The years 1870-1871 were terrible for the French city of Saint-Cloud, when Prussian torches burned the castle and village to the ground.

“One cannot envision the disaster without having seen it. Saint-Cloud should remain in our minds like the destruction of Pompeii,” wrote Theophile Gautier in March 1871 in Tableaux de siège.

Today, no traces of the war of 1870 are left in Saint-Cloud. The reconstructed city is a pleasant suburb of Paris, known for its picturesque setting and park, which once housed the remains of the kings of France.

With the exhibition Les ruines de Saint-Cloud, Le Musée des Avelines, the museum of art and history in Saint-Cloud, is opening the great book of history to this unknown chapter of the Siege of Paris.

Read the full text of this article on the French version of Le Journal.

1870-1871: Saint-Cloud, l'année terrible
From January 31st to March 24th, 2013
Musée des Avelines
Musée d’art et d’histoire de Saint-Cloud
60, rue Gounod
92210 Saint-Cloud
France