Only eight kilometers west of Paris, Rueil-Malmaison is an affluent and leafy suburb loaded with French imperial history.
That's where you can get to know Joséphine de Beauharnais better, Napoleon's wife until they divorced in 1810. You’ll discover the palatial home that she shared with the Emperor, wander the spacious grounds around it and pay your respects at the church containing her tomb. Rueil-Malmaison is practically overrun with green space, in its fine gardens, deep forests and on the verdant banks of the Seine. So if you’re in search of a serene home from home on a trip to Paris with its own share of sights, Rueil-Malmaison would be a great option. Let's explore the best things to do in Rueil-Malmaison.
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1. Château de Malmaison
Joséphine acquired the Château de Malmaison in 1799 and over the next few years spent astronomical money to improve the house and enrich the base. Between 1800 and 1802 it was even a seat of the French government.
Joséphine meanwhile lavished most of her attention on the gardens, planting 250 varieties of rose and setting up a menagerie with zebras, llamas, antelopes, and kangaroos. Later, following her death and the defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon stayed here during the 100 days before going into exile.
It’s a marvelous property, drenched in the history of this charismatic family. The interior is a museum with sumptuous decor, furniture, musical instruments and Sèvres dinnerware belonging to Joséphine and Napoleon.
2. Bois-Préau
From the day Joséphine bought Château de Malmaison she had her eye on this neighboring property.
But the banker’s daughter who owned it refused to sell, and Joséphine wouldn’t get hold of it until the neighbor was found drowned in the pond in 1808. These 17 hectares are now a gorgeous public park in the English style with generous lawns and mature trees like the Turkish hazels that have been here since Joséphine’s time.
There’s a statue of the empress by the eminent 19th-century sculptor Vital-Dubray, and the stage is set by the 18th-century Château de Bois-Préau, which contains a Napoleon museum currently closed for renovations.
3. Château de la Petite Malmaison
When the Château de Malmaison’s enormous grounds were divided up this sumptuous pavilion became a separate property and so is now a distinct attraction. It was built in 1805 by Louis-Martin Berthault, who would go on to design Joséphine’s tomb.
The Empress was deeply involved in the work because it went hand-in-hand with her passion for botany, and one wing of the building was taken up by a hothouse for growing rare tropical plants.
On a visit, you’ll learn about the explorer and botanist, Aimé Bonpland who brought back all of these plants from his travels. It is also a second home for artist Pierre-Joseph Redouté, who described the Joséphine rose as still popular as postcards today.
4. Église Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul
This solemn Renaissance church is best known for housing the tombs of Joséphine and her daughter Hortense. Joséphine’s funeral was held here on 2 June 1814, and her tomb would be completed 11 years later in 1825.
It was a joint effort between architect Louis-Martin Berthault and sculptor Pierre Cartelier and carved from Carrara marble. Hortense was Joséphine’s daughter from a previous marriage (her former husband was killed in the Revolution), and she went on to marry Napoleon’s brother, Louis Bonaparte.
Hortense died in 1837, and her resplendent mausoleum was inaugurated by her son, Napoleon III in 1858.
5. Bois de Saint-Cucufa
The bulk of the Malmaison grounds is a 200-hectare forest, which was finally bought by the state in 1871 to become a public park. There’s some Joséphine trivia here too because it was after a walk on a cold night beside the park’s pond that she contracted pneumonia that caused her death.
There’s now a two-kilometer interpretation trail informing you about the park’s history, as well as bike trails and of course that large pond, which is more than two hectares in size. So you can visit for a jog, easy stroll or take a picnic by the water.
6. Mont-Valérien
In 1841 Paris invested in a ring of artillery fortifications to prepare for an attack from what is now Germany.
This fortress atop Mont-Valérien, the main rise to the west of Paris, was involved during the Siege of Paris in 1870 and the fight to suppress the Paris Commune in 1871. But its darkest days came during the Second World War when more than a thousand members of the French Resistance and other prohibited groups were executed here.
Later the site was preserved by Charles de Gaulle as a war memorial with an eternal flame and a trail retracing the final steps of these fighters, as well as a chapel with graffiti by condemned men.
7. Musée d’Histoire Locale
The old town hall is the home for a museum that covers the history of the city, including some of the ways of life and personalities that might otherwise be forgotten. For instance, there are details about Rueil-Malmaison’s old winemaking industry, which was killed off by the phylloxera blight at the end of the 1800s.
You can also get perspectives about the Franco-Prussian War and the Siege of Paris, and if you have any lingering curiosity about Empress Joséphine you can indulge it here. Also from the Napoleonic era is a set of 1,600 figurines representing the Emperor’s Grand Army.
Finally, there’s a whole room dedicated to Édouard Belin, whose Belinograph from 1913 was the predecessor to the wire photo, capable of sending images down phone lines, long before the invention of the fax.
8. Musée des Gardes Suisses
The Swiss Guard was a corps of Swiss mercenaries founded by Louis XIII in 1616 and tasked with protecting the king.
These soldiers were renowned for their loyalty, and during the Revolution, almost 900 were massacred attempting to defend the Tuileries in 1792. This museum is in one of the three barracks built for the corps in the middle of the 18th century, and every week a detachment would leave this building for Versailles to relieve the “piquet d’honneur ” there.
The building is recognized as a French “historic monument” and has uniforms, documents and other memorabilia relating to the corps.
9. Parc de Saint-Cloud
If Rueil-Malmaison is all about the empire, the neighboring suburb of Saint-Cloud has a Royal flavor. You can see this legacy at the Parc de Saint-Cloud, which is a prestigious French “Jardin Notable” and praised as one of Europe’s loveliest gardens.
On top of that, there’s a view of Paris that will knock your socks off from the La Lanterne lookout, with the Eiffel Tower and Sacré-Cœur rippling on a clear summer’s day.
And as for royalty, the park used to be the grounds for the Château de Saint-Cloud, a royal palace destroyed during the Siege of Paris in 1870. Marie Antoinette had been especially fond of the house and planted the flower garden that is still there today.
10. Atelier Grognard
This building is a curious 19th-century factory that once forged thousands of copper, zinc and tin plates for engraving.
Those days are long gone, and the two large halls in the Atelier Grognard are now an evocative venue for temporary art exhibitions.
You should find out what’s on when you come to Rueil-Malmaison because the art is high-quality: In recent years, there have been inscriptions of Dubuffet, sculptures of Miró, Impressive works of the Seine, Abstract Expressionism from the 50s and works of the famous Welsh family.
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