Under the Consulate
The Consulate is essentially a period of pacification and stabilization of France, after the revolutionary decade. Many institutions are founded which long survive their creator; they take up certain achievements of the Revolution.
December 13, 1799 (22 Frimaire Year VIII)
- Article 52 of the Constitution establishes the Council of State.
- Bonaparte creates the Senate.
February 13, 1800 (24 pluviôse year VIII) creation of the Banque de France.
February 17, 1800 (28 Pluviôse Year VIII) Bonaparte created the prefectural corps.
July 15, 1801 Napoleon Bonaparte signed the Concordat with Pope Pius VII. See also:Jean Baptiste de Belloy
On May 1, 1802 (11 Floréal Year X) the First Consul created high schools.
On May 19, 1802 (29 Floréal, Year X) the Legion of Honor was created.
On December 24, 1802, the 22 Chambers of Commerce were created.
1803:Louisiana is sold by France to the United States, led by Thomas Jefferson, for eighty million francs.
- on April 7 (17 germinal year XI) the Germinal franc was created.
On March 21, 1804 (30 Ventôse Year XII) the French Civil Code was promulgated.
Under the Empire
In 1806 Emperor Napoleon I commissioned the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile.
- On March 18, 1806 (21 germinal year IX) the first industrial tribunal was created in Lyon.
- On May 10, 1806 the University was recreated, after its abolition by the Revolution, in a form that led to the current universities.
In 1807 Napoleon entrusted Alexandre Théodore Brongniart with the construction of the future Paris Bourse. - On February 9, 1807, he resuscitated the function of Grand Sanhedrin (which facilitated the assimilation of Jews in the Empire). Napoleon continued the work of tolerance towards the Jews initiated by the Revolution.
- September 16, 1807 Napoleon creates the Court of Accounts.
March 17, 1808 Napoleon created the baccalaureate by decree.
On February 12, 1810, the Penal Code was promulgated.
Legislative work
Bonaparte operated from the beginning of the Consulate many reforms in education, justice, finance and the administrative system.
His set of civil laws, authored by Jean-Jacques Régis de Cambacérès and known as the Napoleonic Code of 1804, still has a strong influence in many countries today.
The French Civil Code is, however, largely inspired by a range of diverse laws and customs that already existed under the Ancien Régime, which it unified. His administrative work continued until 1814. Among other reforms, he began the work of cadastralizing the French territory.
In architecture and urbanism
In Paris
The erection of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (1808)
The construction of the Vendôme column (1805-1810)
The Triumphal Arch of the Star (1806)
The construction of the Palais Brongniart (Paris Stock Exchange)
The Church of the Madeleine (finished in 1842)
The breakthrough of the rue de Rivoli, Castiglione and the Pyramids
The new facade of the Bourbon Palace (begun in 1808)
The connection between the Louvre and the Tuileries Palace; the finishing of the Cour Carrée du Louvre (construction of the West and South wing); the Louvre becomes a museum.
Even-odd street numbering in the capital
The construction of 3 bridges:the Pont des Arts (1803), Austerlitz and Iéna
The Ourcq, Saint-Martin and Saint-Denis Canal
The construction of dozens of fountains, like the Elephant of the Bastille
The development of the Père Lachaise cemetery
The development of many green spaces, such as the Jardin des Plantes, or the embellishment of the Luxembourg garden.
In the provinces and abroad
The founding of Napoleon-Vendée (the current town of La Roche-sur-Yon)
The transformation of Place Bellecour in Lyon
The stone bridge in Bordeaux
The construction of Peace Square in Milan.