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 The Palais-Royal is a steady group of arches
despite a long history of construction, built by Cardinal Richelieu and the
guide-books tell us that the French consider the «arcade» as a road that may be passed from one street to another
and that is assigned for the pedestrians only. The stores in the arcades are
splendid and luxury, though the goods they offer are found a little bit more
expensive. People arrange meetings or dating in the arcades in the bad seasons.
Usually arches are illuminated with gas lanterns. There are over six thousand streets in Paris today.
And approximately 280 out of the
total number are called arcades, though only 30 of them correspond to the
definition given by Richard in 1828
in the guide book to Paris.
The preimage to the entire future arcade in all
countries of the world appeared to be the Gallery in the Palais Royal.
The history of this palace is attractive and spontaneous
like France.
Cardinal Richelieu, the Duke, was one of the most influential political figures
in France of XVII century. Purchasing and selling castles and houses, Richelieu failed to find the place to feel comfortable
himself. The villas in the suburbs were luxury and comfortable but too hard to
travel to the palace and live the active court life, while the life in a huge
palace by the King was not even considered, since the Cardinal thought it was
not worth a Duke to be that subordinate to the King. In 1624 he bought a spacious
magnificent estate Angenne just opposite Louver. The entire estate comprised of
a few buildings, defensive structures and a small garden, though it was never
convenient for ambitious Richelieu. He needed something like a royal structure to meet his requirements.
Thus, he made the decision to reconstruct
the estate and his friend and protégé, the architect Jacques Lemercier, was assigned
to lead construction works.
Several years after Palais Cardinale appeared
in this place that is Cardinals
Palace. That was really
luxury and splendid structure, comprising of the true Guards' Hall, the
Library, and the Theater. The Gallery was very impressive and Richelieu
was admitted as one of the first collectors of that time. 262 canvases by the reputed
and famous European painters were found in the Gallery, including Leonardo da
Vinci, Raffaello, Tiziano, Rubens, and Durer. The Cardinal was keen for
sculptures and china ware also. And the most majestic thing in the Palace was
the garden, the object for jealousy by the royal family to Richelieu.
Louis could not boast with such a cozy and at the same time luxury estate and, proving
to be the farseeing strategist, Richelieu inherited his castle to the royal
family after his death, taking off all the claims and ensuring the worthy sanity,
though Louis XIII could not use the gift since he lived only a year after Richelieu died.
Thus, the year 1642 is the year of death of Richelieu. And Mazarini, the «grey cardinal» came to
replace him. The widow Anna Avstriyskaya left the Louver moving to Palais
Cardinale with her children. So, the palace turns into the Palais Royal and the
title retains till now. And this is the very place where the childhood of the
future King-Sun, Louis XIV. And here the principles of the absolute monarchy are
set and the Divine Right of kings («State is me»). The Monarch that survived the
period of riots afterwards called Fronde, up brought by the mother and
Mazarini, ruled further within 72 years (which is longer than the reign of all
other monarchs in the European history), though he never returned to Palais
Royal any longer. The wrong memory from the childhood was perhaps the cause.
However, he caused to accommodate his favorite Duchess de Lavalier in one of
the wings of the castle. He had two kinds with her, born unofficially. And the unquestionable
merit by Lavalier is the influence she had on Louis. Expecting this meeting, the
King initiated the construction works of Versailles,
one of the magnificent residencies of European monarchs. And in 1750 Anna had
to escape from Palais Royal to avoid Fronde.
Louis of France granted the Palace to his
brother, Philippe d'Orleans. The Orlean Family possessed the Palais Royal till the
time of the Great French Revolution. The reconstructions were initiated in 80s
of XVIII century and lasted till the end of the century. The Duke d'Orlean, known
as Philippe Egalite, changed the interior and exterior design of the palace.
After he introduced the innovations, the castle that Richelieu
had at his time, endured sea changes. The point is that Philippe got accustomed
to beautiful and luxury life, though he was short of money. When he inherited Palais
Royal, he ordered to the architect Victor Louis to erect the vacant land with
houses with arcades to have in future cafes and commercial places. That time
also the Theater of France appeared there, that afterwards turned into Comédie-Française.
The tent show was established there in the center of the park. And for the
decades the whole quarter became one of the popular and huge entertainment
centers in Paris.
The cousin to Louis XVI attached to the place the entire quarter when he caused
the palace garden to circle in three streets named after his sons, Beaujolais, Valois and Montpensier. Using the rights of the
Duke Philippe put the ban for the policemen to appear in the territory of Palais Royal
and turned the palace into the huge and multifunctional brothel. And one could
get a girl for any taste and purse there.
Cafes, shops and light-minded girls and total
impunity attracted people from various places. Bonaparte is believed to be the
regular customer of this place. And this is the very place where the Great
French Revolution was initiated when Camille Beoist Desmoulis was speaking to
the jumping onto the table. And the crowd came from here to conquer Bastille...
That was the following stage in the Royal life.
The rebellion initiated there moved throughout the whole Paris and France and
the rest of Europe. In 1793 Philippe Egalite was
put to death here by revolutionary and the Palace was nationalized, thus turning
into the common heritage of France.
For a while the Palace was used as the exchange
house and the court. And sea change occurred in 1814. Louis XVIII gave the
Palais Royal to former owners; the brothel and cafes are removed from there and
the interior of the time when Richelieu reigned
was restored again. And again the Palais Royal shines, and again we enjoy
seeing the high society of Paris
literature evenings are held there involving young but popular List. The prosperity
ended to 1848 when the Palace went bad after the revolution and the commune set
it to fire in 1871 turning everything upside down.
The Palace as you see it today has its appearance relatively in the
recent years. It was restored and since 1873 the governmental
authorities have been located there, like the State Council,
Constitutional
Council and the Ministry of Culture.
A remainder of the Cardinal's palace is
occupied by the Ministry for Culture and Communication in the Galerie de
Valois. The Galerie de Montpensier opposite houses the Constitutional Council
and the French theatre company. The building which looks over Place du
Palais-Royal has been handed over to the State Council. Its façade is decorated
with a sculpted ornamental group of weapons and allegorical figures sculpted by
Pajou. In the Cour d'Honneur (ceremonial courtyard), bordered by the double
colonnade of the Galerie d'Orléans (1825), stand 260 columns by Daniel Buren, the
French artist-conceptualist, and the steel spheres on the fountains by Pol
Bury. The architectural project «Two Squares», aka «Buren columns» was
initiated in 1980 by Daniel Buren by the order made by the Minister of Culture
and Communication Jacques Lang. the issue to install the columns was discussed
and negotiated within two years among the art historians and architects, as
well as among Paris natives who agree to the colonnade and even loved them
afterwards. Presently the Committee on Monument Custody in Paris announced that Buren columns are in
need in restoration. The water soaks into the premises located under the square
belonging to Comédie-Française in the right wing of the building. The restoration
process, as reported by Charles Perrault, the architect responsible for Palais
Royal, comprises dismantling of columns and laying the court with the hermetic
film from elastomer. All this will take €2,6 million, at least. And the
preliminary cost of columns was twice as less as the amount required for the
restoration purposes.
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