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18042 December 1804 · Paris

Coronation of Napoleon

David's painting of Napoleon crowning Joséphine in Notre-Dame, with Pope Pius VII seated behind
Archival image: Jacques-Louis David. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Fifteen years after the Revolution began, the general who had seized power in 1799 crowned himself Emperor of the French in Notre-Dame, with Pope Pius VII looking on, and then crowned his wife Joséphine. The ceremony founded a new dynasty, and Napoleon's wars and law code went on to remake much of Europe until his final defeat at Waterloo in 1815.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Notre-Dame de ParisThe cathedral of the coronation, reopened in December 2024 after the 2019 fire.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: The LouvreJacques-Louis David's vast painting of the ceremony.Map ↗
  3. Site 3: Les InvalidesNapoleon's tomb under the gilded dome, brought back from St Helena in 1840.Map ↗

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