Palais Bourbon description and photos - France: Paris (Topic)

Palais Bourbon description and photos - France: Paris. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Palais Bourbon.

Photo and description

The Bourbon Palace is primarily the seat of the National Assembly of France, the lower chamber of the French parliament (the upper chamber is called the Senate). And yet - an architectural monument with its own unique history.

The palace is located on the Orsay embankment, opposite the Place de la Concorde - it is connected to it by the Bridge of Concord. The Palais Bourbon was built in 1722-1728 by the architect Lorenzo Giardini under the supervision of the First Royal Architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel, the author of the Lesser Trianon. The palace was intended for the Duchess Louise-Francoise of Bourbon, daughter of Louis XIV by his official favorite, the Marquise de Montespan. Louis XV bought the palace to the treasury and transferred it to the Prince of Conde.

During the revolution, the palace was nationalized, the Council of Five Hundred, the lower house of the legislative assembly of the Republic of 1795, met here. Thus, the tradition of placing legislative power in the Bourbon Palace has more than two centuries of history.

In the era of Napoleon, the palace was rebuilt: through the efforts of the court architect of the Emperor Bernard Poillet, it acquired a classic antique portico, echoing the portico located on the other bank of the Seine Madeleine Church. The restoration of the monarchy returned the palace to its owners, but in 1827 it was finally and irrevocably bought by the state to house the French parliament here.

The change in function required a change in the aesthetics of the building. Francois Rud performed the bas-relief "Prometheus, Inspiring Art" for the palace, the future deputy Eugene Delacroix painted the library ("History of Civilization"). In the building appeared the busts of Diderot and Voltaire by Houdon. On the pediment of the palace, where before Napoleon was depicted in turn throwing trophy banners at the feet of the deputies, and Louis XVIII, representing the Constitution, France appeared in an antique toga. In front of the palace, sculptures of four major statesmen were installed - the reformer and financier Duke de Sully, the economist Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the politician-conciliator Michel L'Hopital and the prominent lawyer Henri Francois D'Agessot.

In the library of the Bourbon Palace the real materials of the "case of Jeanne d'Arc" and the manuscript of Rousseau are kept.

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Topic: Palais Bourbon description and photos - France: Paris.