Associated forever with Mme Rose de Beauharnais, otherwise known as Empress
Joséphine, the first wife of Napoléon Bonaparte, Château de Malmaison is
situated in the commune of Rueil-Malmaison,
just outside Paris (about 12 km from the centre of the French capital). Malmaison
(a name first documented in 1244), signifies a house of some notoriety; it seems
that for a time it was a bandits lair, a den of Norman invaders who carried out
raids on the surrounding area. Despite its unfortunate name however, a
fabulous destine befell this humble manor house. Joséphine acquired it in 1799,
while her husband was away on his Egyptian campaign, and between 1800 and 1802 the
little chateau became, together with the Tuileries, the headquarters of the
French government where the Consulate ministers met
frequently. After the divorce of the
imperial couple in 1809, Napoleon bequeathed this property to Joséphine together
with all its treasures and she lived there till the end of her life.
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| Château de Malmaison |
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| Château de Malmaison, seen from the landscape garden |
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| The room of Empress Joséphine decorated like a tent with her bed where she died in 1814 |
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| Pendulum Clock "The chariots of Telemachus" |
