Saint Helena, Napoleon's last conquest
On 18 June 1815, the Battle of Waterloo sounded the death knell of the French Empire. The defeated Napoleon was exiled. England decided on the Emperor’s last residence: Saint Helena, a small island bristling with jagged contours in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.Napoleon disembarked on the island with his most faithful companions and settled at Longwood House, a modest residence to say the least, where he would end his days in 1821.
On the rock of Saint Helena, the fallen Emperor launched his final battle, that of posterity, making his last residence a place for writing and creating the legend. Isolated in the midst of the Atlantic, everything conspired to make Longwood a tragic hell on earth.
However, Napoleon refused to submit to this and decided to write, thus turning his exile into one last test before his apotheosis. Forced into introspection, he looked back on his political career, making a lie of the adage that history is only written by the conquerors.
Before his death, on 5 May 1821, his actions and gestures had already been published, disseminated and amplified, and false stories and genuine rumours had all begun to create the legend. The most insignificant object associated with the place of his exile and death took on a memorial dimension, and its proximity to the Emperor raised it to the status of a relic.
Exhibition itinerary
Saint Helena. An emperor in exile
The first part traces Napoleon’s journey from Waterloo and his abdication, up to his exile and arrival on the island of Saint Helena.
The fallen Emperor found his last place of residence there, at Longwood House, and so the space around him shrank, from Europe to an island, and finally to a house. On this remote island in the middle of the Atlantic, Napoleon once more became “General Bonaparte” to the English, and the negation of his Imperial status resonates with the representations given of him: the fallen Emperor in his hunting clothes, gardening to stave off boredom, the writer drafting his memoirs for posterity.
Visitors are then invited to discover the Emperor’s house at Longwood through the various rooms, starting with the dining room and bedroom which retain traces of the Imperial etiquette.
Even when exiled from power, Napoleon continued to consider himself a sovereign, and was served by officers and servants, as in his former residences.
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In the heart of Saint Helena. The final battle
The second part presents Napoleon’s life on Saint Helena, which he organised like a campaign. Faced with difficult living conditions and captivity, plus the petty squabbles of his entourage, history became his final battlefield. The library evokes the view the ex-Emperor had of the world, while the study lets us observe the memoir writing process. The bathtub, in which Napoleon soothed his pains, illustrates the theme of sickness and the suffering body. Finally, agony and death, the final part of this section, are shown in the lounge area.
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Beyong Saint Helena. From the shadows to the light
The final section of the exhibition explores the development of the legend, which the Emperor had begun to construct on Saint Helena, well before his death. A significant part of the itinerary is dedicated to written testimonials, with writings from his “companions”, but above all the famous Memorial of Saint Helena, one of the bestsellers of the 19th century. Finally, the exhibition ends with a display of the imagery of Saint Helena, showing Napoleon on his rock, fallen but victorious in his battle with posterity.
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An outstanding set of artefacts
Nearly 240 artefacts, objects and documents are exhibited including, for the first time in France, pieces of furniture from Longwood House, recently restored under the direction of the Musée National des Châteaux de Malmaison et Bois-Préau, the property & logistics department and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development. This work was supported by the Fondation Napoléon.Prestigious loans have also been made, from the collections of the Musée du Louvre, the French National Library (BNF) and the collections of the Queen of England. Visitors will discover historic items such as Napoleon’s death bed, or intimate objects such as his clothes, the English lessons that were given to him by the Count of Las Cases from January 1816, and also unexpected artefacts such as his death mask, famously reproduced by the artist Magritte.
A symbolic item on show is the billiards table, which arrived in early July 1816 and on which Napoleon would spread the maps he needed to dictate his account of his campaigns to his companions in misfortune.
Specific aids for young visitors
As at every Musée de l’Armée exhibition, multimedia devices and special panels will punctuate the exhibition spaces, giving young visitors and families the keys to understanding and decoding the artefacts, objects and documents presented.A games booklet and guided tours will also be offered.
> Additional information on specific aids for young visitors