MONTREAL — Her three sons and young grandson by her side, a bereaved Huguette Weider said the opening of permanent galleries at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) housing her late husband’s collection of Napoleonic art and memorabilia is the culmination of a lifelong passion he wanted to share with others.

The inauguration went ahead as scheduled, despite Ben Weider’s unexpected death just six days earlier, at the family’s request. Her husband of 49 years had wished that the collection be seen by as many people as possible, and for that reason it will be on exhibit continuously and no admission will ever be charged.

Weider said the family drew strength from the presence of so many attending the event, including Prince Charles Napoleon, the great-great-grandnephew of the emperor; French Ambassador François Delattre; Roman Catholic Archbishop Jean-Claude Turcotte; and former Quebec premier Bernard Landry, the latter two of whom called Ben Weider a friend and fellow Napoleonic admirer.

Also present was Sen. Serge Joyal, art collector and historian, who worked closely with Weider and the museum in planning the exhibition.

Weider donated over 100 items, some of them rare or unique, that were either owned by Napoleon or related to his reign or legend. The collection is described as the most significant on public display in North America.

A week before his death at 85, Weider said of his gift: “One of the most difficult decisions, emotionally, of my life was to separate myself from this Napoleonic collection, which I spent 50 years putting together…But when all is said and done, our gift is born of two goals: first, to endow our country and my native city with the biggest Napoleonic museum in America, and, second, to render the most magnificent tribute to Napoleon the Great, this giant of the history of humanity.”

Weider, founder and president of the International Napoleonic Society, often said that one of the chief reasons he so admired Bonaparte was because he was ahead of his time in extending rights to Jews and other minorities; he emancipated Jews from the ghettos and lifted restrictions on their freedoms in the European countries he conquered, and even proposed a Jewish state in Palestine.

Weider was not happy with the image of Napoleon as a tyrant and megalomaniac that was prevalent in North America. The collecting was actually a secondary activity to the research and eventual publishing Weider did on his hero.

A free high-quality brochure accompanying the exhibition includes an introduction by Weider in which he notes that Napoleon “took steps to accommodate the civil liberties and religious rights of Jews in France and elsewhere in Europe.

“Perhaps, after your visit, you will understand why I have devoted so much of my life and energy to this man and the unique role he played in history.”

Charles Napoleon concurred, emphasizing that his ancestor must be recognized as a great historical figure, not only of France or Europe, but for the modern world, for spreading the ideals of equality of the French Revolution.

The collection consists of paintings, sculptures, silverware, porcelain, prints, documents, furniture and clothing and other personal effects of Napoleon. One of Weider’s favourite pieces was the cocked hat Napoleon wore during the 1812 Russian campaign, which he bought about 30 years ago.

“The pieces collected by Mr. Weider will enrich not only the MMFA’s collection, but also Canada’s heritage, as this magnificent period in the arts has hitherto been poorly represented within this nation, despite fascinating connections between Montreal, Quebec (Lower Canada) and Napoleon,” said MMFA director Nathalie Bondil.

Among the major artworks is a portrait of Napoleon in his coronation robes by Baron Gérard and a white marble bust by Berthel Thorvaldsen, both leading artists of the First Empire, as Napoleon’s regime from 1804-14 was known. The MMFA is the first Canadian museum to hold examples of their work, Bondil said.

Weider especially enjoyed objects used by Napoleon, and his first acquisitions were two urns which had been saved from a fire that destroyed part of the Palais du Louvre in Paris.

“I feel that when I touch the items he owned, a relationship is forged between us. This interest and emotion is much more valuable than an investment; I am very happy to be alone with my collection, to be close to it and to show it to people who have genuine interest,” he is quoted in an interview published in the catalogue for an MMFA exhibition of works from private collectors put on last year.

Weider’s international travel over the decades as an ambassador for bodybuilding and his fitness products company enabled him to learn of Napoleonic items available, and Charles Napoleon, a good friend, also kept him informed.

Weider continued to amass Napoleona almost to his last days, said friend Steven Mintz. Weider corresponded with French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who had sent him two stamps related to Napoleon from his personal collection.

Weider’s most famous acquisition, however, is not on view: an authenticated sample of Napoleon’s hair with which he tirelessly tried to prove that Napoleon had died of arsenic poisoning, not stomach cancer, at age 51, as is the consensus among academics. His theory, that the exiled emperor was done in by his monarchists, was the subject of The Murder of Napoleon, a book Weider published in 1982.

The Napoleon galleries will be augmented by pieces on long-term loan from other collectors, and their opening has prompted offers of further donations, said Bondil.

She noted that Napoleon has always been revered in French Canada and his secular republican ideas influenced many intellectuals and patriots in Quebec, including Louis-Joseph Papineau. Quebec’s Civil Code, promulgated in 1866, was largely based on the Napoleonic Code of 1804.

In addition to its artistic merit, the Weider collection is a reminder of “the often forgotten longstanding ties of history and friendship between Quebec, Acadia and France through the lens of Napoleon’s career and legend.”

As evidenced by the diversity of people who came out for the posthumous salute, Weider himself did much in his lifetime to form ties with Quebecers and people around the world.