Prix Spécial 2021 awarded by the Académie Nationale de Bordeaux for the catalogue Dessiner pour Napoléon
The Fondation Napoléon and the Archives Nationales have received one of the two “Prix Spécial 2021” from the Académie Nationale des Sciences, Belles-Lettres et Arts de Bordeaux, for the collective work catalogue of the exhibition “Dessiner pour Napoléon“, published by Michel Lafon (2021). This prize was presented on 3 March 2022 to Irène Delage, Head of the Media and Digital Documentation Department at the Fondation Napoléon, and Marie Ranquet and Aude Roelly, respectively, Curator of Heritage, Head of the Executive Archives (1789-1870) and Curator of Heritage, Head of the Executive and Legislative Department at the Archives Nationales (French National Archives). Both were co-curators of the exhibition “Drawing for Napoleon”.
The exhibition at the Archives Nationales, of which the catalogue is a magnificent testimony, was a key event in the Bicentenary of Napoleon’s death in 2021. It was the result of a partnership between the two institutions to ensure the restoration and make accessible a little-known treasure kept in the holdings of the Imperial State Secretariat: the 1,800 plans, drawings and maps presented to the Emperor to support decisions, decrees and orders to be considered or approved. An international appeal had been launched to that end (September 2017 – December 2018).
From its early years, after its creation in 1712, the Académie Royale des Sciences, Belles-lettres et Arts de Bordeaux has been committed to recognizing achievements, particularly academic ones. It was the first learned society to award a prize in physics in 1715. Since then, it has awarded prizes every year for literary works, dissertations, theses or research of high quality, as well as to remarkable individuals.
In 2018, it awarded the Chassin Dufourg Prize to the Fondation Napoléon for the edition of the Correspondance générale de Napoléon Bonaparte (Fayard editions, 2004-2018, 15 volumes).
In 2021, 23 prizes were awarded, many of which were presented during a public reception in the salons of the Académie, at the Hôtel Calvet, on 3 March 2022.
15 February 2022, updated 4 March 2022
