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Château de Malmaison
With the Tuileries, Malmaison, at Rueil-Malmaison in the Hauts-de-Seine, was the seat of the French government from 1800 to 1802. After Bonaparte moved to Saint-Cloud, Josephine went on living at Malmaison, which she embellished. She retired here for good after her divorce in 1809 and died here on 29 May 1814.
Napoleon made a pilgrimage to Malmaison on his return from Elba and stayed a few days just before his exile to St Helena. In 1861 Napoleon III set up the first museum of the Consulate and the Empire here, which closed in 1870. After many vicissitudes, and despite much of the estate being divided up, the château was bequeathed to the State in 1904 by the philanthropist Daniel Osiris, and the museum reopened in 1906.
