Description of the attraction
The Palais Royal - the Royal Palace - was not always royal at all. At first it was called Cardinal because it was built by Cardinal Richelieu.
Richelieu, a great lover of beauty and comfort, managed to build a palace, in many ways superior to the nearby Louvre. Perhaps the royal family was a little jealous of such splendor - in any case, Richelieu thought it good to bequeath the palace to the monarch's family.
After the death of Louis XIII, it was here that the widow Anna of Austria with her children left the Louvre. The palace becomes Royal. Here is the childhood of Louis XIV, the Sun King. Having matured, he will settle here his favorite, Louise de Lavaliere, but she will be forced to hide from the Palais Royal during the Fronde.
Then Louis presented the palace to his brother - Philip of Orleans. Accustomed to a luxurious life and always in need of money, Philip put the business on a commercial basis. Cafes and shops appeared in front of the palace. The theater appeared, which later turned into the Comedie Francaise. Then even a circus tent. For several years, the quarter around the Palais Royal became a huge entertainment center, including even a brothel.
But it was here that the revolution began, it was from here that the crowd moved to take the Bastille. Philippe d'Orléans was executed, the palace was nationalized, but not for long: the Restoration broke out, the former owners returned, the palace shines again. But this is a temporary splendor: again the revolution of 1848, the Palais Royal is in decline, and the Paris Commune is completely burning it.
The palace was restored in 1873. Since that time, it has permanently housed the Council of State of France, the Constitutional Council and the Ministry of Culture.
The last reconstruction of the Palais Royal was completed in 1986. At the entrance to the palace garden, the so-called Buren's Columns appeared - 260 sections of columns of various heights, faced with black and white marble. The Parisians argued for two years before going to place such an unusual installation here. As a result, they got used to this idea and now consider the Columns of Buren one of the sights of Paris.
