The Napoleonic Salon in the Hôtel de Ville di Ajaccio

Ajaccio, Hôtel de ville, Salon Napoléonien

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L’Hôtel de Ville of Ajaccio was built under the reign of Charles X between 1826 and 1836. The maison carré (square house) follows a rectangular plan, arranging the offices around a barrel–vaulted hall with Doric columns at its entrance and from which initiates the monumental stair. The façade is divided in two parts separated by a string–course cornice; at the top, a large lantern hosts the clock.
Inside the building one finds a Napoleonic Salon, which displays paintings, statues and other artistic and documentary evidence related to the imperial family. The collection was built up through numerous donations, the most important of which being that of cardinal Joseph Fesch, Napoleon’s maternal uncle, who left part of his very rich art collection in bequest to his birth city in 1836.
The first stone of the building was laid on 2 July 1826, the same day on which the town prefecture was started: the city mayor at the time was Costantin Stéphanopoli, but the project had already been approved and presented to the municipal council by his predecessor, Jean–Baptiste Spoturni. The project was entrusted to the Parisian architect Alphonse de Gisors, while architect Peter Pergola and master builder Elie Exiga were in charge of the works, which cost around 100,000 Francs. In 1842 the local painter Jérôme Maglioli was commissioned to carry out the fresco decoration of the ceiling, but the paintings were destroyed due to the collapse of part of the building; another painter from Ajaccio, Philippe Bassoul, was then commissioned to carry out another decorative campaign.