MaisonPlague

Hi there. I'll be in Paris this week and was wondering which museum would be the best place to go to learn more about Napoleon Bonaparte and his various exploits. I am thinking Les Invalides but perhaps there are others? I also intend to take a look at his column on the Place Vendome.

PalenQ

Ecole Militaire is one - see Napoleon's stuffed dog! His body is under the dome at Les Invalides - both would be good starts.

sueciv

Aand what is Napoleon without Josephine? Outside Paris (I believe Northwest) is Malmaison her home.


They remained friendly even after the divorce.

cageym

Musee Marmottan currently has a special exhibit on Napoleon and his sisters. Not the reason we went to the museum, but we quite enjoyed it and thought it interesting.

MaisonPlague

That's great thanks very much. I guess Paris is THE place to go to learn about Napoleon

agedude

Don't know if it's the best, but the Château de Fontainebleau has a nice Napoleon museum, a lot of his personal artifacts, and paintings and busts of him and his family. It's about a 30 minute train ride from the Gare de Lyon and the ride is free if you have an all areas Metro/bus/train pass. In fact, the one day all access pass is cheaper than the train fare alone.

Even without any Napoleon items, it is well worth a trip and is jaw-droppingly opulent. Here's the website:

http://www.musee-chateau-fontaineble...istory?lang=en

ParisAmsterdam

Fontainebleau was supposedly Napoleon's favourite palace... and he had his pick of pretty well any of them! ;^)

PalenQ

http://www.napoleon.org/en/magazine/...ary_Museum.asp

Christina

I think Les Invalides is the main obvious one in Paris proper, FOntainebleau is the one that actually has a real museum dedicated to Napoleon.

Other than those, there are few of Napoleon's belongings in the Carnavalet museum, and the museum of the Legion of Honor (next to the Orsay) has some paintings of him and his items and would be worthwhile, as he instituted that. I'd mark it second to Invalides within Paris. Malmaison is interesting, also, more regarding Josephine, obviously, though.

MaisonPlague

Thanks again Folks. Lots of good info here. I think I will start off at Les Invalides which should hopefully give me a good overview.

Jean

We also saw the special exhibit at the Marmottan and appreciated getting some insight into his family.

FrenchMystiqueTours

It's been a long time since I've been inside Fontainebleau but I believe that is the official Napoléon museum, if it can be called that. Check the tourist office website to learn more:

http://www.musee-chateau-fontaineble...ip.php?lang=en

Jospehine's château was in Rueil-Malmaison and the town has an excellent tourist office website with a 10 stage Jospehine and Napoléon heritage trail you can follow with an audio-guide.

http://www.rueil-tourisme.com/EN/vacances--_1041.html

http://www.rueil-tourisme.com/EN/pat...rt_0_4_25.html

The château is full or her personal possessions as well as some of Napoléon's. She and her daughter Hortense are buried in one of the town's churches.