By Competition or Administrative Decree? The Contest for the Tomb of Napoleon in 1841

Abstract

On May 12, 1840, Charles de Rémusat, acting in his capacity as Minister of the Interior, introduced a bill in the Chamber of Deputies that was to create an immediate sensation and generate a controversy of long duration. This projet de loi called for the appropriation of funds necessary to bring Napoleon's body back from its resting place on the distant island of Saint Helena and construct his tomb on the banks of the Seine. Rather than announce that an agreement had been concluded with the English, and then seek the necessary funds from the Chambers, the government chose this means to accomplish both tasks at once. The tone of finality in the bill's announcement of the Retour des cendres extended to the site for the tomb as well: after their disembarkation, Napoleon's remains were to be taken to the church of the Invalides in Paris, where “a solemn ceremony … will inaugurate the tomb that will retain them forever.”

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Notes on contributors

Michael Paul Driskel

Michael Paul Driskel is Assistant Professor at Brown University. Among his recent publications is an Art Bulletin article on Charlet, militarism, and censorship in 1840 (1987). A forthcoming book will deal with religion, art, and society in nineteenth-century France.