The Emperor's canoe was unveiled to the public on Wednesday in Brest. - Fred Tanneau / AFP

  • The Emperor's canoe was unveiled to the public on Wednesday in Brest, its home port.
  • The boat, used by Napoleon 1st to go to Antwerp, was until now preserved in the national museum of the Navy in Paris.
  • The canoe will now be restored before being exhibited at the Maritime Festival this summer.

He found the light after spending sixteen months in a protective box. Jewel of French heritage, the Napoleon 1st canoe was unveiled to the public on Wednesday at the Capucins in Brest. The 210-year-old boat thus found its home port, 77 years after being sheltered in Paris. "It is in good condition!" Said Admiral Vincent Campredon, director of the National Maritime Museum. "It is the most beautiful piece in the collection of the Musée de la Marine," he said.

The emperor's canoe is revealed to the Capuchins of Brest. A national heritage gem built in 1810 for Napoleon 1st #emojibzh pic.twitter.com/IPjrHFQ8DZ

- RIVACOM (@Riva_com) January 22, 2020

Since 1943 and until its transfer to Brest, in October 2018, the canoe was in Paris. "It was promised that the canoe would return to Brest, its home port," said Admiral Campredon, assuring that "its entire history was here".

A canoe used to get to Antwerp

After having remained sixteen months locked in a rigid box to protect it from light and allow its acclimatization to the temperature and humidity of the site, the work was released from its formwork, while remaining on its transport chassis, which will be partially disassembled over the next few days. It will be installed on February 5 on its final cradle on the Place des Machines, a free space of 1,000 square meters on three levels.

The construction of the canoe had been launched in the greatest secrecy in the spring of 1810, when the Emperor had decided to go to Antwerp to visit the arsenal which he had ordered the creation a few years earlier. On April 30, 1810, the boat, with Napoleon and the young Empress Marie-Louise on board, made a remarkable entry into Antwerp. For several days, the canoe had ensured the travel of the Emperor in the port city.

Restoration work before the maritime festivals

In 1814, at the time of the fall of the Empire, Louis XVIII had the canoe transferred to Brest. To protect the canoe from bombardment, it was transferred in 1943 to Paris. "The canoe was (...) rotting and the bombing caused the German occupier to send it to Paris," said the mayor of the city of Ponant, François Cuillandre, saying "very happy to 'welcome' the imperial boat again.

Pride and pleasure to see the Emperor's Canoe return to Brest.
He found the Capuchins a jewel at the height of its history. pic.twitter.com/3BrVU5NFjh

- François Cuillandre 2020 (@ Cuillandre2020) January 22, 2020

The canoe, which, because of its size, could not have been installed until 1945 at the Palais Chaillot, where the National Maritime Museum is located, still needs to be restored. The works should end in May, just before the maritime festivals which will be held from July 10 to 16 in Brest.

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  • History
  • Boat
  • Marine
  • Napoleon
  • Society
  • Brest
  • Heritage