Two national museums are located on the island of Aix (Charente-Maritime) and linked to Baron Napoléon Gourgaud (1891-1944). The Napoleonic museum is housed in the most beautiful house on the island, that of the commander of the square. Napoleon I lived there in July 1815 before leaving for St Helena. Baron Gourgaud bought it and turned it into a museum thanks to acquisitions and donations of historical souvenirs. He bequeathed the whole thing to the State in 1933. The African Museum holds collections of naturalized animals and ethnological objects, brought back by Baron Gourgaud during his hunts in Africa. Inaugurated in 1933, the museum was bequeathed to the State in 1952.