Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Noisot Park, located in Fixin, Côte-d'Or, was built between 1830 and 1840 by Claude Noisot, former grognard of Napoleon I. This captain of the Old Guard, faithful to the emperor until his exile to the island of Elbe, acquired 5 hectares on the heights of the village to plant laricio pines of Corsica, in homage to Napoleon. The park, conceived as an imperial sanctuary, incorporates symbolic elements such as the Cent Marches, carved in 1840 to evoke the Cent-Days (1815), the key period of Napoleon I's return to power.

In the heart of the park, Noisot erected a museum dedicated to the emperor in a crenelized bastion, replica of his elbois residence. Inaugurated in 1847 by Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte (future Napoleon III), this museum housed memories of Napoleonic wars, statues and documents. The main piece was the Napoleon sculpture awakening to immortality (1845-1847), made by François Rude: a bronze representing the emperor chained to St. Helena, releasing himself from his symbolic death. This masterpiece, commissioned by Noisot, seals the alliance between the Dijon soldier and artist.

Claude Noisot, who died in 1861, wanted to be buried standing in front of Napoleon's statue, sabre au clair, for eternity. The hardness of the rock prevented it, but its burial, adorned with a bronze bust by Paul Cabet (Rude student), carried the epitaph: "A soldier of Napoleon I". The park, its walls, its sculptures (including Napoleon's Awakening), the Hundred Steps and the treed alleys were classified as Historic Monuments in 2024, consolidating its status as a unique memorial, mixing military history, romantic art and Napoleonic devotion.

The site, owned by the town of Fixin, illustrates the persistence of Napoleonic worship in the 19th century. Noisot, as sponsor and muse, merged his life as a soldier, his admiration for the emperor and a romantic aesthetic, embodied by Rude. The Corsican pines, the memorial staircase and the museum form a coherent set, where each element refers to a key episode of the Napoleonic epic, from elbois to St. Helena. Today, Noisot Park remains a rare testimony to the living memory of the First Empire, between local heritage and national history.

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