is to bring a new periodical, Napoléon III, le magazine du Second Empire. The aim is to join and encourage the slowly growing wave in France of new interest in Napoleon III and all imperial in the second half of the 19th century. Read all about it….
© SOTECA
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INAUGURATION OF A BUST OF NAPOLEON III AT THE PARIS TRIBUNAL DE COMMERCE
On Tuesday, 4 December, 2007, the Paris Tribunal de commerce officially inaugurated a statue of Napoleon III by the sculptor Leonardo Benatov. This ceremony marked the closure of the commemoration of the bicentenary of the Code de commerce, 1807. Perrette Rey, President of the tribunal and Jean-Claude Magendie, First President of the Paris Cour d'Appel de Paris, spoke before an audience of 350 invitees on France's and the Tribunal de commerce's debt to Napoleon III.
© Tribunal de Commerce
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2008: NAPOLEON III YEAR
2008 is to be Napoleon III year. April 2008 will see 200th anniversary of the future emperor's birthday, July will be the 150th anniversary of the secret meeting in Plombières-les-Bains between Napoleon III and Cavour, one of the steps on the road towards Italian reunification, and December will mark the 160th anniversary of Louis-Napoleon's election as the first ever president of France elected by universal suffrage. Many different sorts of commemorations are being planned.
© Fondation Napoléon
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CHRISTMAS SELECTION 2007
As every year, we bring you our ‘Christmas box'. For the 'Napoleon' or 'Josephine' in your midst. Enjoy… !
© napoleon.org
150 YEARS AGO
Racial tension in Australia
The French daily, Le Moniteur universel, dated 7 December, 1857, reported on racial tension between the caucasian and Chinese inhabitants of Victoria, as a result of increased Chinese immigration. A law was passed by which Chinese residents were obliged to obtain a residency permit every month and to pay a pound fee for it.
Christmas Present ideas for 1857
During the 19th century, Christmas presents were given and received on New Year's day. Then, as now, adverts appeared in the newspapers giving suggestions for the ideal gift. In December 1857 the Moniteur contained enthusiastic recommendations for: “the most charming present you could offer: namely a delicate pair of Viennese opera glasses, with twelve lenses and of a remarkable magnifying strength.” Those not interesting in optical appliances could opt for, inter alia, oil lamps in the shape of flowers and fruit. (Moniteur Universel, 12 December, 1857)
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week.
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, No 437, 7 - 13 December, 2007
Interested in the work of the Fondation Napoléon? Why not participate, either generally or in a specific project, by making a donation.
© this Napoleon.org weekly bulletin is published by the Fondation Napoléon. Reproduction or all or part of this bulletin is forbidden, without prior agreement of the Fondation Napoléon.
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Got a problem with a link in the Bulletin? Go to the homepage: http://www.napoleon.org
THIS WEEK in the MAGAZINE
JUST PUBLISHED
MIKABERIDZE Alexander, The Battle of Borodino: Napoleon Against Kutuzov
WHAT'S ON
Conferences:
- Monarchy and Exile, London, UK
Exhibitions:
- Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the Empire Style, 1800-1815, Boston, USA
- Brilliant Europe - Jewels from the European courts, Brussels, Belgium
- Indispensable nécessaires, Reuil-Malmaisons, France
- Gustave Courbet's works, Grand Palais, Paris, France
- "The trace of the eagle", the Invalides dome, Paris, France
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