Saint Helena, May 5, 1821, 5:49 p.m., the Emperor breathes his last.
Two hundred years later, in Paris as on this island at the end of the world, plunged into an isolation close to that which Napoleon once lived, because of the current pandemic, we are preparing to commemorate together, with just a difference of one hour, this historic moment.
This anniversary gives rise to exhibitions, parades in full dress (on the Champs-Élysées and the Invalides), documentaries, conferences and shows as never before.
Without forgetting the books.
A hundred announced in bookstores in 2021. Since the bicentenary of the birth of Napoleon in 1969 greeted by Georges Pompidou, France has known nothing comparable.
The bicentenaries of Waterloo (2015) and Austerlitz (2005) were certainly major events.
But were shunned by Presidents François Hollande and Jacques Chirac.
They had wanted to avoid all controversy.
Because, as we know, Napoleon divided.
What will happen to the bicentenary of his death this year?
Table clock of Napoleon I
on Saint Helena, stopped at the time of his death, Sully Lepaute.
© Museum of the Legion of Honor, Paris
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Almost two centuries after the death of Napoleon, the imperial epic still fascinates
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