An encrypted letter in which Napoleon announces his intention to destroy the Kremlin was sold for 187,500 euros (1.35 million kuna) at an auction held in Fontainebleau, near Paris.
The encrypted letter, estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 euros, sparked great interest among international auction enthusiasts, including a large number of Russians, but it was ultimately purchased by the Museum of Letters and Manuscripts in Paris.
I blew up the Kremlin on the 22nd at three o’clock in the morning, wrote Napoleon Bonaparte in advance in this entirely encrypted letter dated October 20, 1812, amid the military campaign in Russia.
The letter, which bore the signature ‘nap’ and was addressed to his Minister of Foreign Affairs Hugues-Bernard Maret, was composed after the emperor retreated from the devastated Moscow.
In his letter, he asks the minister to procure food and horses as the Siberian cold has gripped Moscow. My cavalry has been destroyed, many horses are dying, he writes.
Napoleon’s order to destroy the Kremlin will be carried out by Marshal Mortier, who will blow up the palace towers, but they will soon be restored just as they were.
However, the highest price at the auction was achieved by another document, a manuscript that Napoleon dictated on Saint Helena. It was estimated at 60,000 to 80,000 euros and was purchased for a record price of 375,000 euros by the same Museum of Letters and Manuscripts.
Other personal items belonging to him were also offered at the auction, including his marital bed on which he slept with Josephine and four stools shaped like military drums, estimated between 50,000 and 60,000 euros.
