The Hauts-de-Seine, a department in the inner suburbs of Paris, is home to some of the most significant monuments in French history, all concentrated within a small area. Malmaison, the residence of Joséphine de Beauharnais and Napoleon Bonaparte, is the department’s most iconic château: a national museum dedicated to the First Empire, it houses collections of furniture and art of exceptional quality within a setting that was once the imperial couple’s everyday home.
Saint-Cloud, whose château was destroyed during the 1870 war, has left behind a magnificent park designed by Le Nôtre, which today offers one of the most spectacular views of Paris. Sceaux, with its reconstructed château and French-style park, is home to the Musée de l’Île-de-France, and its gardens host the Nuits de Sceaux, a famous chamber music festival, every summer.
These residences bear witness to the role of the inner Parisian suburbs as a resort for the aristocracy and the imperial family, before 19th-century urbanisation gradually transformed this countryside into a residential suburb.