Exhibition to Promote St Helena in Cape Town Groot Constantia, The Wine of Napoleon on St Helena

An exhibition will be held at Groot Constantia Wine Estate in Cape Town between 22 February and 21 June 2019 to promote St Helena. The proposal for the exhibition was initially discussed during His Excellency the Ambassador of France to South Africa, Christophe Farnaud’s, visit to St Helena in October 2018. Entitled ‘Wine of Exile. The wine of Napoleon on St Helena’, the exhibition will cover the history of the wine that was ordered for Napoleon while on the Island.

The exhibition is being held under the joint curatorship of Iziko Museums of South Africa and the French properties on St Helena.   From 1815 to 1821, while Napoleon was living in exile on the Island, he was provided by the British Government a wine produced in Cape Town, in Groot Constantia. The wine estate is to this day still producing the wine Napoleon used to drink here often referred to as the ‘Wine of Napoleon’.

The exclusive exhibition is a promotional opportunity for St Helena and the Island will be represented at the opening event on 21 February by Her Excellency Governor Lisa Honan, Director of St Helena Tourism, Helena Bennett, and Tammy Williams (Tammy is the Community & Communications representative of the group that has been established to create a vision for St Helena’s commemoration of the Napoleonic anniversary in 2021). The project is being led by the Saint Helena Napoleonic Heritage Ltd and the trip is being co-sponsored by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and Enterprise St Helena, with the support of Airlink.

To promote the Napoleonic heritage, the wine-cooler from Plantation House and some glassware from Longwood House used by Napoleon on the Island will be showcased.

This event continues the strong partnership between St Helena, France and the UK and showcases the close relationship which has always existed between St Helena and Cape Town.

Further information on the exhibition can be found here: https://lecap.consulfrance.org/Exhibition-Wine-of-Exile-Groot-Constantia-the-wine-of-Napoleon-on-St-Helena?fbclid=IwAR2Lv3bqXNUIeWtuum64rauofArn1YSenUmVKx-8Qzn_-1i825D3VwaTl2w

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SHG
18 February 2019

St Helena Government Communications Hub

Telephone: 22470
Email: communications@sainthelena.gov.sh