A museum worker has broken a chair that once belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte, after he couldn't resist sitting in the same spot as the Emperor of the French.
![]() This group of chairs from Napoleon's Fontainbleau palace sold for almost $18,000 at Christie's in 2013 |
The Palais Fesch Musee des Beaux-Arts in Ajaccio, Corsica - Napoleon's birthplace - has confirmed that the red leather on the director-style folding chair split straight down the middle under the weight of the curious guard, and its wooden frame was also damaged.
The chair is part of an exhibition just opened at the museum, which features the final tent the military leader used on the battlefield.
The media was attracted to the story when local reporters noticed the museum had called in a restoration expert from Grenoble. The chair has now been restored to an extremely high level, and is said to be in better condition than before.
The guard will undergo disciplinary proceedings.
See the video of the chair's restoration.
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