Recent from talks
Palais Bourbon
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Palais Bourbon
The Palais Bourbon (pronounced [pa.lɛ buʁ.bɔ̃]) is the meeting place of the National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French Parliament. It is in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, on the Rive Gauche of the Seine across from the Place de la Concorde. The official address is on the Rue de l'Université, facing the Place du Palais-Bourbon.
The original palace was built beginning in 1722 for Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Duchess of Bourbon, the legitimised daughter of Louis XIV and the Marquise de Montespan. Four successive architects – Lorenzo Giardini, Pierre Cailleteau, Jean Aubert and Ange-Jacques Gabriel – completed the palace in 1728. It was then confiscated from Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé, during the French Revolution and nationalised. From 1795 to 1799, during the Directory, it was the meeting place of the Council of Five Hundred, which chose the government leaders. Beginning in 1806, during Napoleon Bonaparte's First French Empire, Bernard Poyet's Neoclassical façade was added to mirror that of the Église de la Madeleine, facing it across the Seine beyond the Place de la Concorde.
The palace complex today has a floor area of 124,000 m2 (1,330,000 sq ft), with over 9,500 rooms, in which 3,000 people work. The complex includes the Hôtel de Lassay, on the west side of the Palais Bourbon; it is the official residence of the president of the National Assembly.
The palace was built for Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Duchess of Bourbon (1673–1743), the legitimised daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan. Begun in 1722 and finished in 1728, it was located in what was then a largely rural quarter at the edge of Paris, which was about to become a very fashionable residential neighbourhood, the Faubourg Saint-Germain. Until that time, the area, called the Pré-au-Clercs, was a wooded area popular for fighting duels. After the death of Louis XIV in 1715, following the example of the Regent, the aristocracy began to move their residences from Versailles back to Paris. As building-space land was scarce in the traditional residential area of the nobility and the densely populated Marais, the aristocracy of the Régence looked for land with space for gardens at the edges of the city, either near the Champs-Élysées, on the right bank, or on the left bank.
The Duchess of Bourbon had been known for frivolity at the court in Versailles, but by the 1720s, she had had seven children and was widowed. The reputed lover of the Duchess, Armand de Madaillan de Lesparre, Comte de Lassay, proposed the site of the palace to her; he had purchased land next door along the Seine, and the two buildings were constructed at the same time. The parcel of land for the new palace was large, extending from the Seine to the Rue de l'Université.
The original plan called for a country residence surrounded by gardens, modelled after the Grand Trianon at Versailles, designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, the chief architect of Louis XIV. The Italian architect Lorenzo Giardini made the first plan, but he died in 1722, having made only first sketches. The project was taken over by Pierre Cailleteau, also known as Lassurance, who had been an assistant to Hardouin-Mansart. Cailleteau had worked on the Palace of Versailles and Les Invalides, and he knew the royal style very well, but he died in 1724. He was replaced by Jean Aubert, also a former assistant of Hardouin-Mansart. Aubert had built one of the grandest projects of the time, the stables of the royal residence at Chantilly. In the meantime, the construction of the neighbouring Hôtel de Lassay had begun, following a plan by another noted architect, Ange-Jacques Gabriel, the designer of the buildings around the now-Place de la Concorde. Both buildings were finished in 1728.
Both the Palais Bourbon and the Hôtel de Lassay were in the Italian style, with roofs hidden by balustrades and invisible from street level. The Palais Bourbon was in a U-shape. The main building was parallel to the Seine, with two wings enclosing a courtyard. The entrance to the courtyard and building was on the Rue de l'Université. The entrance to the courtyard had an ornate archway, flanked by two pavilions. The Hôtel de Lassay was rectangular and more modest in size. The two buildings had identical façades facing the Seine, and featured alternating columns and windows, and decoration on the themes of the seasons, the elements, and, fitting for the daughter of the Sun King, about Apollo. The space between the buildings, and between the buildings and the Seine, was filled with gardens. In addition to the large reception rooms, the interior of the house had many small salons which could be arranged for a variety of purposes. It also had a novelty for buildings of the period; corridors, so one could pass through the building without walking through the rooms. None of the original apartments of the Duchess survive; as they were destroyed in the subsequent remodellings. The Duchesse de Bourbon died in 1743, and de Lassay died in 1750. The palace was purchased by Louis XV, who seems to have wished to include it in the plan of the new Place Louis XV (now the Place de la Concorde) which he was building on the other side of the river. But in 1756 he sold it to grandson of the Duchess, Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé, who had been a military hero in the just-concluded Seven Years' War. The Prince decided to largely rebuild it, turning it from a country house into a monumental palace, in the new Neoclassical style. With this in mind, in 1768 he purchased the neighbouring Hôtel de Lassay, and planned to make the two buildings into one. A new plan was drawn by Marie-Joseph Peyre, whose style was based on archeological studies of ancient Rome and Greece. Peyre's other neoclassical works included the Odéon Theatre. Several different architects were engaged in the project, including Jacques-Germain Soufflot, Bellisard and Charpentier.
For the Neoclassical palace of the Prince, the entrance on the Rue de l'Université was replaced by a larger and more impressive gate, framed by a gallery of columns. The two wings of the building were extended, and a pavilion was created with apartments for one of his sons. An abundance of military decoration, including stucco sculptures of shields and weapons, was added to the vestibule, and are still visible today. The palace was only finished at the end of the 1780s, at the same time that the French Revolution began. The Prince went into exile following the storming of the Bastille, thus becoming an émigré in the eyes of Revolutionaries, and the two residences were confiscated by the Revolutionary government in 1791.
Hub AI
Palais Bourbon AI simulator
(@Palais Bourbon_simulator)
Palais Bourbon
The Palais Bourbon (pronounced [pa.lɛ buʁ.bɔ̃]) is the meeting place of the National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French Parliament. It is in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, on the Rive Gauche of the Seine across from the Place de la Concorde. The official address is on the Rue de l'Université, facing the Place du Palais-Bourbon.
The original palace was built beginning in 1722 for Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Duchess of Bourbon, the legitimised daughter of Louis XIV and the Marquise de Montespan. Four successive architects – Lorenzo Giardini, Pierre Cailleteau, Jean Aubert and Ange-Jacques Gabriel – completed the palace in 1728. It was then confiscated from Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé, during the French Revolution and nationalised. From 1795 to 1799, during the Directory, it was the meeting place of the Council of Five Hundred, which chose the government leaders. Beginning in 1806, during Napoleon Bonaparte's First French Empire, Bernard Poyet's Neoclassical façade was added to mirror that of the Église de la Madeleine, facing it across the Seine beyond the Place de la Concorde.
The palace complex today has a floor area of 124,000 m2 (1,330,000 sq ft), with over 9,500 rooms, in which 3,000 people work. The complex includes the Hôtel de Lassay, on the west side of the Palais Bourbon; it is the official residence of the president of the National Assembly.
The palace was built for Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Duchess of Bourbon (1673–1743), the legitimised daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan. Begun in 1722 and finished in 1728, it was located in what was then a largely rural quarter at the edge of Paris, which was about to become a very fashionable residential neighbourhood, the Faubourg Saint-Germain. Until that time, the area, called the Pré-au-Clercs, was a wooded area popular for fighting duels. After the death of Louis XIV in 1715, following the example of the Regent, the aristocracy began to move their residences from Versailles back to Paris. As building-space land was scarce in the traditional residential area of the nobility and the densely populated Marais, the aristocracy of the Régence looked for land with space for gardens at the edges of the city, either near the Champs-Élysées, on the right bank, or on the left bank.
The Duchess of Bourbon had been known for frivolity at the court in Versailles, but by the 1720s, she had had seven children and was widowed. The reputed lover of the Duchess, Armand de Madaillan de Lesparre, Comte de Lassay, proposed the site of the palace to her; he had purchased land next door along the Seine, and the two buildings were constructed at the same time. The parcel of land for the new palace was large, extending from the Seine to the Rue de l'Université.
The original plan called for a country residence surrounded by gardens, modelled after the Grand Trianon at Versailles, designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, the chief architect of Louis XIV. The Italian architect Lorenzo Giardini made the first plan, but he died in 1722, having made only first sketches. The project was taken over by Pierre Cailleteau, also known as Lassurance, who had been an assistant to Hardouin-Mansart. Cailleteau had worked on the Palace of Versailles and Les Invalides, and he knew the royal style very well, but he died in 1724. He was replaced by Jean Aubert, also a former assistant of Hardouin-Mansart. Aubert had built one of the grandest projects of the time, the stables of the royal residence at Chantilly. In the meantime, the construction of the neighbouring Hôtel de Lassay had begun, following a plan by another noted architect, Ange-Jacques Gabriel, the designer of the buildings around the now-Place de la Concorde. Both buildings were finished in 1728.
Both the Palais Bourbon and the Hôtel de Lassay were in the Italian style, with roofs hidden by balustrades and invisible from street level. The Palais Bourbon was in a U-shape. The main building was parallel to the Seine, with two wings enclosing a courtyard. The entrance to the courtyard and building was on the Rue de l'Université. The entrance to the courtyard had an ornate archway, flanked by two pavilions. The Hôtel de Lassay was rectangular and more modest in size. The two buildings had identical façades facing the Seine, and featured alternating columns and windows, and decoration on the themes of the seasons, the elements, and, fitting for the daughter of the Sun King, about Apollo. The space between the buildings, and between the buildings and the Seine, was filled with gardens. In addition to the large reception rooms, the interior of the house had many small salons which could be arranged for a variety of purposes. It also had a novelty for buildings of the period; corridors, so one could pass through the building without walking through the rooms. None of the original apartments of the Duchess survive; as they were destroyed in the subsequent remodellings. The Duchesse de Bourbon died in 1743, and de Lassay died in 1750. The palace was purchased by Louis XV, who seems to have wished to include it in the plan of the new Place Louis XV (now the Place de la Concorde) which he was building on the other side of the river. But in 1756 he sold it to grandson of the Duchess, Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé, who had been a military hero in the just-concluded Seven Years' War. The Prince decided to largely rebuild it, turning it from a country house into a monumental palace, in the new Neoclassical style. With this in mind, in 1768 he purchased the neighbouring Hôtel de Lassay, and planned to make the two buildings into one. A new plan was drawn by Marie-Joseph Peyre, whose style was based on archeological studies of ancient Rome and Greece. Peyre's other neoclassical works included the Odéon Theatre. Several different architects were engaged in the project, including Jacques-Germain Soufflot, Bellisard and Charpentier.
For the Neoclassical palace of the Prince, the entrance on the Rue de l'Université was replaced by a larger and more impressive gate, framed by a gallery of columns. The two wings of the building were extended, and a pavilion was created with apartments for one of his sons. An abundance of military decoration, including stucco sculptures of shields and weapons, was added to the vestibule, and are still visible today. The palace was only finished at the end of the 1780s, at the same time that the French Revolution began. The Prince went into exile following the storming of the Bastille, thus becoming an émigré in the eyes of Revolutionaries, and the two residences were confiscated by the Revolutionary government in 1791.
Recent media