Palais-Cardinal Originally called the Palais-Cardinal, the
palace was the personal residence of
Cardinal Richelieu. The architect
Jacques Lemercier began his design in 1629; Construction commenced in 1633 and was completed in 1639. Upon Richelieu's death in 1642 the palace became the property of the King and acquired the new name
Palais-Royal. along with her advisor
Cardinal Mazarin. From 1649, the palace was the residence of the exiled
Henrietta Maria and
Henrietta Anne Stuart, wife and daughter of the executed King
Charles I of England. The two had escaped England in the midst of the
English Civil War and were sheltered by Henrietta Maria's nephew, King Louis XIV. The Palais Brion, a separate section near the
rue de Richelieu to the west of the Palais-Royal, was purchased by Louis XIV from the heirs of Cardinal Richelieu. Louis had it connected to the Palais-Royal. It was at the Palais Brion that Louis had his mistress
Louise de La Vallière stay while his affair with
Madame de Montespan was still an
official secret.
Philippe I, Duke of Orléans the younger brother of
Louis XIV. Henrietta Anne was married to Louis' younger brother,
Philippe I, Duke of Orléans in the palace chapel on 31 March 1661. After their marriage, Louis XIV allowed his brother and wife to use the Palais-Royal as their main Paris residence. The following year the new duchess gave birth to a daughter,
Marie Louise d'Orléans, inside the palace. She created the ornamental gardens of the palace, which were said to be among the most beautiful in Paris. Under the new ducal couple, the Palais-Royal would become the social center of the capital. The palace was redecorated and new apartments were created for the Duchess's maids and staff. Several of the women who later came to be
favourites to King Louis XIV were from her household:
Louise de La Vallière, who gave birth there to two sons of the King, in 1663 and 1665;
Madame de Montespan, who supplanted Louise; and
Angélique de Fontanges, who was in service to the second Duchess of Orléans. The
court gatherings at the Palais-Royal were famed all around the capital as well as all of France. It was at these parties that the
crème de la crème of French society came to see and be seen. Guests included the main members of the royal family like the Queen Mother,
Anne of Austria;
Anne, Duchess of Montpensier, and the
Prince of Condé and
Conti. Philippe's favourites were also frequent visitors. , showing the gardens as redesigned by
André Le Nôtre around 1674 After Henrietta Anne died in 1670 the Duke took a second wife, the
Princess Palatine, who preferred to live in the
Château de Saint-Cloud. Saint-Cloud thus became the main residence of her eldest son and the heir to the
House of Orléans,
Philippe Charles d'Orléans known as the
Duke of Chartres. The
Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture occupied the Palais Brion from 1661 to 1691 and shared it with the
Académie Royale d'Architecture from 1672. The royal collection of antiquities was installed there under the care of the art critic and official court historian
André Félibien, who was appointed in 1673. About 1674 the Duke of Orléans had
André Le Nôtre redesign the gardens of the Palais-Royal. After the dismissal of
Madame de Montespan and the arrival of her successor,
Madame de Maintenon, who forbade any lavish entertainment at
Versailles, the Palais-Royal was again a social highlight. In 1692, on the occasion of the marriage of the duke of Chartres to
Françoise Marie de Bourbon,
Mademoiselle de Blois, a legitimised daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, the King deeded the Palais-Royal to his brother. The new couple did not occupy the northeast wing, where Anne of Austria had originally lived, but instead chose to reside in the Palais Brion. For the convenience of the bride, new apartments were built and furnished in the wing facing east on the
rue de Richelieu. it was constructed around 1698–1700 and painted with Virgilian subjects by
Coypel. The cost of this reconstruction totaled about 400,000
livres. Hardouin-Mansart's assistant,
François d'Orbay, prepared a general site plan, showing the Palais-Royal before these alterations were made.
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans When the Duke of Orléans died in 1701, his son became the head of the
House of Orléans. The new Duke and Duchess of Orléans took up residence at the Palais-Royal. Two of their daughters,
Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans, later the
Duchess of Modena, and
Louise Diane d'Orléans, later the
Princess of Conti, were born there. sitting at the Palais-Royal.
Gobelins tapestry overdoors are woven with the Orléans arms. At the death of Louis XIV in 1715, his five-year-old great-grandson succeeded him. The Duke of Orléans became
Regent for the young
Louis XV, setting up the country's government at the Palais-Royal, while the young king lived at the nearby
Tuileries Palace. The Palais-Royal housed the magnificent
Orleans Collection of some 500 paintings, which was arranged for public viewing until it was sold abroad in 1791. He commissioned
Gilles-Marie Oppenord to redesign the apartments of the Duchess on the ground floor in 1716 and to decorate the Grand Appartement of the Palais Brion in the light and lively
style Régence that foreshadowed the
Rococo, as well as the Regent's more intimate
petits appartements. Oppenord also made changes to the Grande Galerie of the Palais Brion and created a distinctive Salon d'Angle, which connected the Grand Appartement to the Grande Galerie along the rue de Richelieu (1719–20; visible on the 1739
Turgot map of Paris). All of this work was lost, when the Palais Brion was demolished in 1784 for the construction of the
Salle Richelieu, now hosting the
Comédie-Française.
Louis d'Orléans with the gardens as redesigned by
Claude Desgots in 1729. The palace itself fronts on its small square. After the Regency, the social life of the palace became much more subdued. Louis XV moved the court back to Versailles and Paris was again ignored. The same happened with the Palais-Royal.
Louis d'Orléans succeeded his father as the new duke of Orléans in 1723. He and his son
Louis Philippe lived at the other family residence in Saint-Cloud, which had been empty since the death of the Princess Palatine in 1722.
Claude Desgots redesigned the gardens of the Palais-Royal in 1729.
Louis Philippe I In 1752
Louis Philippe I succeeded his father as the duke of Orléans. The Palais-Royal was soon the scene of the notorious
debaucheries of
Louise Henriette de Bourbon who had married to Louis Philippe in 1743. New apartments (located in what is now the northern section of the Rue-de-Valois wing) were added for her in the early 1750s by the architect
Pierre Contant d'Ivry. She died at the age of thirty-two in 1759. She was the mother of
Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, later known as
Philippe Égalité. A few years after the death of Louise Henriette, her husband secretly married his mistress, the witty
marquise de Montesson, and the couple lived at the Château de Sainte-Assise where he died in 1785. Just before his death, he completed the sale of the
Château de Saint-Cloud to Queen
Marie Antoinette.
Louis Philippe II Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans was born at Saint-Cloud and later moved to the Palais-Royal and lived there with his wife, the wealthy
Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon whom he had married in 1769. The duke controlled the Palais-Royal from 1780 onward. The couple's eldest son,
Louis-Philippe III d'Orléans, was born there in 1773. Louis Philippe II succeeded his father as the head of the House of Orléans in 1785.
Theatres of the Palais-Royal (
Blondel,
Architecture françoise, 1754) The Palais-Royal had contained one of the most important public theatres in Paris, in the east wing on the
rue Saint-Honoré (on a site just to the west of what is now the
rue de Valois). It was built from 1637 to 1641 to designs by Lemercier and was initially known as the
Great Hall of the Palais-Cardinal. This theatre was later used by the
troupe of Molière beginning in 1660, by which time it had become known as the Théâtre du Palais-Royal. After
Molière's death in 1673 the theatre was taken over by
Jean-Baptiste Lully, who used it for his Académie Royale de Musique (the official name of the
Paris Opera at that time). (1770–1781) The Opera's theatre was destroyed by fire in 1763, but was rebuilt to the designs of architect
Pierre-Louis Moreau Desproux on a site slightly further to the east (where the rue de Valois is located today) and reopened in 1770. This second theatre continued to be used by the Opera until 1781, when it was also destroyed by fire, but this time it was not rebuilt. Moreau Desproux also designed the adjacent surviving entrance façades of the Palais-Royal. At the request of Louis Philippe II two new theatres were constructed in the Palais-Royal complex shortly after the fire. Both of these new theatres were designed by
Victor Louis, the architect who also designed the shopping galleries facing the garden (see below). The first theatre, which opened on 23 October 1784, was a small puppet theatre in the northwest corner of the gardens at the intersection of the
Galerie de Montpensier and the
Galerie de Beaujolais. Initially it was known as the Théâtre des Beaujolais, then as the Théâtre Montansier, after which Victor Louis enlarged it for the performance of plays and operas. Later, beginning with the political turmoil of the
Revolution, this theatre was known by a variety of other names. It was converted to a café with shows in 1812, but reopened as a theatre in 1831, when it acquired the name
Théâtre du Palais-Royal, by which it is still known today. , designed and constructed 1786–1790 by
Victor Louis, became the theatre of the in 1799. Louis Philippe II's
second theatre was larger and located near the southwest corner of the complex, on the
rue de Richelieu. He originally intended it for the Opera, but that company refused to move into it. Instead he offered it to the
Théâtre des Variétés-Amusantes, formerly on the
boulevard du Temple but since 1 January 1785 playing in a temporary theatre in the gardens of the Palais-Royal. This company changed its name to Théâtre du Palais-Royal on 15 December 1789, and later moved into the new theatre upon its completion, where they opened on 15 May 1790. On 25 April 1791 the anti-royalist faction of the
Comédie-Française, led by
Talma, left that company's theatre on the left bank (at that time known as the Théâtre de la Nation, but today as the
Odéon), and joined the company on the rue de Richelieu, which promptly changed its name to Théâtre Français de la rue de Richelieu. With the founding of the
French Republic in September 1792 the theatre's name was changed again, to Théâtre de la République. In 1799 the players of the split company reunited at the Palais-Royal, and the theatre officially became the Comédie-Française, also commonly known as the Théâtre-Français, names which it retains to this day.
Shopping arcades in the 18th century Louis Philippe II also had Victor Louis build six-story apartment buildings with ground-floor colonnades facing the three sides of the palace garden between 1781 and 1784. On the outside of these wings three new streets were constructed in front of the houses that had formerly overlooked the garden: the rue de Montpensier on the west,
rue de Beaujolais to the north, and rue de Valois on the east. He commercialised the new complex by letting out the area under the colonnades to retailers and service-providers and in 1784 the shopping and entertainment complex opened to the public. Over a decade or so, sections of the Palais were transformed into shopping arcades that became the centre of 18th-century Parisian economic and social life. Though the main part of the palace (
corps de logis) remained the private Orléans seat, the arcades surrounding its public gardens had 145 boutiques, cafés, salons, hair salons, bookshops, museums, and countless refreshment kiosks. These retail outlets sold luxury goods such as fine jewelry, furs, paintings and furniture to the wealthy elite. Stores were fitted with long glass windows which allowed the emerging middle-classes to window shop and indulge in fantasies. Thus, the Palais-Royal became one of the first of the new style of shopping arcades and became a popular venue for the wealthy to congregate, socialise and enjoy their leisure time. The redesigned palace complex became one of the most important marketplaces in Paris. It was frequented by the aristocracy, the middle classes, and the lower orders. It had a reputation as being a site of sophisticated conversation (revolving around the salons, cafés, and bookshops), shameless debauchery (it was a favorite haunt of local prostitutes), as well as a hotbed of
Freemasonic activity. Designed to attract the genteel middle class, the Palais-Royal sold
luxury goods at relatively high prices. However, prices were never a deterrent, as these new arcades came to be the place to shop and to be seen. Arcades offered shoppers the promise of an enclosed space away from the chaos that characterised the noisy, dirty streets; a warm, dry space away from the elements; and a safe-haven where people could socialise and spend their leisure time. Promenading in the arcades became a popular eighteenth century pastime for the emerging middle classes. From the 1780s to 1837, the palace was once again the centre of Parisian political and social intrigue and the site of the most popular cafés. The historic restaurant "
Le Grand Véfour", which opened in 1784, is still there. In 1786, a noon cannon was set up by a philosophical amateur, set on the
Paris meridian, in which the sun's noon rays, passing through a lens, lit the cannon's fuse. The noon cannon is still fired at the Palais-Royal, though most of the ladies for sale have disappeared, those who inspired the
Abbé Delille's lines: Dans ce jardin on ne rencontre Ni prés, ni bois, ni fruits, ni fleurs. Et si l'on y dérègle ses mœurs, Au moins on y règle sa montre. ("In this garden one encounters neither meadows, nor woods, nor fruits, nor flowers. And, if one upsets one's morality, at least one may reset one's watch.") File:Victor Louis, Design for the Garden Façade of the Palais Royal, 1781.jpg|Design of 1781 by Victor Louis for the garden façade File:Jardin du Palais-Royal, 18 July 2005 01.jpg|The garden surrounded by the arcades in 2005 The Cirque du Palais-Royal, constructed in the center of the garden, has been described as "a huge half-subterranean spectacle space of food, entertainments, boutiques, and gaming that ran the length of the park and was the talk of the capital." It was destroyed by fire on 15 December 1798. Inspired by the
souks of Arabia, the Galerie de Bois, a series of wooden shops linking the ends of the Palais-Royal and enclosing the south end of the garden, was first opened in 1786. For Parisians, who lived in the virtual absence of pavements, the streets were dangerous and dirty; the arcade was a welcome addition to the streetscape as it afforded a safe place where Parisians could window shop and socialise. Thus, the Palais-Royal began what architectural historian describes as "l’Ère des passages couverts" (the Arcade Era), which transformed European shopping habits between 1786 and 1935. File:Palais Royal 1788.jpeg|View of the Palais-Royal garden looking north in 1788 with the Cirque du Palais-Royal in the center File:Le Palais Royal et ses environs 1795.jpg|Plan of the Palais-Royal in 1795
Palais de l'Égalité and the Revolution , lithograph, c. 1825 During the revolutionary period, Philippe d'Orléans became known as Philippe Égalité and ruled at the Palais de l'Égalité, as it was known during the more radical phase of the
Revolution. He had made himself popular in Paris when he opened the gardens of the palace to all Parisians. In one of the shops around the garden
Charlotte Corday bought the knife she used to stab
Jean-Paul Marat. Along the
galeries, ladies of the night lingered, and smart gambling casinos were lodged in second-floor quarters. The
Marquis de Sade referred to the grounds in front of the palace in his
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795) as a place where progressive pamphlets were sold. Upon the execution of the Duke, the palace's ownership lapsed to the state, whence it was called Palais du Tribunat.
Bourbon restoration to Second Empire leaving the Palais-Royal to go to the city hall, 31 July 1830, two days after the
July Revolution After the
Restoration of the Bourbons, at the Palais-Royal the young
Alexandre Dumas obtained employment in the office of the powerful
Duke of Orléans, who regained control of the palace during the Restoration. The Duke had
Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine draw up plans to complete work left unfinished by the Duke's father. Fontaine's most significant work included the western wing of the Cour d'Honneur, the Aile Montpensier, and with
Charles Percier, what was probably the most famous of Paris's covered arcades, the Galerie d'Orléans, enclosing the Cour d'Honneur on its north side. Both were completed in 1830. The Galerie d'Orléans was demolished in the 1930s, but its flanking rows of columns still stand between the Cour d'Honneur and the Palais-Royal Garden. Following the
July Revolution of 1830 when the Duke of Orléans ascended the throne as Louis-Phillipe I, the palace remained the principal residence of the new monarch. In the
Revolution of 1848, a Paris mob attacked and looted the royal residence Palais-Royal, particularly the art collection of King Louis-Philippe. During the
Second French Republic, the palace was briefly renamed the "Palais-National". During the
Second French Empire of
Napoleon III, the Palais-Royal became home to the cadet branch of the Bonaparte family, represented by
Prince Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte, Napoleon III's cousin. A lavish dining room was constructed in the
Second Empire style, and is now known as the Salle Napoleon of the Council of State. During the final days of
Paris Commune, on May 24, 1871, the palace, seen as a symbol of aristocracy, was set afire by the Communards, but suffered less damage than other government buildings. As a result, it became the temporary (and later permanent) home of several state institutions, including the
Conseil d'Etat, or State Council. ==The Palais-Royal today==