SCHLOSS
ARENENBERG PALACE & PARK
Napoleon Museum on Lake Constance
It is called
the Napoleon Museum on a hillside over-looking Lake Constance (the
Bodensee). The
emperor whose life and times are explored and revealed
at the Schloss Arenenberg is Napoleon III. Familiarly referred to in
earlier life as Louis Napoleon (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte),
the man with aquiline nose, neat trimmed goatee and pointed moustache
who may or may not have been directly related to his more famous great
uncle, Napoleon Bonaparte, spent his early boyhood on the shores of the
lake which divides the Canton of Thurgau in north east Switzerland from
Germany. Napoleon III had the distinction of being both France’s
first elected President and its last Emperor.
After the
end of Napoleon I’s rule of France and the collapse
of empire, the remaining Bonapartes fled from Paris. The Empress Marie
Louise departed to Italy (see Palace
Colorno). Napoleon’s adopted
daughter of Josephine, Hortense de Beauharnais was offered refuge with
her son
Louis in Switzerland
on the shores of Lake Constance opposite the Isle of Reichenau at a villa
built in the 16th Century by the previous mayor of Constanz, above the
lakeside town of Ermatigen. They moved in to the mansion (called a castle,
though hardly) in 1818, where Madame de Beauharnais pursued extensive
renovations, including a garden designed in accordance with the philosophical
romantic
concepts of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (see Chateau
Chillon).
Much
of European society would come to visit the little castle on the lake
during Hortense’s time there. Though much of the museum is
dedicated to Louis Napoleon, later Napoleon III, he only spent a few
of his teenage years there, going to school in Augsburg. Forced by the
French to leave Switzerland after a failed coup in Strasbourg, Louis
Napoleon spent his exile in New York and London, until returning to France.
Elected the first president of the Second Republic, Louis-Napoléon
in a virtual coup d’etat supported by monarchists in the General
Assembly made himself the second emperor of France in 1851 on the anniversary
of the Battle of Austerlitz. After a troubled rule of 18 years ending
with his capture in Franco-Prussian war, the third Napoleon spent his
later life in England and died in exile, buried at St Michael's Abbey
in Farnborough, Hampshire. The castle at Arenenberg was donated to Thurgau
by Napoleon
III’s widow the
Empress Eugénie in 1906.
The
Museum and Gardens at Schloss Arenenberg consist of four floors of
elegantly
furnished
rooms of a comfortable 19th Century country estate
with a number of artifacts, documents and letters relating to Louis Napoleon,
including paintings and the last French Emperor’s death mask,
still crowned by a halo of golden laurels. The beautiful gardens are
spread below
the villa on
the hillside with views overlooking the lake where the Rhine River hesitates
between Switzerland and Germany (see Munot
Fortress Schaffhausen).
Some guides
list the Napoleon Museum on the Bodensee as being in Romanshorn, but
is in Ermatingen just to the west of Kreuzlingen. The Schloss Arenenberg
can be reached by rail, about an hour from Schaffhausen, St Gallen or
Winterthur on the Swiss side, or 15 minutes from Konstanz. The castle
and park is a 20 minute walk uphill through grape vineyards from the
train station of Mannenbach-Salenstein (THURBO regional trains stop on
request), follow the brown signs, or by city bus from the Ermatigen train
station (though the city bus schedule can be spotty) the walk is about
30 minutes from Ermatigen station - ask in the Kiosk for a map. By boat
from Kreuzlingen/Konstanz or Schaffhausen get off at Ermatingen or Mannenbach.
If coming through Ermatigen, you can also visit the Vinorama wine museum,
though it is only open in the afternoons from 2pm to 5pm.
Visiting Castle Arenenberg Napoleon III Museum
Admission to the Napoleon Museum of Castle Arenenberg is 12 CHF (free with a Swiss Pass), including the park. During the summer months the museum is open every day with last admission at 4:30 pm. From mid-October to mid April it is closed on Mondays. From April to October a restaurant on the grounds, the bistro Louis Napoléon offers a menu of recipes from the region. © Bargain Travel EuropeCompare best hotel deals for Thurgau Lake Constance
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SEE ALSO:
ABBEY OF ST. GALLEN LIBRARY & CATHEDRAL
ST
GALLEN TEXTILE MUSEUM
ARBON
ON LAKE CONSTANCE
LAKE
CONTANCE CRUISES
