Français
English
Deutsch
עברית
PortuguêsMeudon · 6.6 km from the Eiffel Tower
Cedre Imperial Meudon
Near the Paris Eiffel Tower lives a magical cedar tree, surrounded by a legend: that it gives good energy to those who come to it. Today the sealed ground around it stops it drinking.
The legend
A tree born under the Empire
In 1799 Joséphine de Beauharnais acquired the Château de Malmaison and became fascinated by the cedar of Lebanon, a tree that can live more than five hundred years. Several cedars were planted around 1800 — among them the one still standing on the heights of Meudon, in what was then called rue Napoléon.
A legend has followed it ever since: that the tree transmits good energy. Empress Eugénie came to meditate beside it. One evening in 1855 she showed it to her friend Queen Victoria, and the two women put their arms around the trunk to absorb its energy. The story passed on to the Romanov children, and later to Coco Chanel.
Symbol of the Resistance
This is the strand that matters most historically in the story of the Imperial Cedar.
Read the chapter on the Resistance →- Joséphine
- Eugénie
- Queen Victoria
- Romanovs
- Coco Chanel
The 8 chapters
Two centuries, eight stories
From Joséphine's Malmaison to the heatwaves of 2026, the story of the Imperial Cedar reads like a novel. All eight chapters are listed below.
Cedre Imperial, a gift from Empress Joséphine
A gift from Joséphine
The Imperial Cedar, Eugénie and Victoria: the birth of a myth
Eugénie and Victoria
Cedre Imperial Meudon: the Russians, the Romanovs and Coco Chanel
The Romanovs and Coco Chanel
The Resistance, where a story between a secret agent and Joe Kennedy Jr began
The Resistance and Joe Kennedy Jr
Cedre Imperial Meudon, VisitParis07.com and Phone Book of the World
VisitParis07 and Phone Book of the World
A cedar threatened by a development project: the mayor listens to a local movement
The 2021 development project
Hundreds of children draw the Imperial Cedar
The children’s drawings
Heatwaves of 2026: the concrete slab puts the tree in danger
Heatwaves and concrete
On video
Discover the Imperial Cedar
Two centuries of history, and today’s threat, in a few minutes.
A tree drying out
Together, let's protect the Imperial Cedar
The felling was stopped in 2021, and there is no petition running today. But the ground around the tree has been sealed: rainwater no longer reaches its roots. It is a slow threat, invisible for years, and making it known is what matters now.
🌱 Help the treeWhat is happening below the surface
30 to 60 cm
is the depth at which the roots that feed the tree live. An impermeable surface deprives them of water and air, and the decline takes ten to twenty years to become visible. 🌱 Understand and helpGallery & videos
The Cedar in pictures
Timelapses at sunrise and sunset, interviews and encounters around the tree.
Sunrise over the Cedar
0:58 · Timelapse — dawn from the heights of Meudon.
Nightfall
0:59 · Timelapse — dusk and the lights of Paris.
With Bruno Solo and Monsieur Kader
6:30 · An encounter at the foot of the tree.
Slideshow
Two centuries in images
The people, the places and the views that make up the story of the Imperial Cedar.
