Imperial Chapel
Biarritz
HistoryNapoleon INapoleon III
Built in 1865 close to Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie’s summer villa, the Imperial Chapel was the place of worship for the imperial couple, who had entrusted its construction to the architect Boeswillwald.
The chapel is built in a Hispanic-Moorish style with eclectic Romanesque-Byzantine features.
It is dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico, to commemorate the war that France was fighting there.
The Imperial Chapel has been listed as a historic monument since 1981. Owned by the town of Biarritz, the chapel is open to visitors and mass is celebrated four times a year on the following dates:
– 9 January, in commemoration of the death of Napoleon III
– 1 June, on the anniversary of the death of the couple’s only child, the Prince Imperial, in the Anglo-Zulu War
– 11 July, in commemoration of the death of Empress Eugénie
– 12 December, on the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe
