exposition
And sure, that over-the-top throne is great, the marble busts and porcelain objets and silver soupières
are awesome, and just gazing at the delicate gold boites decorated with diamond “N”s will make you
feel like Josephine. But for me it’s the smaller, more modest survivors of the era that really make the epoch
come alive. Not just the emperor’s iconic chapeau but an 1804 edition of the famous Civil Code, a flimsy
pamphlet that nevertheless touches Schaming’s heart, since, as he points out, for him and his fellow French
citizens, “The Departements, the Prefets, the civil code, all of our civil and administrative organization was
born under Napoleon. We are still living every day with Napoleon’s reforms.” n Splendours of the Empire:
Napoleon and the Imperial Court, through August 31st, Chateau de Malbrouck, Site du Conseil Général de
