The famous French general Marquis de Lafayette was imprisoned on 19 May 1794 in the so-called Jesuit Barracks in Olomouc (today’s building of the Military Administrative Archive on the Republic Square). A memorial plaque commemorating the 200th anniversary of the general’s departure from Olomouc is located on the archive building.
The general was imprisoned in Olomouc with three former members of the French Legislative Assembly. In November 1794, Lafayette was the only one of the state prisoners who attempted to escape from prison. However, he was caught near Olomouc and imprisoned again. From October 1795 his wife Adrienne and their two daughters shared the internment with Lafayette. Lafayette’s family was released from the Olomouc internment on the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte in September 1797, after the peace between Austria and France at Campo Formio.
