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Origin and history

The Museum of the House of the Last Cartridge is housed in the former Bourgerie Inn in Bazeilles, the theatre of an emblematic fight of the Franco-German War of 1870. French naval troops, nicknamed "Marsouins", resisted for hours the Bavarian assaults, firing their last ammunition before surrendering. Their courage even impressed an enemy officer, saving the survivors, while the village suffered reprisals and massacres in response to the participation of civilians in the fighting.

By the end of the 19th century, the inn was transformed into a place of memory. Repurchased in 1899 by Le Gaulois via a public subscription, the site was entrusted to French Remembrance in 1909. Its major development took place after 1950 under the impetus of the Committee of Traditions of the Marine Troops, leading to a renovation in 2005. Today, the museum exhibits weapons, uniforms, archives and the famous painting The Last Cartouches (1873) by Alphonse de Neuville, symbol of French heroism.

Nearby, a Franco-German ossuary (1876–78) gathered the remains of thousands of soldiers who had fallen at Bazeilles, separated by nationality in a crypt surmounted by a monument. The site also includes a monument to naval troops and a commemorative flag, the Last Anchore. Closed in 2004–2005 for work, the museum remains a high place of military memory, illustrating both the violence of war and the resilience of combatants and civilians.

The permanent collections trace the episode via authentic objects: keys of the burned church, flags of ambulances, helmets and swords, as well as photographs of the period. The floor, preserved in the state, plunges the visitor into the atmosphere of fighting. Neuville's painting, acquired in 1960, reinforces the symbolic dimension of the place, described as an "Icon of Patriotic Heroism" by Sylvie Patry, curator at the Orsay Museum.

The Battle of Bazeilles killed nearly 7,655 people in two days (2,655 French and 5,000 Bavarians), lastingly marking the village. The Bazeillais, already tested by destruction, lost many of their own. The museum, labeled Musée de France, perpetuates their memory while honouring the naval troops, whose valour became legendary. Its official address, 12 avenue de la dernier cartouche, recalls the ultimate resistance of the soldiers.

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