Fondation Napoléon

Fondation Napoléon

Formation	October 12, 1987; 37 years ago (1987-10-12)
Headquarters	7 Rue Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, 75005, Paris, France
Website	https://fondationnapoleon.org/

The Fondation Napoléon (English: Napoleon Foundation) is a registered French non-profit organization founded on 12th November 1987. The foundation aims to support study of the First and Second French Empires.

Mission and activities

The Fondation Napoléon promotes research in the history of the two French Empires by awarding six research grants to French and non-French Ph.D. candidates.[1] It also awards an annual History Prize[2] for works related to the two French Empires (in French and other European languages). The foundation aims to help the organization of academic conferences, bicentennial and sesquicentennial commemorations, Napoleonic book publishing, and exhibition catalogues.

Save Longwood, Napoleon's House on St Helena

In December 2010, the foundation launched an international appeal to save Napoleon's house on the island of St Helena.[3] The funds collected were to be used to pay for the restoration of the buildings in which Napoleon and his entourage lived in exile on St Helena from 1815 to 1821. The appeal was supported by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[4]

Opposition to the removal of the Statue of Napoleon in Rouen

In September 2020, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, the mayor of Rouen and member of the French Socialist Party, wished to replace the statue of Napoleon with a statue or work of art dedicated to the recently deceased feminist Gisèle Halimi. The plans were opposed by the leader of the city's opposition, Jean-François Bures. Historian and director of the Fondation Napoléon, Thierry Lentz, called the plans "cancel culture" and argued that Napoleon was a benefactor of Rouen, making him more locally relevant than Halimi.[5] In December 2021, a survey of 4,080 residents found that 68% wanted the statue to remain, and the city council said it would respect the result.[6] Later in December 2021, the statue was registered as a monument historique (historic monument in English).

Publication of the General Correspondence of Napoleon Bonaparte

In 2002, the Foundation launched a project in partnership with the French Archives nationales, the French Archives du Ministère des Affaires étrangères, and with the support of the Fondation La Poste, to publish the most complete version of the General Correspondence of Napoleon I. In November 2011, Editions Fayard published Volume 8 which contains letters from the war in Spain in 1808.

The project was completed in 2018 with the publication of the fifteenth and final volume.[7] The project now aims to digitise all volumes to be viewed online, with the entire collection due to be available by the end of 2023. The first volume was due to be made available online from May 2022.[7]^[citation needed]

Libraries, web sites and e-review

Libraries

• The Napoleonic Digital Library[8] provides downloadable e-texts (books, offprints, etc.) since 2010.
• The Fondation Napoléon's library, the Bibliothèque Martial-Lapeyre/ Fondation Napoléon, is open to the general public.[9]

Websites

• napoleon.org[10] was founded in 1996 and provides the public with precise historical information about the First and Second Empires (articles, close-ups, biographies, image database) and a magazine (newly published content, interviews, events listings). This site is bilingual (English and French) and updated daily. The Bibliothèque Martial-Lapeyre library catalogue can be accessed from this site.[11] A weekly news bulletin[12] keeps readers up to date.
• Napoleonica.org[13] was founded in 1999 and hosts digitised archival documents related to the history of France's First Empire, such as archives from the French Conseil d'État (Council of State), correspondence of Vivant Denon (first director of the Louvre Museum), and documents related to the Proclamation of the First Empire, amongst others.

E-review

• Napoleonica La Revue[14] (founded in 2008) is a bilingual international peer-review periodical of articles on the two Napoleonic empires. It is hosted by Cairn.info

Art and historical memorabilia collection

The Fondation Napoléon organises exhibitions of its collection of fine art and historical memorabilia, etc. (Exhibitions includes Paris (2004), São Paulo, (2003) Brazil, Monterrey, Mexico (2005), Minden (2006) Germany) and loans items from the collection to prestigious exhibition worldwide.

Notes and references

1. "Research grants on napoleon.org". Archived from the original on 13 December 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
2. "History Prizes". Archived from the original on 2 December 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
3. "St Helena Appeal". Fondation Napoleon. 2016. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016.
4. "Save Napoleon's House on St Helena". Fondation du Patrimoine [fr]. Archived from the original on 9 October 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
5. Lentz, Thierry (27 September 2021). "Statue of Napoleon in Rouen: "It is a question of respecting our history"". Fondation Napoléon. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
6. Lang-Roth, Cédric (13 December 2021). "Rouen : la statue de Napoléon va faire son retour sur le parvis de l'hôtel de ville" [Rouen: statue of Napoleon will make its return to the forecourt of the city hall] (in French). France Bleu. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
7. "The Correspondence of Napoleon". Fondation Napoleon. 2019. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
8. "Bibliothèque-Library - Bibliothèque numérique Digital Library". Fondation Napoléon. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
9. "Bibliothèque M. Lapeyre Library". Fondation Napoleon. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
10. "napoleon.org - Le site d'histoire de la Fondation Napoléon". napoleon.org. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
11. "Catalogue of the Bibliothèque Martial Lapeyre on napoleon.org". Archived from the original on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
12. "napoleon.org - Le site d'histoire de la Fondation Napoléon". napoleon.org. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
13. "Napoleonica, archives et documents napoléoniens". www.napoleonica.org. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
14. "Revue Napoleonica. La Revue - Cairn.info". Cairn.info. Retrieved 6 October 2014.

External links

• Official website
• Napoleonica.org, the Fondation Napoléon's website of Napoleonic historical archival material
• Website of the history society, the Souvenir Napoléonien