This is the story of a real crush, the one that Joséphine de Beauharnais, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte had for le Château de Malmaison located a few minutes by train from Paris.
The seat of the government
Josephine Bonaparte bought the Château de Malmaison in 1799 (without telling her husband…) and never stopped transforming it into a haven of peace. The Château de Malmaison was sold to Joséphine Bonaparte for the sum of 325,000 francs. This purchase was confirmed by Bonaparte on his return from Egypt and he thus became the true owner of the estate. From 1800 to 1802 this small castle becomes with the Tuileries the seat of the government of France where the ministers of the Consulate meet frequently. In the autumn of 1802 the consul and his family settled in Saint-Cloud and Joséphine often returned to the “Imperial Palace of Malmaison” to develop and extend the estate.
An impressive collection of memorabilia
After their divorce in 1809 the Emperor gave her this property with all his collections and it was at Malmaison that she died on May 29, 1814. Her son Prince Eugène inherited it but his widow sold Malmaison in 1828 to the Swedish banker Jonas Hagerman . Decorated in the antique style by the famous architects of the time, Percier and Fontaine, the castle became between 1800 and 1802 the seat of the government of France in which Napoleon liked to meet his ministers. Major political decisions have been taken within these walls… After crossing the first vestibule in the form of a tent, you are immersed in the heart of the daily life of its most famous owners, from Josephine’s moving bedroom, where she died in 1814, to the music room where the Empress’s harp still stands, passing through the Marengo room and its arms that belonged to Napoleon. The Château de Malmaison also preserves an impressive collection of memorabilia from the Emperor’s exile on the island of Saint Helena from 1815 to his death in 1821. These memorabilia objects, rarely exhibited, are now part of a permanent.
Josephine, passionate about botany
The castle grounds are so imbued with the presence of the Empress that you can almost hear the rustle of her dress in the aisles… Passionate about botany, Joséphine cultivates exotic plants and plants there alongside her large collection of roses. The discovery of the rose garden and its some 150 varieties of flowers represents a real olfactory journey which comes to close an imperial visit in all respects !
Avenue 92500 Rueil-Malmaison
