The Hôtel de Joséphine Bonaparte, JoBo to those in the know, opened this charming residence, with its lounges and 24 rooms, to all would-be Parisians – for a night or a longer stay, a cup of tea, an evening drink, or even a whole night of cocktails and delicious nibbles. Hidden behind a flamboyant courtyard, Hôtel de JoBo is the intimate and delightful escape after a long journey, a day of strolling, visiting museums, and fabulous shopping to be found in this multi-faceted part of old Paris.
Born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de la Pagerie, her lover and soon to be second husband Bonaparte renamed Rose de Beauharnais “Joséphine”. In today’s world, Joséphine Bonaparte would probably be known as JoBo on Instagram and in celebrity magazines. She is the fantasized inspiration behind this hotel. Who better than JoBo, the contemporary alter ego of Joséphine Bonaparte, to represent French elegance with charming frivolity? As a backlash to the Revolution and the Reign of Terror, the fashionable aristocratic subculture “The Incredibles and The Marvelous” (Les Incroyables et les Merveilleuses) decadent mantra was to live life to its fullest.
Joséphine, dressed or rather undressed like a Greek goddess, was amongst their trend setters. Her sense of style was admired by all. But this great seductress also had a more down-to-earth secret garden: at Malmaison, just outside Paris, she had 240 species of roses from all over the world planted… roses for Rose, the little girl that she had once been, who had run barefoot in her Martinique hometown of Trois-Îlets. To appease her nostalgia, a heated greenhouse for tropical plants was built.
