Château de Malmaison

One of the Napoleonic museums, Châteaux de Malmaison is dedicated to the lives of its most famous inhabitants, Napoléon and Joséphine Bonaparte and her children Eugène and Hortense. The estate was purchased by Josephine for the then extraordinary price of 325,000 francs while her husband was away fighting the Egyptian Campaign. Becoming a museum in 1906, the château is restored to its original Empire style. Its exhibits take you back to the life the family shared here featuring sculptures, paintings, furniture and everyday objects. The museum sits amid a 6-hectare park offering a homage to Josephine’s passion for parks and horticulture. Although much smaller now than it was during her lifetime, you can still take in the monuments, landscape perspective and a sampling of plants the Empress admired and cultivated.