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Origin and history

The Mausoleum of the Imperial Prince, located in Rueil-Malmaison in Hauts-de-Seine, was originally built in Paris between 1881 and 1883 by the architect Hippolyte Destailleur, thanks to a national subscription. This first building, unfinished and poorly maintained, was transferred in 1913 near the castle of Malmaison, on land acquired by Empress Eugénie. The First World War interrupted the work, and the already fragile monument required a complete reconstruction.

Between 1936 and 1938, a new mausoleum was erected by architect Jean Hulot, reusing pink marble columns of the Court of Accounts of Paris. It houses a bronze statue of Carpeaux (1865) representing the imperial prince and his dog Nero, offered in 1924 by Prince Victor. The monument commemorates Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte (1856–79), son of Napoleon III, killed during a military expedition to South Africa alongside the British.

The mausoleum was listed as a historical monument in 1995 and incorporated in 2022 into the National Estate of Malmaison Castle. Although the prince was buried in England, this place symbolized the national tribute to an heir to the Second Empire, whose premature death deeply affected France. The original bust, directed by Prosper d'Épinay, disappeared during the successive transfers of the monument.

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