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Charles Bonaparte: "Napoleon was doing military tourism!"

2021-04-24T18:40:08.946Z


INTERVIEW - The great-great-grand-nephew of Napoleon I is also a fine strategist in tourism development. At the origin of the labeling by the Council of Europe of a Destination Napoleon, he explains the reasons behind it.


LE FIGARO.

- Is Napoleon still today an “excellent tourist agent” for

France

?

Charles BONAPARTE. -

I would rather say an asset for tourism in Europe. In 2004, I created the European Federation of Napoleonic Cities, which brings together some sixty cities in thirteen countries in Europe. Its goal is to ensure the promotion of culture and tourism around Napoleon and to sell a global offer to all the people on the planet who are interested in Napoleon. Our circuit was labeled in 2015 "cultural route" by the Council of Europe, just like, for example, the ways of Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle or the Charlemagne road. We are also setting up, with the support of European funds, operations to support the development of Napoleonic tourism, such as virtual reality on monuments, interurban signposting or even the rehabilitation of museums.

But isn't this Napoleonic tourism a bit aging and reserved for a few "fanatics" of the Emperor?

The audience you are talking about is not our target at all. When I go to China to promote the European destination through Napoleon, we reach a wider population. Napoleon is no longer just in Napoleon. It is in the image that is made of it elsewhere. In the globalized culture that is taking hold, the emperor is one of the few heroes who survive. In Las Vegas, there is a Napoleon attraction that attracts 30 million visitors each year. In France, we must reflect on this subject and ask ourselves why the Napoleonic sites are insufficiently visited. La Malmaison and Fontainebleau, to name a few, suffered from public disaffection. There is a big gap between the demand of modern tourism and the presentation of these places.We can no longer talk about Napoleon to new generations as we talked to mine. We must find ways of expression and promotion that introduce more virtual reality. A more massive influx of tourists to the Napoleonic sites will depend on our ability to offer dreams.

Napoleon was a great traveler.

But did he sometimes

behave like a tourist

?

Indeed, over fifteen years of power, Napoleon will have spent a good half outside France on the roads and the battlefields.

In his many expeditions, he was more interested in what I would call a form of military tourism, visiting fortifications and strongholds, of which he sometimes made very precise descriptions in his correspondence.

The pleasure of going to a place and feeling its beauties, in a purely contemplative form, was, it seems to me, totally foreign to him.

It was not his major concern.

Charles Bonaparte, La Liberté Bonaparte,

Grasset, 336 pages, 23 euros.

You can also follow Le Figaro Voyages on Facebook and Instagram.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-04-24

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