The Imperial Chapel is the south wing of the complex of buildings founded by Cardinal Fesch, along the street that now bears his name. Built between 1827 and 1837, it was intended to house a school, library and museum. On the side of the courtyard that distributed the complex, a large chapel was later built to house the tombs of the principal members of the imperial family. Originally dedicated to St. Joseph, the chapel was successively known as the Imperial Chapel, the Bonaparte Chapel and the Palatine Chapel. In the mid-19th century, the south wing of the Palais Fesch remained to be built, and its site was earmarked for the erection of a funeral church. It was Cardinal Fesch who conceived the idea of such a tomb. The prelate’s last wishes could not be carried out when Joseph Bonaparte, Comte de Survilliers, his executor, refused, due to the hostility of the post-imperial political regimes to his family. The former King of Spain died on July 28, 1844, and it fell to the Prince of Canino (Charles-Lucien Bonaparte, son of Lucien Bonaparte) to build the chapel in Ajaccio. The mayor and the bishop decided to intervene in order to transfer the ashes of Madame Mère and Cardinal Fesch. The Prince of Canino died in 1857 without having had the chapel built. Napoleon III intervened to bring the project to fruition. Work on the funeral edifice, which Cardinal Fesch had wished to dedicate to the Immaculate Conception, finally began on August 23, 1857. Architect Alexis Paccard, who drew up the plans, and architect Joseph Cazeneuve, first inspector of the Fontainebleau palace, who assisted him on site, were entrusted with the construction of the edifice. The chapel, in Saint-Florent stone, is built in a neo-Renaissance style, on a Latin cross plan. The interior, the work of Jerôme Maglioli, is entirely decorated with grisaille paintings of priestly attributes and floral motifs, while the burials in the vault are covered with black marble engraved by Champollion-Figeac.
The stained glass windows bear the “F” of the cardinal’s name, and their decoration combines his ecclesiastical attributes with the symbols of the Empire: the Eagle and the Legion of Honor. The stone used is of insular origin, as is the green Bevinco marble used for the discs adorning the spandrels and altar, and the Brando stone paving in the vault. On June 5, 1860, Abbé Versini became the imperial chapel’s first chaplain, and proceeded to bless it on Sunday, September 9.