The original deed of sale signed by Napoleon to prevent the dismemberment of the present-day Laeken estate will be auctioned on Friday with a starting price set at €3,000 at the Brussels auction house Arenberg Auctions.
Napoleon Bonaparte signed the sale deed on 3 August 1804 to prevent the Laeken domain, some twenty hectares surrounding Laeken Castle (the current official residence of the Belgian royal family), from being sold off in lots. He bought it for 150,000 francs.
The castle had been built by the Austrian regime around 20 years earlier, but they only had the opportunity to enjoy the grounds for a few years before fleeing the Brabant Revolution and later the French invasion that ended the Hapsburg rule in the area.
In 1803, Napoleon attended military exercises in the area and, charmed by the estate, decided to buy the Château de Laeken.
However, the land around the chateau was owned by a man named Emmanuel Piers, who intended to sell it off in several lots. So, one year after his initial purchase, Napoleon decided to also buy the complete 20-hectare plot of land.
"Napoleon has sometimes been considered a little too inquisitive. However, thanks to his intervention, the château and estate of Laeken were saved from demolition," emphasises Henri Godts, expert at Arenberg Auctions.
Following the collapse of the French empire, the castle was assigned to the new Kingdom of the Netherlands.
After Belgium's independence in 1830, King Leopold I made the castle and the domain the official residence of the Belgian monarchy, and remains so today.
