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Ajaccio (Corsican: Aiacciu; Italian: Aiaccio; Latin: Adiacium) is
a French commune, prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud,
prefecture of Corsica and seat of the territorial community of
Corsica. Its urban area had 106,488 inhabitants in 20161, the
largest on the island. Ajaccio is located on the west coast of
Corsica, 390 km from Marseille.
After experiencing a decline
in the Middle Ages, Ajaccio developed with the presence of the
Genoese, who built a citadel there in 1492 south of the city.
"Imperial city" and formerly "coral city". Ajaccio is the
birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte, and is also known to be the first
French city liberated during World War II on September 9, 1943.
The Sanguinaires Islands, quite simply magical in the evening,
when the sun sets, setting the horizon ablaze.
The old town of
Ajaccio, in particular the Fesch museum as well as the birthplace of
Napoleon. It is an area to be visited on foot therefore at your own
pace and especially by leaving the car in one of the many public car
parks in Ajaccio.
The Palatine Chapel, better known as the Imperial Chapel, is a
church in Ajaccio in Corsica. Dating from 1859, it was erected at
the request of Napoleon III wishing to respect the last wishes of
Cardinal Fesch who is buried there as well as several members of the
Bonaparte family including Marie Letizia Bonaparte from 1860, as
well as Charles Bonaparte in 1951, respectively parents and
grandparents of Napoleon I and Napoleon III. Property of the State,
it has been listed as a Historic Monument since July 22, 1924.
The church is built in Saint-Florent stone in a neo-renaissance
style in the shape of a Latin cross, on the plans of Alexis Paccard,
architect of the crown and built by the architect Jean Caseneuve,
first inspector of the palace of Fontainebleau2. It adjoins the
Palais Fesch, built twenty years earlier and of which it forms the
south wing.
Necropolis
Several personalities of the
imperial family rest in the chapel (in particular in the crypt, now
saturated):
Charles Bonaparte (1746-1785), father of Napoleon I,
transferred in 1951.
Letizia Bonaparte, Madame Mère (1750-1836),
mother of Napoleon I
Joseph Fesch (1763-1839), cardinal, uncle of
Napoleon I
Charles-Lucien Bonaparte (1803-1857)
Zénaïde
Bonaparte (1860–1862)
Louis-Lucien Bonaparte (1813-1891)
Napoleon-Charles Bonaparte (1839-1899)
Victor Napoleon
(1862-1926)
Clementine of Belgium (1872-1955), wife of Victor
Napoléon
Louis Napoléon (1914-1997), son of Victor Napoléon
The Palais Fesch-Musée des Beaux-Arts is an art museum in the
city of Ajaccio in Corsica. Located in the Borgu district of
Ajaccio, in the palace and the street of the same name, the Fesch
Museum was created by the donation made to its hometown by Cardinal
Joseph Fesch, uncle of Napoleon I.
In particular, it presents
one of the most remarkable collections of ancient paintings in
France as well as one of the most important Napoleonic collections.
It benefits from the “Musée de France” label.
Historical
When Joseph Fesch died, his personal collection numbered no less
than 17,767 works and objects of art, including around 16,000
paintings. Enlightened amateur and bulimic collector, he had
decided, in 1806, to create in his native town an institute of
artistic studies. By will registered on April 25, 1839, he donated
to the City of Ajaccio 1,000 works of art, busts and sculptures,
including 843 paintings, its library, its manuscripts, part of its
furniture and of the statue of Napoleon Consul by Maximilien
Laboureur, after his nephew and heir Joseph Bonaparte, Count of
Survilliers, had obtained, on September 1, 1842, a modification of
this will to keep the collections of engravings and the entirety of
the Grande Galerie of paintings by the cardinal, which had to be
partially sold to complete the buildings then under construction. In
return, 300 additional paintings, to be taken outside the Grande
Galerie, were donated to several Corsican municipalities, including
100 to the Royal College of Bastia, now kept at the Bastia Museum
and 50 at the Paoli de Corte school.
Work on the building,
the current Fesch Palace, started in 1828 was completed in 1852,
well after the death of the patron. The plans of the palace and the
first parts built were the work of the architect Frasseto until
1837, then of Jean Caseneuve, architect of the government, and of
the municipal architect of Ajaccio Jérôme Maglioli, assisted by Jean
Exiga who completed the last parts like the library wing and the
main staircase.
The Palatine Chapel or Imperial Chapel, where
Cardinal Fesch, Maria Letizia Ramolino and many members of the
Bonaparte family are buried, was built from 1857 to 1859 by Alexis
Paccard, architect of the Crown, with the collaboration of Jérôme
Maglioli, architect of the City of Ajaccio.
Carried out under
the Second Empire according to a testamentary wish from Cardinal
Fesch, this chapel was consecrated on September 9, 1860 in the
presence of Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie.
It was following these last works that the bronze statue of the
Monument to Cardinal Cardinal Fesch by sculptor Gabriel-Vital Dubray
was erected in 1856 in the main courtyard of the palace. In the
meantime, over the course of these expansions and other
rearrangements, the museum's collections were enriched by other
important donations, such as the bequest by Félix Baciocchi in 1866
of 64 paintings, mainly from the 19th century.
The city
subsequently decided to transform part of the building into a high
school and the collections were put away and poorly maintained.
During the twentieth century, the situation of the museum
deteriorated and only three rooms were devoted to the presentation
of works before the museum closed its doors in June 1979.
Renovation of the buildings and restoration of the works were
undertaken in 1980 and led to the reopening of the museum on July 9,
1990, in the presence of Jack Lang, Minister of Culture.
From
April 15, 2008, the museum undergoes a second campaign of works and
redevelopment before its reopening on June 26, 2010, then the visit
of the Minister of Culture Frédéric Mitterrand on July 11 of that
same year.
The museum, which today consists of around thirty
rooms distributed over four floors, exhibits around 400 paintings
and houses a library and an auditorium.
Collections
The
museum's collections, spread over four levels and 27 rooms, are very
important, especially for a provincial town like Ajaccio. With 448
paintings, it is the second French museum in terms of conservation
of Italian paintings after the 1034 of the Louvre. The museum
presents works from different schools of European painting up to the
18th century, as well as a section dedicated specifically to
Corsican art, especially from the 19th and 20th centuries. Another
part of the museum presents collections from the Napoleonic era.
Italian painting
The Italian school is present in large
numbers in the museum's collections, of which it constitutes the
highlight with 486 paintings, dating from the fourteenth century for
the oldest and for the most part from the collection amassed in
Italy by Cardinal Fesch.
Antiquity
The beginnings are modest and the city is not
mentioned by the Greek geographer Ptolemy of Alexandria in the 2nd
century AD which uses somewhat earlier sources, despite the presence
of a locality called Ourkinion in the neighboring Cinarca. However,
it was shortly after this time that the city of Ajaccio (then
undoubtedly already adjacium which evokes a lodging, a stage) knew
its first development. In this period of prosperity in the
Mediterranean basin (the Pax Romana), the need for a real port
capable of accommodating buildings downstream from the various
valleys which end in the gulf was probably felt (important recent
underwater archaeological discoveries of Roman boats tend to confirm
this).
Other recent excavations have led to the discovery of
important early Christian remains likely to considerably reassess
the size of the Ajaccian agglomeration in the second part of
Antiquity and at the beginning of the Middle Ages. The city was in
any case sufficiently notable to be already the seat of a diocese,
mentioned by Pope Gregory the Great in 591. The city was then
located further north than the location later chosen by the Genoese,
at the location of the current districts of Castel Vecchio and
Sainte-Lucie.
Medieval and Genoese times
It is established
that from the seventh century the city, like most of the other
Corsican coastal communities, declined sharply and almost completely
disappeared. Nevertheless, we know that a castle and a cathedral
were still in place in 1492 and that the latter was not demolished
until 1748.
At the end of the 15th century, the Genoese
wishing to assert their domination over the south of the island
decided to rebuild the city of Ajaccio. Several sites were then
considered: the Pointe de la Parata (not retained because too
exposed to the winds), the old town (ultimately considered
unsanitary because of the proximity of the Salines pond), finally
the Punta della Lechia on which the choice was made. Work began on
April 21, 1492. The city developed rapidly and became the capital of
the province of Delà Des Monts (more or less current Corse-du-Sud),
Bastia remaining the capital of the island whole.
At first a
colony populated exclusively by Genoese, the city slowly opened up
to the Corsicans, even if practically until the French conquest, the
Ajaccians legally citizens of Genoa, very readily distinguished
themselves from the island paesani, the latter mainly living in
Borgu , a suburb outside the city walls (the current rue Fesch was
its main artery).
Modern times
In 1553 de Thermes took
Ajaccio where he established his domicile and headquarters. To
defend the place, "he built the citadel from which he separated it
by a ditch cut almost entirely in the rock, and which receives water
from the sea; he also built several other pieces of fortifications,
among others the bastion which flanks the two sides of the city,
opposite the mountains and the convent of S. Francis. - Goury De
Champgrand in History of the Isle of Corsica - 1749, p. 35 ”.
Ajaccio was occupied by the French until 1559.
The great
revolt of the Corsicans against Genoa (1729-1769)
In 1731, the
rebels were almost masters of the whole island. The Genoese unable
to control the rebellion, imperial troops, 4,000 men under the
orders of Baron Wachtendonk, were sent to Corsica. The Genoese only
had Bastia, Calvi & Ajaccio left. Shortly afterwards, 2,000 men
under the orders of Prince Louis of Württemberg were sent as
reinforcements. For two years, the Germans ruined the island without
being able to obtain from the inhabitants their submission to the
Genoese.
On June 5, 1733, Corsica appearing entirely pacified,
the imperial troops evacuated the island.
At the beginning of
1734, the fire rekindled more strongly than ever and set the whole
island ablaze.
On November 10, 1737 in Fontainebleau, an
agreement was signed between France and Genoa for the sending of
troops to Corsica.
In 1739, many inhabitants come to obedience,
return a large quantity of weapons in the hands of the commander of
the frigate "Flore" which was in the gulf of Ajaccio, or in
particular officers that Maillebois had sent in.
At the same time, during the months of July and August, great
work is being done to facilitate communication between Corte and
Ajaccio, "these two parts of the island being separated by awful &
almost impassable mountains, to cross what it is called the Foci di
Bogognano which is a path of about four leagues, where one could
only enter through large woods and snow-covered mountains most of
the year. - Jean F. De Champgrand in Histoire de l'isle de Corse -
1749, p. 97. »
In his book, the contemporary historian Goury
De Champgrand, who says he lived in Ajaccio for two years, writes:
"The city is very small, & that besides three French battalions
which were garrisoned there with about 600 Genoese & nearly 900
Greeks , men, women & children, there were several families from the
surrounding villages who had taken refuge there after the ruin of
their houses during the rebellion, making three-quarters of the town
poor & miserable, some on the others; I saw in those times in
several different places five & six households in one room with all
their children. »
The attachment to France
Corsica finally
passed to France in 1769: after defeating the royal army at Borgo in
October 1768, Pascal Paoli's patriots were crushed in May 1769 at
Ponte-Novu.
The city was imagined by Napoleon I, who was a
native, the capital of the only department of the island at the
expense of Bastia. It was during the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries that Ajaccio caught up with the latter and became the most
populous city on the island.
In the nineteenth century,
Ajaccio was a very popular winter resort of the high society of the
time, especially English, like Monaco, Cannes, Nice. An Anglican
church was even built.
The first children's bathhouse in
France was built in Ajaccio in 1855: the horticultural colony of
Saint Antoine. It was a correctional colony for young offenders,
(from 8 to 20 years old) established under section 10 of the law of
August 5, 1850. Nearly 1200 children from all over France stayed
there until 1866, when of its closure. One hundred and sixty of them
perished there, victims of deplorable health conditions and malaria
infesting unhealthy areas, which they were tasked with sanitizing.
In 1862, Ajaccio ceded part of its territory, together with
Alata, to form the new commune of Villanova.
Contemporary era
On September 9, 1943, Ajaccio rose massively against the Nazi
occupier and became the first French city liberated from German
rule. General de Gaulle went to Ajaccio on October 8, 1943, and
declared: "We must immediately learn the lesson from the page of
history that French Corsica has just written." Corsica has the
fortune and honor of being the first piece released from France;
what she has caused to burst forth from her feelings and will, in
the light of her liberation, demonstrates that these are the
feelings and will of the whole Nation. »
During all this
time, no Jews were executed or deported to Corsica thanks to the
protection granted by its inhabitants and its administration. This
peculiarity today allows Corsica to claim to become just among the
nations, a title that no region has yet had (in France, the only
territorial authority to have obtained this title is the commune of
Chambon-sur- Lignon). The file is being studied in 2010.
Since the middle of the twentieth century, Ajaccio has undergone
significant development. The imperial city experienced population
growth and considerable urban sprawl. Today the capital of Corsica
and the main agglomeration of the island, it seeks to establish
itself as a true regional metropolis.