Temple of love
Rueil-Malmaison
HistoryNapoleon I
In Marmontel avenue, the Empress Josephine built the Love Temple to decorate the park of Malmaison. This temple is a work of the architect Berthault executed in 1807 over a chaos of rocks at the edge of the river of Malmaison.
Six doric columns support an entablature surmounted by a crown adorned with a flower framed by ribbons pediment. A statue of love ready to launch his arrow was placed in the temple. This statue due to Jean Pierre Antoine Tassaert (1727-1788) is now in Malmaison Museum.
Two vases of flowers decorated the entrance and rhododendrons adorning the banks, so as we can see in the famous painting of Josephine surrounded by ladies by Hector Viger.