Royal Palace Palais-Royal
The Palais-Royal (Royal Palace) is now occupied by the Conseil d'Etat, the supreme administrative court, and the Secrétariat de la Culture et de la Communication.
The palace, situated close to the Louvre, was built between 1634 and 1639 for Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642), who on his death bequeathed it to the king. After Louis XIII's death his widow Anne of Austria moved into the palace, which then became known as the Palais-Royal.
The palace, situated close to the Louvre, was built between 1634 and 1639 for Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642), who on his death bequeathed it to the king. After Louis XIII's death his widow Anne of Austria moved into the palace, which then became known as the Palais-Royal.
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Must-see attractions nearby:
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Her son, Louis XIV, returned to the Louvre in 1652, but soon afterwards, after a brief stay in the Château de Vincennes, transferred the court to Versailles. Thereafter the king granted the palace to the House of Orléans. Louis-Philippe d'Orléans - who supported the principles of the Revolution and accordingly became known as Philippe Egalité, though this did not save him from the guillotine - gave the palace its present form and surrounded the gardens with colonnades, shops and apartments.
On July 13 1789 Camille Desmoulins, a lawyer and journalist, addressed a revolutionary crowd under these colonnades, and this was followed on the next day by the storming of the Bastille. Before and during the Revolution and under the First Empire the Palais-Royal was a popular meeting-place, with restaurants, cafes, and brothels.
Notable residents in the Palais-Royal apartments have included Colette and Jean Cocteau.
On July 13 1789 Camille Desmoulins, a lawyer and journalist, addressed a revolutionary crowd under these colonnades, and this was followed on the next day by the storming of the Bastille. Before and during the Revolution and under the First Empire the Palais-Royal was a popular meeting-place, with restaurants, cafes, and brothels.
Notable residents in the Palais-Royal apartments have included Colette and Jean Cocteau.
Things to See
Bibliotheque Nationale de France
The National Library in Paris houses the national collection of books, periodicals, manuscripts, prints, maps and plans, coins and Oriental manuscripts. It organizes periodic special exhibitions on the history of books and art.
Bourse (des Valeurs)
Like other buildings dating from the time of Napoleon, such as the Arc de Triomphe and the Madeleine, the Stock Exchange (by A.-T. Brongniart, 1808-27) is Neo-Classical in style. The original plan was in the form of a Greek temple; the side wings, giving it a cruciform ground plan, date only from 1902-03.
Trading in the Exchange reaches its peak around midday. From the gallery (reached by stairs in the vestibule on the left) visitors can watch the hectic activity of the brokers and speculators. Most of them will understand little of what is going on, and will welcome the audio visual aids which give an introduction to the work of the Exchange; for information, apply in the gallery.
Trading in the Exchange reaches its peak around midday. From the gallery (reached by stairs in the vestibule on the left) visitors can watch the hectic activity of the brokers and speculators. Most of them will understand little of what is going on, and will welcome the audio visual aids which give an introduction to the work of the Exchange; for information, apply in the gallery.
Bourse de Paris
This gallery is dedicated to Bourse, Paris Stock Exchange, with its role in the economy and money in activity.
Cabinet des Medailles
The collections of coins and medals date from Antiquity to present day.
Carrousel du Louvre
Between the Place du Carrousel and the Tuileries Gardens is a large underground complex. It includes shopping arcades, restaurants, galleries, function rooms and a large parking lot, as well as studios and, in the Aile de Flore, an art center with a library, a workshop and service facilities for the various artistic activities in the complex.
Colonnes du Palais Royal
A passage between the Palais-Royal in Paris and the Comédie Française leads into the inner courtyard, which since 1986 has been patterned by the controversial "colonnes" of the sculptor Daniel Buren. These black and white striped "columns", no more than a few inches high, are set in geometrically precise rows over the whole area of the courtyard.
Musee de la Publicite
The Paris Musée de la Publicité is a poster museum with periodic special exhibitions.
Musee des Arts Decoratifs / Musee de la Mode et du Textile
In the west pavilion in the north wing of the Louvre (Pavillon de Marsan) is the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, which is independent of the Louvre. It has a rich collection of furniture and furnishings from the Middle Ages to modern times. Attached to it is a fashion museum, the Musée de la Mode et du Textile, with a collection of costly creations by Chanel, Dior, Worth, Cardin and other famous couturiers.
Rue de Rivoli 
The Rue de Rivoli, on the right bank of the Seine, links Place de la Concorde with the Marais, from which it is continued by Rue Saint- Antoine to Place de la Bastille.
The oldest and most interesting part is the stretch between Place de la Concorde and Place du Louvre, skirting the whole of the north side of the Tuileries and the north wing of the Louvre. This section was given its present form in the time of Napoleon, who also gave the street its name, after his victory over Austria in the battle of Rivoli, near Verona, in 1797. The planning of the new street took several years (1802-11), and building work continued until 1833, 12 years after Napoleon's death, combining the traditional (uniform facades and round-arched arcades) and the contemporary (multi-story buildings with metal roof structure). In 1853 the creator of modern Paris, Baron Haussmann, continued the Rue de Rivoli and Rue Saint- Antoine to Place de la Bastille.
During the French Revolution, when the area was still a maze of narrow streets and lanes, there stood between Place des Pyramides and Rue de Castiglione a riding school in which the Constituent Assembly met in 1789. A plaque on 230 rue de Rivoli records that the First French Republic was proclaimed here in 1792. At No. 210 the Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev wrote his "Fathers and Sons" in 1862. The French diplomat and writer René de Chateaubriand lived at No. 194 from 1812 to 1814.
The arcades of the Napoleonic section of the street have long attracted strollers and window- shoppers with their jewellers' shops, art galleries, antique dealers, cafes and tearooms. Between the Louvre and the Hôtel de Ville are three of Paris's largest department stores, the Samaritaine, the Belle Jardinière and the Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville.
The oldest and most interesting part is the stretch between Place de la Concorde and Place du Louvre, skirting the whole of the north side of the Tuileries and the north wing of the Louvre. This section was given its present form in the time of Napoleon, who also gave the street its name, after his victory over Austria in the battle of Rivoli, near Verona, in 1797. The planning of the new street took several years (1802-11), and building work continued until 1833, 12 years after Napoleon's death, combining the traditional (uniform facades and round-arched arcades) and the contemporary (multi-story buildings with metal roof structure). In 1853 the creator of modern Paris, Baron Haussmann, continued the Rue de Rivoli and Rue Saint- Antoine to Place de la Bastille.
During the French Revolution, when the area was still a maze of narrow streets and lanes, there stood between Place des Pyramides and Rue de Castiglione a riding school in which the Constituent Assembly met in 1789. A plaque on 230 rue de Rivoli records that the First French Republic was proclaimed here in 1792. At No. 210 the Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev wrote his "Fathers and Sons" in 1862. The French diplomat and writer René de Chateaubriand lived at No. 194 from 1812 to 1814.
The arcades of the Napoleonic section of the street have long attracted strollers and window- shoppers with their jewellers' shops, art galleries, antique dealers, cafes and tearooms. Between the Louvre and the Hôtel de Ville are three of Paris's largest department stores, the Samaritaine, the Belle Jardinière and the Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville.
