The temporary exhibition in the Copper-Roof Palace in Warsaw will present 22 unknown, original documents from various periods signed by Napoleon Bonaparte: letters, orders, reports and appeals, including the earliest signatures of the French leader as the first consul. The Napoleon Bonaparte Signature exhibition can be visited until July 31, 2022, informs the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

All documents are from private collections. A large part of them concerns the Polish army throughout the Napoleonic era, from the campaign of 1806–1807 in Poland to the participation of the cavalry of the Guard during Napoleon’s exile on the island of Elba in 1814.

The correspondence concerning both Prince Józef Poniatowski and other important historical figures, including the patrons of the Copper-Roof Palace, Jan Konopka, Ludwik Michał Pac, and Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, can be also interesting for visitors.

A real rarity is a secret letter addressed to the French ambassador in Vienna regarding the reconstruction of the Polish state. An important place at the exhibition is also taken by an authentic document briefcase, which once belonged to Napoleon, brought especially for this exhibition.

The Napoleon Bonaparte signature exhibition is on display in the Prince Józef Poniatowski’s Suite at the Copper-Roof Palace. Documents for the exhibition were provided by: The Royal Castle in Warsaw – Museum, Collection of Dr Tomasz Niewodniczański, Deutsch-Polnische Stiftung Kulturpflege und Denkmalschutz (Görlitz), the Museum of Romanticism in Opinogóra and a letter from a private collection.

Adrian Andrzejewski