The Palais Royal has always been one of theMost popular attractions in Paris Thanks to the pastoral atmosphere, the colonnaded avenue and the charming garden, the place has become even more popular, thanks to two series set in Paris.
The first series, “Ten Percent” (or in English, Call My Agent), features the Palais Royal in the final frames of the opening:
The second series starring the Palais Royal is Emily in ParisUnlike the previous series, here the Palais Royal has a more central role because the heroine of the series works not far from there and spends quite a bit of her time in the magical gardens of the place.
The climax comes in the episode where Emily's friend, Mindy Cho, sings "Life in Pink" in the middle of the garden to the delight of those around her (and to the chagrin of the Francophiles who saw her perform a "targeted thwart" of the famous chanson).
But don't let all this pastoralism fool you. For many years, the Palais Royal was one of the liveliest places in Paris. A place where betrayals, prostitution, gambling and tales of duels were mixed together. Beyond that, the Palais Royal has historical importance for all shopping lovers. Here, ladies and gentlemen, the first shopping mall was built!
Come with me on a virtual tour of the palace and garden’s 400-year history. During our “tour,” we’ll discover what happened in the palace’s bedrooms during the regency period, what Napoleon did there, and which restaurant has survived there since the late 18th century.
In short, a fascinating tour awaits us, at the end of which you will of course also receive all the information you need to visit the place, so let's get started!
Palais Royal – Useful Information
Address and directions
Palais Royal is located in the 1st arrondissement of ParisThe address of the main entrance to the Palais Royal complex is 8 Rue de Montpensier.
The best way to get there is byMetroAll you have to do is take line 1 or line 7 and get off at the Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre station.
Opening hours of Palais Royal
The palace itself is a government office and is therefore only open on heritage days, but the shop complex and garden are open to the general public.
Between October and March, the Palais Royal is open from 7:30 AM to 20:30 PM. Between April and May, opening hours are 7:00 AM to 22:15 PM. During the summer period, June to August, opening hours are 7:00 AM to 23:00 PM, and during September, the place is open from 7:00 AM to 21:30 PM.
Area Map – Palais Royal
Click here to get the full-size map
Visit to the palace
The palace houses the French Ministry of Culture, so you can't visit it every day (unless you're invited to the place). The only way I know of to visit is during "Heritage Days." This is a weekend in September during which all the palaces that are usually closed are opened to the general public (hence the "Houses Inside" initiative) in Israel.
If you arrive atParis in September I highly recommend going toLink this And see if you can visit the Palais Royal.
The Comedy Frances
If you are fluent in French and want to enjoy one of the classic plays of French theater, you are welcome to enterLink this And see what is on display there during your trip.
The history of the Palais Royal
The Cardinal's Palace becomes the Royal Palace
Our story begins with Cardinal de Richelieu (Armand Jean du Plessis Cardinal de Richelieu 1585-1642), the king's all-powerful prime minister. Louis XIV (reigned 1610-1643), who wanted to live near the palace The Louvre Where the king lived.
For this purpose, the cardinal, who was a very wealthy man, bought land located a few minutes' walk north of the king's palace and in 1629 ordered Jacques Lemercier (1585-1654) to build a palace and garden there.
Richelieu knew very well who to entrust with the task. Mercier had no sitter and he had built, among other things, the “Pavillon Sully” in the Louvre Palace, so success was more or less guaranteed. The work began in 1633, was completed in 1639 and the result can be seen in the following painting:
As you can see, the Cardinal's Palace was different from the Palais Royal that we know. There is no famous colonnade here, the garden looks completely different and most interestingly, all around we see fields. Yes, this is what this part of Paris looked like during the 17th century!
Since the Cardinal, as a churchman, had no direct heirs, he decided to bequeath the title of Duke of Richelieu to his brother-in-law, while he bequeathed the palace to King Louis XIII, and thus the palace became the "Palais Cardinal" and the "Palais Royale."
However, Louis XIII did not have time to enjoy the palace he received, and he died about six months after his prime ministership. The Palais Royal passed into the hands of the French Queen Anne of Austria (13-1601), who lived there with her sons. Louis XIV and Philip, Duke of Anjou (future Duke of Orléans) at the time of the outbreak of the Fronde rebellion in 1648.
During this rebellion, a mob broke into the palace to “see the king” and the queen was forced to drag the young king out of bed and present him to the crowd. Louis XIV would never forget the trauma he experienced when he was only ten years old, and that trauma later led him to build the Palace of Versailles, so that he could live outside of Paris.
Not surprisingly, it wasn't difficult for the king France To say goodbye to this palace after the experience he had there and it passed into the hands of his aunt, Queen Anne of England (1609-1669). How did the Queen of England end up in France, you ask? Elementary, Watson! She was forced to flee there with her family following the English Civil War and the execution of her husband Charles I, in 1649.
Queen Henrietta Anne's daughter (1644-1670) married Philippe, Duke of Orléans, the king's brother, and thus the palace passed into the hands of the Orléans dynasty and since then it became their official home until 1830.
The Royal Palace Becomes a Den of Burglary
Henrietta Anne was very fond of the Palais Royal, and it was she who turned it into an important social center where the best and the brightest of 17th-century French society were entertained. The wife of the Duke of Orléans was also responsible for designing some of the palace's rooms and she even commissioned André Le Nôtre (1613-1700) to design a lovely garden, which she unfortunately did not get to see during her lifetime because she died suddenly (it is very possible that she was poisoned) in 1670.
During Henrietta Anne's lifetime, the Palais Royal began to gain a romantic reputation. Many historians claim that she was one of Louis XIV's many mistresses (and some claim that this is precisely why her husband poisoned her) and that it is quite possible that some of their romantic encounters took place there. However, even if this is not true, what is historically proven is that the Sun King's two most famous mistresses got their start in this palace.
The first is Louise de La Vallière (1644-1710), who began her career as a companion to the Duchess. Since “good tongues” had already begun to whisper about the romance brewing between Henrietta Anne and the King, the Duchess decided that it would be better for the King to find a mistress from among her companions, so that he would have a good excuse to visit her.
The choice fell on Louise de la Valliere, a beautiful 17-year-old girl, who in 1661 became the royal mistress and even gave birth to her two sons at the Palais Royal. Also The Marquise de Monspan, who replaced her as the royal mistress, began her career with the Duchess of Orléans and spent a considerable amount of time at the Palais Royal.
After the death of Henrietta Anne, Philip I married Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate (1652-1722 Elizabeth Charlotte de Palatine) who can be read about in the article The married life of the Duchess of OrléansAfter the marriage, the couple moved to live in the Palace of Saint Cloud, and the palace was somewhat neglected, as the couple preferred to live there or close to the king at Versailles.
The couple had a son, Philippe, who would become Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (2–1674) and regent for part of the infancy of King Louis XV (reigned 1723–15). Unlike his father, who was an openly homosexual, the new duke was a tireless womanizer.
Philip II turned the Palais Royal into a veritable den of debauchery, with orgies taking place almost every evening in the palace, attended by the finest working girls of Paris. And if all this was not enough for the Duke, he left behind a long line of mistresses. However, unlike his uncle Louis XIV, the Duke of Orléans was not known for his particularly discerning taste in his choice of bedchamber partners.
It is said that one day, after a stormy night, Philip II's mother met her son in the palace corridors and complained that his latest mistress was a rather ugly woman. To which the Duke replied: "Yes, my dear mother, you are right. But all cats are black in the dark."
The pursuit of women, combined with drinking enormous amounts of alcohol, greatly weakened the Duke of Orléans' health and he died of a stroke in the arms of his last mistress, the Duchess of Falaise (Marie Thérèse d'Haraucourt, duchesse de Falari 1697-1782), who was 26 years old at the time of his death.
The palace passed into the hands of his eldest son, Louis I, Duke of Orléans (1-1703), but he preferred to live in the Palace of Saint-Cloud and later inLatin QuarterThe reason for moving to this neighborhood was his desire to be close toSorbonne There he learned, among other things, Hebrew.
Even before the Duke's death, the palace passed to his son Louis Philippe I (1-1725), who was nicknamed "the Fat" (it's not hard to guess why). About a decade before his death, Louis I decided to marry his son to Princess Louise Henriette de Bourbon-Conti (1785-1) because he believed that a convent education would make her a pious woman. He was wrong.
A few months after the marriage, when she discovered that her husband was having difficulty functioning in bed due to his excess weight, the duke's daughter-in-law began having affairs with a long line of men. As a result, huge doubts arose about the legitimacy of their offspring, most notably their eldest son Louis Philippe, the future Louis Philippe II (2-1747), whom we will discuss in a moment (the same Louis Philippe even claimed that his biological father was a coachman, but genetic tests conducted in our time revealed that, despite all his mother's love affairs, his biological father was indeed the Duke of Orléans).
From a Parisian palace to the world's first shopping mall
In 1781, the son of Louis Philippe the Fat, despite being one of the richest men in France, found himself in great debt. As a result, he decided to take an innovative capitalist step and built on the grounds of his palace, around the charming garden of Le Nôtre, a covered colonnade (Arcade) containing many shops and pleasure houses.
This building addition made the Palais Royal the first French shopping mall, and when it opened in 1784, it immediately became a resounding financial success.
Louis-Sébastien Mercier (1740-1814), the famous writer, claimed that thanks to the wealth of activities in the place, a person imprisoned in the complex would not ask to be freed until after a great number of years. It is no wonder that many called the Palais Royal of that period “the capital of Paris”.
In the more than 200 shops that occupied the complex, the average Frenchman could buy everything his heart desired. The shops there were especially famous, which dealt in beauty care and which promised both men and women to restore the beauty they had lost over the years.
Thus the gentleman could leave the Palais Royal with new teeth, a glass eye, and a wig to hide his baldness. He could even purchase artificial muscles that could be tucked into his pants and under his shirt, so that he looked as if he had just left the gym. The woman, on the other hand, left the Palais Royal with new eyelids, shoulders, and cleavage, which would probably impress the gentleman with the glass eye.
And by the way, if you'd like to see what the Palais Royal looked like (more or less) at that time, you're welcome to watch this short video, which I made using the computer game Assassin's Creed Unity.
Young Napoleon loses his virginity
The Palais Royal was famous not only for its shops, but also for the brothels on its premises, whose fame spread throughout France. For example, the following information can be found in a tourist guide from 1787:
Madame Laperriere, whose room is above the baker's shop, specializes in old men and whippings. Madame Bondy, on the other hand, specializes in exotic girls whom she can obtain from all the monasteries of Europe.
However, under no circumstances should you visit Mademoiselle Andre, especially not in the evening, because Mademoiselle follows the principle of “all cats are black at night,” and the gentleman will likely get a cat in a bag there.
That same year, a young officer named Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in Paris. The reason for his visit was his desire to receive a subsidy, promised to his father, for planting mulberry trees on the family's land in Millely near Ajaccio in Corsica, where his family lived.
One evening, after watching a play on the Boulevard des Italiens, the young officer leaves the theater agitated and does not want to return to the solitude of his room at the Hotel Cherbourg on Rue Sainte-Honoré. Instead, he decides to seek adventure at the Palais Royal.
We know about the events of that night from things that the officer wrote in real time in a notebook, which miraculously survived to this day, and this is how the officer writes in his notebook:
I left the Italien and walked along the avenue of the Palais-Royal, agitated by the strength of the emotion characteristic of my soul. I was indifferent to the cold, but as my imagination calmed and cooled, I felt the chill of the season and found shelter in the arcades.
I stood on the threshold of one of the iron gates and my eyes rested on the female. Based on the time of day, the cut of her clothes and her exceptionally young age, I concluded without hesitation that she was a prostitute. I looked at her and she stood in her place, not with the defiant expression typical of her friends, but with an expression that matched her appearance. I was impressed by the consistency between her appearance and her behavior.
Her shyness took courage from me and I addressed her, I feel more acutely than anyone else the abomination of her profession. I am the one who thinks that one glance from these creatures is enough to defile me. But, the pale tone of her skin, the fragile structure of her body and the gentle voice, prompted me to act without delay.
Maybe, I said to myself, she will help me reach the insights I seek, and maybe she's just a fool.
“You must be cold,” I said, “how can you force yourself to walk along the boulevards in such cold?”
"Hope is what spurs me on, Monsieur. I must complete the night's work."The coolness with which she expressed her thoughts, and the calmness in her response, captured my heart and I walked beside her.
“Your body seems weak,” I said. “I’m surprised you’re not tired from this work.”
"Yes, Monsieur, a man needs to do something with himself."
“Perhaps, but isn’t there a more suitable occupation for your health condition?”
“No, Monsieur, a man must earn a living.”I was happy to find that she had at least answered my questions. None of the attempts I had made up to that point had been so successful.
“You overcome the cold,” I said. “So, you must have come from a northern country?”
“I came fromNantes Sit downBrittany".
“Yes, I know the area,” I said. “You must let me enjoy, Mademoiselle, the story of your loss of virginity.”
"One officer took them from me."
“And you are angry?”
"Yes, be sure."As she said this, her voice exuded a care and richness that I hadn't noticed before.
"Rest assured, Monsieur. My sister is already established and there is no reason why I should not be like her."
“How did you get to Paris?”
“The officer who humiliated me, and whom I hate with all my heart, abandoned me. As a result, I had to flee from my mother’s wrath. A second man arrived who took me to Paris and abandoned me there. After him came a third and I have been living with him for three years. He is French, but he has business in London and that is where he is at the moment. Shall we go to your room, Monsieur?”
“And what will we do there?”
"We will warm ourselves, Monsieur, and you will satisfy your desire."I didn't let my conscience torment me. I roused it so that it wouldn't run away when I presented it with the offer I wanted to make to her. I sought to fake the noble intentions that I wanted to prove to her that I didn't have in my heart.
Here the young officer laid down his pen, and the world would never know what happened in room number nine on the third floor of the Cherbourg Hotel.
The Birth of the French Revolution and Restaurants
Let’s go back to Louis Philippe, who had by now become Duke Louis Philippe II of Orléans. The shopping mall the Duke built in his palace made him a millionaire, but at the same time caused a quarrel with King Louis XVI, who did not approve of a duke from the royal family developing real estate (one day when they met, he said to him, “I see you’ve become a shopkeeper. Does that mean we’ll only meet on Sundays from now on?”).
Relations between the king and his cousin deteriorated, and in response, Louis-Philippe decided to turn the Palais Royal into a stronghold for all opponents of the monarchy. Since the Duke of Orléans was part of the royal family, the police had no right to enter the Palais Royal complex. As a result, the ideas that would lead to the French Revolution in 1789 were freely cultivated in the cafes of the Palais Royal.
The Duke of Orléans thought that if he supported the king's opponents and called himself Philippe Égalité, or in Hebrew "Philippe Equality", he would be able to ride the revolutionary tiger without being devoured by it. However, a few months after voting in favor of the proposal to execute Louis XVI, he fell out of favor with his revolutionary colleagues and was hanged on the Place de la Revolution, which we know today as Place de la Concorde (On his way to the guillotine, he was heard sighing and saying, "Until recently, they were still applauding me.")
And speaking of which French Revolution: Anyone interested in the history of this historic event and traveling to the Palais Royal will certainly be happy to visit two places directly related to the revolution.
The first incident took place at 113 Galérie de Valois, where the Café Fevrier operated, on 20 January 1793, the eve of the execution of Louis XVI. Louis-Michel Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau (16–1760), a young nobleman who had joined the revolutionaries and voted for the king's execution, was stabbed to death there by a soldier loyal to the king.
The murderer managed to escape, and some say he fled to England, where he died in peace. Louis Michel Lapeltier was buried with pomp and ceremony inPantheon of Paris But not long after, he was forgotten by the public. His house, on the other hand, continues to be used by the Parisian public and tourists to this day because, some 70 years after the murder, it became part of theCarnival Museum, in which you can learn about the history of the French Revolution to this day.
After visiting the scene of the La Pelletier murder, continue walking through the Galeries de Valois until you reach number 177. Here, on July 13, Charlotte Corday (1768-1793) bought the knife with which she stabbed Jean-Paul to death. Marais (Jean Paul Marat 1743-1793), thus sparing the world from the punishment of one of the most despicable and dangerous men of the French Revolution.
And speaking of the French Revolution, this seminal event had a somewhat unexpected side effect. Quite a few great chefs who had been employed by the aristocracy found themselves unemployed and forced to cook for the general public. Thus was born the modern restaurant (which you can read about in the article How were the restaurant, bistro, and brasserie created?Some of the most important restaurants in history opened in the Palais Royal, which became an important culinary center.
The only restaurant, established in the late 18th century and surviving to this day, is Le Grand Vefour. Today, you can find it at the northern end of the Palais Royal, at 17 Rue de Beaujolais, and enjoy its magnificent interior design.
It first opened as the Café de Chartres, and became famous for its excellent breakfasts and cellar. It is therefore not surprising that Napoleon decided to take Josephine on a “first date” there, and she returned to eat there many times in the following years. In the early 19th century, the restaurant changed its name to “Le Grand Vauvert”, after its owner, and over the next two hundred years it managed to establish itself as one of the best restaurants in Paris (at its peak it held 3 Michelin stars, but in 2008 it lost one star).
The French government is paying a billion francs for a particularly ugly statue
During the Restoration period (1815-1830), the Palais Royal became the hottest place in Paris, and not for the right reasons. Its cafes were gathering places for supporters of different factions (the Café de Valois was home to royalists, while the Café Lamballe was home to Bonapartists and liberals), and a single word spoken out of place could lead to violence.
For example, one of the residents of Montpensier Street, near the palace, said that between 1815 and 1820 he was awakened at night by the cries of the wounded more than 20 times. Incidentally, when the French did not kill each other over politics, they did so over music, because during the 18th and 19th centuries, even an argument about one composer or another could lead to a duel.
In 1830, King Louis Philippe (reigned 1830-1848), son of Duke Louis Philippe “Aglite” (who we wrote about here), came to power in France, and he decided to turn the Palais Royal into a place of peace and quiet. As a result, the brothels were closed, and with them a large part of the casinos (one of which even managed to appear in Balzac’s book, “The Donkey’s Skin”).
Thus was born the Palais Royal that we know, a quiet, calm and pastoral place whose gardens are frequented by children, not gamblers or soldiers who have just participated in a duel. During the 20th century, the area became the residence of the famous writer Colette (Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette 1873-1954), who lived at 9 rue de Beaujolais, and the playwright Jean Cocteau (Jean Cocteau 1889-1963), who lived at 36 rue de Montpensier. The two were very good friends and used to meet during their daily walks in the garden.
However, even in the 20th century, the Palais Royal could not escape drama, and in 1985 a new scandal occurred there, this time an artistic one. It all started when the French government approached sculptor Daniel Buren and asked him for an environmental sculpture, the purpose of which was to disguise the ventilation openings in the courtyard of the Palais Royal, which until then had been used as a car park.
The result is a series of columns of varying heights with black and white stripes. These columns, I believe, represent different stages of human development, and therefore there are low columns and high columns. If you ask me, in my opinion, these columns represent the stupidity of the French government, which wasted about a billion francs (!) on this ugly environmental sculpture.
Also, next to these columns you can find another modern sculpture of shiny metal balls. In my opinion, unlike the Bourne columns, this sculpture actually has a certain charm. What do you think?
And with these two modern sculptures we end our journey into the spicy history of the Palais Royal. Go to the garden, grab a chair, sit down and enjoy the garden and the sculptures around you. You have earned your rest!
Is it worth living in the Palais Royal area?
The answer is a definite yes. To be honest, if it were up to me, I would stay in the area every time I come to Paris. The reason for this is the central location. The Louvre Museum andTuileries Gardens are very close. If you look closely you can also get to the building quite quickly. Paris Opera And the department store next to it. And I haven't even talked about theBeautiful passages, the multitude of Asian restaurants within walking distance and of course the proximity to the Seine and the Left Bank.
In short, it's a perfect location, so if you want to live there, you should look for hotels and apartments in the 1st or 2nd districts. You can find recommended places to stay in these two articles:
Recommended restaurants nearby
If you get hungry, don't worry! Not far from there are quite a few not-so-bad restaurants (especially if you like Asian cuisine). Another option is to go to the complex La God or street Montourgueil, which is nearby, and eat there. To help you, I have compiled all my recommendations in the following two articles:
Attractions in the area of Palais Royal
Because of the central location of the Palais Royal, there are quite a few attractions nearby that you can visit (some of which we mentioned in the previous section). If you would like more ideas for planning your trip to the area, I recommend these articles:
Want to get to know Napoleon's Paris (he visited more than just the Palais Royal)?
Finally, I would like to thank Erez Lebanon, who provided me with all the material in the article related to Napoleon. You can read more about places related to Napoleon in Paris atThis article.
I loved it..and was enriched..I would be happy for more details about the place today. Where is it? How to get there..and what else is interesting in its surroundings. I really like reading your articles..Thank you
Hi Chives.
Thanks for the support 🙂
The Palais Royal is located in the center of Paris opposite the Louvre. It is easiest to get to it by metro Palais-Royal-Musee du Louvre.
Great article!
You made me want to live there.
Thank you very much 🙂
Hi Zvi, last December before the Corona I was on a magical vacation in the Marais in Paris. Because of a major strike, we ended up spending a lot of time in the district where we were staying. We became Parisians for a moment with the local boulognerie, the promezzarie (cheese, I hope that's the term) and the design and building shops. Your post is very fascinating, it turns out I spent some time at the Palais Royal and wondered about the history. Something about the entrance to it from the street corner piqued my curiosity. Thank you very much!! Now all I want to do is go back there, along with the story. ♥️♥️
Thank you very much 🙂
Plenty of fascinating and colorful information. A pleasure to read, the photos are great, thank you 🙂
Thank you very much 🙂
Amazing Zvi and fascinating. Wondering if you also share with Gideon's group from "Books, Movies and Culture from Yesterday's Worlds" who is also a die-hard Francophile. And I especially liked the clips from 10% and Emily.
Hello Shoshana.
I didn't know about this group. I'll join it.
deer
You are great 🙂 Thank you hahaha.
Thank you very much 🙂
Excellent, thank you very much.
Thanks for the support 🙂