Fondation Napoléon

The Fondation Napoléon was registered as a French non-profit organization (reconnue d'utilité publique) on 12 November 1987. The foundation aims to encourage and support study and interest in the history of the First and Second French Empires, and to support the preservation of Napoleonic Heritage.

Mission and activities
The Fondation Napoléon promotes research of the history of the two French Empires, most notably by awarding six research grants to French and non-French Ph.D. candidates. It also awards an annual History Prize for outstanding works on subjects related to the two French Empires (in French and other European languages). The foundation also helps to organize academic conferences, bicentennial and sesquicentennial commemorations, Napoleonic book publishing, and exhibition catalogues.

Save Longwood, Napoleon's House on St Helena
In December 2010, the foundation launched an international appeal to save Napoleon's house on the island of St Helena. The funds collected were to be used to pay for the restoration of the buildings in which Napoleon and his entourage lived in exile on St Helena from 1815 to 1821. The appeal was supported by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Opposition to the removal of the Statue of Napoleon in Rouen
In September 2020, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, the mayor of Rouen and member of the French Socialist Party, wished to replace the statue of Napoleon with a statue or work of art dedicated to the recently deceased feminist Gisèle Halimi. The plans were strongly opposed by the leader of the city's opposition, Jean-François Bures. Historian and director of the Fondation Napoléon, Thierry Lentz, called the plans "cancel culture" and argued that Napoleon was a benefactor of Rouen, making him more locally relevant than Halimi. In December 2021, a survey of 4,080 residents found that 68% wanted the statue to remain, and the city council said it would respect the result. Later in December 2021, the statue was registered as a monument historique (historic monument in English).

Publication of the General Correspondence of Napoleon Bonaparte
In 2002, the Fondation launched a project in partnership with the French Archives nationales, the French Archives du Ministère des Affaires étrangères, and with the support of the Fondation La Poste, to publish the most complete version of the General Correspondence of Napoleon I. Volume 8 was published in November 2011 by Editions Fayard, containing letters from the war in Spain in 1808.

The project was completed in 2018 with the publication of the fifteenth and final volume. The project now aims to digitise all volumes to be viewed online, with the entire collection due to be available by the end of 2023. The first volume was due to be made available online from May 2022.

Libraries

 * The Napoleonic Digital Library has been online since 2010 and provides downloadable e-texts (books, offprints, etc.)
 * The Fondation Napoléon's library, the Bibliothèque Martial-Lapeyre/ Fondation Napoléon, is open to the general public.

Websites

 * napoleon.org was founded in 1996 and provides the public with precise historical information about the First and Second Empires (articles, close-ups, biographies, image database) and a magazine (newly published content, interviews, events listings). This site is bilingual (English and French) and updated daily. The Bibliothèque Martial-Lapeyre library catalogue can be accessed from this site. A weekly news bulletin keeps readers up to date.
 * napoleonica.org was founded in 1999 and hosts digitised archival documents related to the history of France's First Empire, such as archives from the French Conseil d'État (Council of State), correspondence of Vivant Denon (first director of the Louvre Museum), and documents related to the Proclamation of the First Empire, amongst others.

E-review

 * Napoleonica La Revue (founded in 2008) is a bilingual international peer-review periodical of articles on the two Napoleonic empires. It is hosted by Cairn.info

Art and historical memorabilia collection
The Fondation Napoléon organises exhibitions of its collection of fine art and historical memorabilia, etc. (Exhibitions includes Paris (2004), São Paulo, (2003) Brazil, Monterrey Mexico (2005), Minden (2006) Germany ) and loans items from the collection to prestigious exhibition worldwide. For details, see the Press packs.