I recently returned from a visit of the collection of Napoleonic artifacts entitled "Napoleon". It is with mixed feelings that I review the show and voice my criticisms. The show contained a magnificent display of sculptures, clothing, furniture and paintings from the 1st Empire. Among the items were the jewelry of Josephine and Marie- Louise, several uniforms of the Emperor, the Code Napoleon, his carriage, and restored throne and council rooms. There were these and much more. Perhaps never in the twentieth century has there ever been such an exhibit. The items on display were beautifully lit and the halls were decorated in Empire iconography, which added to the splendor of the displays. The layout designers deserve congratulations. Also the crowd control was well thought out and things moved along smoothly which was no small feat considering the volume of people that I saw. So much for bon mots. The entire exhibit suffered from lack of historical oversight. It started with the ten minute movie that began the visitors tour. This film was the worst kind of "potted history", trotting out primarily 19th century English propaganda as fact. While I expect this sort of thing out of English schoolboys, I expected much more from an exhibit of this stature. Here was Napoleon the megalomaniac. Here was the jumped-up little dictator. Here were the same old numbers being trotted out for his losses in Russia. This movie basically ignored all the research done in the last thirty years, and chose to fall back on Victorian melodrama. The sloppy thought processes continued in the exhibition. Each tourist was given a recording to listen to as they walked through the halls. I suppose that I am being picky when I point out that most of the music predated the things being talked about, that only one of Napoleon's court composers' music was used, and that little of the rest was French; but it is symptomatic of the lack of thought that went into the production. Another example of what I mean by lack of thought was the display of Napoleon's campaign map from 1813. Only part of the map was on display as the rest was apparently folded underneath. The part that the curator chose to show was Bohemia, which I am sure that you know saw little action, except in its most northern reaches. If this was a lack of thought, what follows are outright mistakes. The first thing that the visitor's attention is called to after leaving the hall of busts, which is used as an introduction, is the marriage certificate of Napoleon and Josephine. You are asked to note the change of birth dates, which shows them both lying about their ages. Unfortunately, the document that you are viewing is not the civil document that contains those alterations, but rather the Church document that certified their marriage before their coronations many years later. Errors of this nature continue throughout the exhibit. Uniforms are mislabeled. A new battle of Tilsit is invented. These mistakes are amateurish and an embarrassment to the city of Memphis. Didn't anyone read French? Why was this allowed to happen? With all the money that was spent could not one of the plethora of Napoleonic experts in this country have been brought in to check for errors? The responsibility for these mistakes must, in the end, rest with WONDERS, the sponsor of the exhibit. In closing I hope each of you had a chance to view this wonderful collection. I also hope that you had some way to appreciate what you were looking at. Back to Empire, Eagles, & Lions Table of Contents Vol. 2 No. 3 Back to EEL List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1993 by Emperor's Headquarters This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com