Arenenberg – Chateau and Napoleonic museum

After the fall of Napoleon, his stepdaughter, the Dutch Queen Hortense, bought the Arenenberg castle estate in 1817 and made it her place of exile. She remodelled and stylishly furnished the magnificent salons. She brought her seven-year-old son Louis Napoléon with her from France, who lived until the age of 31. He went down in history as the last French emperor under the name Napoleon III. His wife, Empress Eugénie, extended the palace with additional salons. In 1906, Eugénie donated the estate to the canton of Thurgau, which established the Napoleon Museum and a school for Thurgau agriculture in the castle estate in accordance with her wishes. Both still exist today.

The ‘Arenenberg Garden World’ spreads out around the beautifully situated Arenenberg Castle on western Lake Constance. In the landscaped park and in the school and variety gardens of the Arenenberg estate, visitors take a journey through the eras of horticultural culture. In addition to a medieval patrician garden and the historic park with elements from the Baroque and Renaissance periods, the fields, gardens and stables of the castle estate are also open to visitors.