Apsley house, or the Museum of Wellington is a well – preserved residence of the winner of Napoleon. It is located in the South-East corner of Hyde Park and side facade overlooks the square to Hyde Park corner.

The building was erected in 1771-78 years by the architect Robert Adam for Lord Apsley (hence the name). In 1807 the house was purchased by Richard Marquis Wellesley, but financial difficulties forced him to sell the residence of her famous younger brother, the Duke of Wellington.

The Duke invited for the reconstruction of the building of the architect Benjamin Dean Wyatt. The first expanded the residence to the North-East, and after in 1828 Wellington became Prime Minister, added Empire pediment, beautiful staircase and gallery Waterloo".

This gallery could not appear in the house of a man, the main event in life of which was the victory over Napoleon at Waterloo on 18 June 1815. Date this continues every year is celebrated here in a special Banquet. The equestrian statue of the Duke is the winner, cast from captured French at the battle cannons, clearly visible from the Windows of the Palace.

Apsley house is a unique example of urban preservation residence of the British aristocrat. In this gallery there are paintings captured as trophies in 1813 in the baggage of Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon. This magnificent works of velázquez, Goya, Murillo, Jan Brueghel the Elder, van Dyck, Rubens, Willem van de Velde the Younger, Antonio da Correggio. Exhibited numerous gifts European monarchs: malachite chandeliers, sent by Nicholas I, the service of Sevres porcelain, presented by Louis XVIII, Meissen porcelain from Frederick Augustus I of Saxony. In addition, Apsley house, you can explore the amazing collection of silverware, ceramics, sculpture, furniture, decorations and medals.

Special stands devoted to the biography of Wellington, the last path of Lieutenant to field Marshal, commander in chief of the British army and the Prime Minister. His nickname, the "iron Duke", he deserved not, however, victories: when in 1832 angered by his policies, the crowd stoned glass in Apsley house, Wellington ordered to put on the iron shutters of the window.

In the entrance of the residence, under the stairs, is a huge (3, 5-meter) statue of Napoleon in the sight of a naked Mars the peacemaker. Ordered it the great Canova Napoleon himself. However, when the sculpture arrived in Paris, the Emperor gave orders to hide it from human eyes: Canova carved the perfect God, and Bonaparte by that time was already quite fat. After Waterloo and the restoration of Louis XVIII gave the sculpture of Britain, and the British government, in turn, of Wellington, who found her a suitable place in your home.