Château de Malmaison

Rueil-Malmaison

The name keeps the trace of a dark memory: "Mala domus", the "bad house", which one tradition links to a den of Norman raiders. The place name appears in writing in 1244, a manor is documented there in the 14th century (first declaration of the fief in 1376) and the royal officer Guillaume Goudet acquired the estate in 1390; his family kept it until 1763. The fate of the place turned on 21 April 1799, when Joséphine Bonaparte bought it for 325,000 francs. On his return from Egypt, Napoleon became co-owner, and from 1800 to 1802 Malmaison was, with the Tuileries, one of the seats of the Consular government; the architects Percier and Fontaine worked there from 1800 to 1805. After the divorce of 1809, the Emperor left full ownership to Joséphine, who died there on 29 May 1814. Passed to Prince Eugène, sold in 1828 to the Swedish banker Hagerman, owned for a time by Queen Maria Christina of Spain, bought back by Napoleon III in 1861, the château was saved by the philanthropist Daniel Iffla, known as Osiris, who acquired it in 1896 and gave it to the State; the museum opened in 1905, devoted to the Consulate and the Empire.

Getting there : 12-13 avenue du Château-de-la-Malmaison, Rueil-Malmaison; national museum of the châteaux of Malmaison and Bois-Préau (check opening days and times before visiting).

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound