Musée_des_Souverains
Musée des Souverains
French royal history museum
The Musée des Souverains (Museum of Sovereigns) was a history-themed museum of objects associated with former French monarchs. It was created by the future Napoleon III as a separate section within the Louvre Palace, with the aim to glorify all previous sovereign rulers of France and to buttress his own legitimacy. The museum was formed from collections previously held in the National Library, the National Furniture Depository, the Artillery Museum, and the Louvre Museum itself, as well as gifts. After the fall of the Second Empire, the museum was closed and its collections mostly returned to their previous owners.