Monday, April 29, 2024

Longwood House French national domains in Saint-Helena

longwood house

When the clerics, the Abbé Vignali and the chaplain Buonavita, arrived on 20 September 1819, a place was needed to say mass. The first mass was celebrated in the Drawing Room (3 October 1819) but the following month Napoleon decided that the Dining Room would be used for masses on Sundays. In 2007 a toxicologist said he found mineral arsenic in napoleon’s hair shafts, which supported the theory that he was murdered. The wallpaper used in Longwood contained a high level of arsenic compound used by British manufacturers as a dye. It has been suspected that if the wallpaper got hot it might have emitted the poisonous gas arsine, but other scientists think the poison would have had to be consumed internally - or that the leader really did die of cancer. Napoleon became the Emperor of France in 1804 and secured a streak of victories in war, cementing the country’s place as a dominant force in Europe.

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Longwood House and Napoleon’s Journey to St Helena

However, during the Peninsular war between 1807 and 1814, he decided to invade Russia, which showed France’s military frailties. He was forced to abdicate and go into exile to the Italian island of Elba in 1814, before escaping a year later and returning to power. Napoleon was finally defeated by the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815 and spent the last six years of his life in confinement by the British at Saint Helena. A new and far larger house was built for Napoleon (1860s picture, right). The necessary materials arrived on 17th May 1816 but due to many delays building of the new house only began in October 1818.

Property details for 846 S Longwood Ave

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Longwood would have been awe-inspiring inside if it had ever been completed. Even though Haller Nutt was a union sympathizer, he lost his fortune as a result of the war. He died of pneumonia in 1864, three years after the workmen left.

History

It was 203 years ago, almost to the day, that Napoleon moved into Longwood House. Here it feels as if the curtain between past and present has been drawn back. It is easy to imagine the man of the hour striding into the room, dressed in the green cavalry jacket of the Imperial Horse Guards, and a white waistcoat adorned with the Legion of Honor—and taking his usual seat at the head of the table with us.

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Later it was moved to the back of the house for the servants to use. Napoleon made some improvements to the house while he lived there. The gardens are largely to his design, including the fishponds, into which he introduced goldfish which were bought for him in Jamestown (but which, sadly, did not survive due to improper care). To observe the sentries and the comings and goings of the British, Napoleon formed two holes in the shutters with his knife (photo, right). Its suitability to house Napoleon and his entourage was questioned at the time.

A longhouse or long house is a type of building in several cultures. It is usually for many people living together.[1] Many buildings were made out of wood. They were for long-term usage and not for people who moved around a lot.

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Since his death, it has been suggested that he died from cancer or was poisoned by British soldiers. A third theory says he died after inhaling toxic vapours from wallpaper which was laced with arsenic. Travellers looking to follow in Napoleon’s footsteps can board the Royal Mail ship St Helena from Cape Town (10 days at sea and four nights on St Helena). Tours of Napoleon’s residence, Longwood House and Briar’s Pavillion can be arranged through the St Helena Tourism Office once on island. Today Longwood House is considered to be the most poignant and atmospheric of all the Napoleonic Museums, as it is preserved with its original furniture from 1821, complemented by over 900 artifacts.

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South Longwood Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90016 view map

When Napoleon lived there under guard there was standing water under the floor, water running down the walls, rats were everywhere and there was a permanent musty smell, said Dancoisne-Martineau. He choose to present the house the way it was the day Napoleon died -- minus the rats and dampness. Based on the description, scientists put forward other theories as to why he died – which included arsenic poisoning. “An international campaign was conducted with the Napoleon Foundation to raise funds and it has since garnered 1.5 million euros,” said the curator, with a smile. When Napoleon lived there under guard “there was standing water under the floor, water running down the walls, rats were everywhere and there was a permanent musty smell,” said Dancoisne-Martineau.

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The sight so outraged a later British governor that he launched an eradication campaign. That history includes the near total destruction of Jamestown in the mid-1800s by termites released by ship breaking. Ahead of his time, in 1818, Governor Lowe freed children born of slaves on the island.

“I want this to last after me,” said the smiling 49-year-old as his dog Papillon (Butterfly) lay at the foot of the bed where France’s greatest military hero died. One of the few Frenchmen on the British island of just 4,200 people, Dancoisne-Martineau manages a 16.5 hectare (40 acre) plot of French territory. Jamestown (AFP) — Michel Dancoisne-Martineau knows that the story of Napoleon’s life in exile is timeless — and irresistible. In 1959 a third property, the Briars, where Napoleon spent the first two months while Longwood was being prepared, was given to the French Government by its owner, Dame Mabel Brookes. Formerly the summer residence of the Lieutenant Governor, it was converted for the use of Napoleon in 1815. The building was chosen because it sits on an elevated plain, largely free from woodland, and thus was easier to secure.

If there was one thing his custodian, Hudson Lowe, was not going to allow, it was an escape attempt on his watch. During Napoleon’s time on the island, Sir Hudson Lowe was appointed Governor of St Helena. Lowe’s main duty was to ensure that he didn’t escape but also to provide supplies for Napoleon and his entourage. While they only met six times, their relationship is well documented as being tense and acrimonious. Their main point of contention was that Lowe refused to address Napoleon as Emperor of the French.

Our dinner is a conjuring trick, a historical séance in search of the man whose voice once echoed in this room with tales of war, conquest, glory and defeat, and of vanished dreams of empire and what might have been. Dancoisne-Martineau has already guided us through Longwood’s famous gardens, designed and cultivated by Napoleon himself and bursting with agapanthus flowers that match the blue and white in the French tricolor flying overhead. He leads us into the house through the billiard room, where the banished emperor laid out maps of his campaigns and notes for his memoirs on the table and used cue sticks to move them about. The consul points out the peepholes Napoleon carved into the green shutters with his penknife, so he could peer out at the world without the world seeing him. The holes at that height barely reach our shoulders, hinting at Napoleon’s smaller stature. The Iroquois Confederacy (Haudenosaunee) was made of the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida and Mohawk tribes.

The Yanomami people of Brazil and Venezuela build a round hut with a thatched roof that has a hole in the middle, called shabono, which could be considered a sort of longhouse. Many were built from timber and often represent the earliest form of permanent structure in many cultures. [Stairwell beyond the Dining Room]This room was a crossroads leading to the other rooms, including a stairs to the attic where the servants Marchand, Novarraz and Ali lived. Marchand’s bedroom was situated directly above that of his master. On this trip we found they had been moved, but my friend, Linda, who was touring Longwood with me and has toured it several times in years past, remembered seeing them scattered all about on previous tours.

David Pryce, St. Helena’s self-professed “bug man,” has identified almost 1,400 insects on the island, of which almost 30 percent are endemic. This is only one of two places in the world where it grows, he tells us. “The other one is over there,” he says, pointing to the adjacent peak. Everything changed with the arrival of the new governor, Hudson Lowe. Lowe sent away Napoleon’s faithful aide Las Cases and banished the sympathetic Balcombes, accusing them of suspicious loyalty to the emperor. After his first night in Jamestown, he never set foot there again.

The building was chosen to house Napoleon because it was easy to secure - it sits on an elevated plain, largely free from woodland. Although we may never be certain, the much less glamorous stomach cancer is probably what actually did him in. Modern tests of strands of Napoleon’s hair showed it to have suspiciously elevated levels of arsenic. Napoleon’s presence can still be felt today across the island. The Governor of St Helena’s official residence at Plantation House still retains one of Napoleon’s chandeliers, whilst one of the island’s small hotels, Farm Lodge, claims to have a chaise longue from Longwood House.

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The story of Napoleon's exile on St Helena

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