Your guide to Paris, and beyond. Certified French national tour guide offering educational visits for culturally curious travelers of all ages.
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This is the face of a very happy guide who just got to lead her first Louvre Crash Course tour in almost a year. It's a whole new world and the conditions are very different (and still not ideal), but it's so wonderful to have tourists back in Paris and to be sharing French art, culture, and history with interested clients again!
Today was a big day in Paris... At least for lovers of Art Nouveau and Belle Époque architectural history: La Samaritaine reopened to the public after sixteen years of restoration works.
This elegant department store was founded at the end of the Second Empire in 1870 by Ernest Cognacq and Louise Jäy (whose names might sound familiar if you're a lover of Romantic art -- the Musée Cognac-Jay in the Marais houses Paris' major 18th-century art collection).
The section of the 5-building complex pictured in this post, designed by celebrated architect Frantz Jourdain, was constructed from 1905-1910. It remained an icon of Parisian architecture until 2005 when the department store, which had been running in a deficit since the 1970s, was closed.
LVMH, who had purchased the building in 2001, began restoration and renovation works on the complex a short time later. This work took much longer to complete than first anticipated, and reopening was pushed from 2015 to 2019 to 2020... And finally, on June 23, 2021, the newly-revamped space was opened to the public. In its new form, the complex is more than just a department store. It now houses luxury brands (bien sûr!) as well as restaurants, a daycare center, public housing units, a hotel, and a penthouse complete with a rooftop pool (!!).
Despite this changes, though, I was thrilled to see on my trip to the store this afternoon that they've managed to keep the beautiful Art Nouveau character of the space, having fully restored the early-20th century metalwork and frescoes while adding small details (like lamps and silly chairs) to modernize things a bit.
On a personal note, this is one of the buildings that had the greatest impact on me as a 17-year-old visiting Paris for the first time. I have fond memories of exploring this space with friends, picking out my first French planner, and taking in views of the city from the rooftop terrasse. I've really been waiting years for this reopening, and I'm so glad to be able to experience the space again (though I *am* sad those rooftop views are off-limits now...).
Last week, I got to visit the Louvre for the first time in almost a year, and it was a real delight. While I stopped to say hello to some of my favorite works along the “classic tourist route” while I was there, I decided to spend most of the day visiting the quieter corners of the museum away from the (still very minimal) crowds. So, I thought I’d spend this week sharing some of those off-the-beaten-path places with you. These are the perfect kinds of places for returning visitors to the Louvre, who have already checked the “incontournables” like the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo off their lists, to explore.
Let’s start here, in the so-called Apartments of Napoleon III. I say “so-called” because contrary to the name, this isn’t actually a place where Napoleon lived. When he became Emperor, he took up residence in the adjoining (but now destroyed) Tuileries Palace at the opposite end of the Louvre complex. This suite of apartments was built *under the direction of* Napoleon III for the use of his Ministre d’Etat, Achille Fould. The whole suite of apartments, located on the first floor of what is now called the Richelieu wing of the museum, was designed and constructed in a very short time, from 1858 to 1861. Like many of Napoleon’s other architectural commissions (like the Opera Garnier), these apartments were designed in what we call the “Eclectic Style” – the Emperor’s riff on the Baroque style of Louis XIV… with other design elements that he enjoyed thrown in for good measure. So if all the gilding, frescoed ceilings, and massive chandeliers made you think of Versailles, you’re absolutely right!
The room we see in this video was the Grand Salon, one of the public-facing rooms of the apartments. It could be used for a variety of formal occasions, including the costume ball that served as the inaugural event of the apartments in February 1861. But it could also be transformed into a theater that could seat more than 250 guests. For these theater performances, the adjoining room acted as the stage. The two rooms were (and still are) separated by the massive, luxurious, crushed red velvet curtain, visible at the end of the video (and in the photo posted in the comments below).
Vive la culture!!
It's been seven long months that museums and monuments in France have been closed. But as of May 19, things are beginning to reopen (following strict capacity limitations and sanitation guidelines, of course!). It't feels SO GOOD to have the country's cultural lifeblood flowing again!
This past weekend, I got to dip my toes back into guiding during a visit with some fellow guides and CNAM guide-conférencier graduates in one of my favorite places: Provins. (Check in the comments for a little video of the action taken by the always wonderful Anne Picard). In the coming months, as I have the chance to visit more museums and even maybe (fingers crossed!) do some real guiding, I hope to get back to posting more regularly here. Be on the lookout for more little doses of culture, coming soon!
Slowly but surely, the autumn leaves are beginning to appear in Paris. And that means that it’s the perfect time to get outside for an afternoon stroll and take in all the city’s fall colors. One of my favorite places to appreciate the vibrant yellows and fiery reds of the season is the Luxembourg Gardens, because it’s a place where it’s possible to get a little history lesson to go with your nature time.
that there’s a group of sculptures of “Queens of France and Illustrious Women” in the gardens? Numbering twenty in total, the figures represented include queens like Marie de Medici (of course) and Blanche of Castille as well as celebrated women like Joan of Arc and Saint Genevieve (the patron saint of Paris). All of these sculptures were added to the decoration of the gardens in the mid-19th century during the July Revolution (1830-1848). King Louis-Philippe is said to have personally selected each of the women included in the sculptural group. (Swipe left for a diagram that includes the identifications of all the women as well as their placement around the garden’s grand bassin and central parterres.)
We could spend (literal) weeks exploring the storied pasts of each of the illustrious figures included in this sculptural group. But for today, we’ll focus on the woman represented here: Marguerite d’Angoulême (also known as Marguerite de Navarre or Marguerite de Valois-Angoulême; 1492-1549). She was the sister of François Ier, the first great French Renaissance king. She was also the grandmother of Henri III of Navarre, who became Henri IV of France and Navarre, the first of the Bourbon line of kings. Her relation to the future king might help to explain her placement in the sculptural group just next to Marie de Medici, who was the wife of Henri IV.
Next time you find yourself in the Jardin du Luxembourg (whether that be on a lovely fall day, or any other day of the year), take some time to stroll past all of these delightful sculptures of France’s illustrious ladies. It’s a perfect way to prendre l’air, and to learn a little something new about French history while you’re at it.
The Escalier Daru is a favorite for most visitors to the Louvre. Its sweeping vertical lines, monumental form, and glowing light create just the kind of dramatic effect that we’ve come to expect from this grand palace-turned-museum.
But that this iconic staircase was only added to the museum at the end of the 19th century? And, like most things Louvre, its history is complex.
When Napoleon Bonaparte became Emperor in 1801, he transformed the Louvre Museum into the Musée Napoleon. Visitors entered this museum through the Galerie d’Apollon on the first floor of the palace, just to the left of where the Nike of Samothrace stands today. And he commissioned a grand new staircase worthy of the Imperial Museum to usher visitors up to the museum entrance.
But this staircase was destroyed just 40 years later when Napoleon III commissioned a new, grander, more open staircase for the space. However, this second staircase was ill-fated as well, because the Second Empire fell in 1870 before it was complete.
Work on the Escalier Daru wasn’t taken up again until 1883, when the decision was made to place the Victory of Samothrace at its summit. This massive Hellenistic Greek sculpture had been discovered in 1863 and recently pieced back together by French archaeologist Charles Champoiseau. The museum planners were cunning in placing the sculpture here. In its original location on the island of Samothrace, the Winged Victory would have been viewed from below. So arriving at the bottom of the staircase today, we get a little taste of the sculpture’s original effect.
But of course, the history of the Escalier Daru doesn’t end there. In the Second Empire design, the walls surrounding the staircase were decorated with elaborate mosaics celebrating the arts. But in 1934, these mosaics were covered with white marble revetment. Photo 3 shows what the staircase looked like in 1932, before this last modification.
What do you think? Do you prefer the Escalier Daru with its original mosaic decoration? Or the more austere marble-covered form? (Personally, I’m torn. I appreciate the mosaics, but like that the white walls highlight the Winged Victory...)
Do you know where you can find this delightful vestige of Paris’ Art Deco past?
It’s the former entrance to the city’s zoo, which is located inside the Parc de Vincennes, the large park at the southeast edge of Paris.
The Parc zoologique du bois de Vincennes was opened to the public in 1934, right at the height of the Art Deco craze in architecture. But the first plans for the zoo were much older. As early as the 1860s, Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, zoologist and director of Paris’ Natural History Museum, dreamed of creating a zoo with the specific aim of studying animal behaviors. Saint-Hilaire would never get to see dream come to fruition, though. It would take another 70 years before a temporary zoo would be set up in conjunction with the 1931 World’s Fair, and another 3 years to turn that temporary space into a permanent one.
Since its inauguration in 1934, the zoo has been known for its emblematic Grand Rocher, the 65-meter (213-foot)-tall artificial mountain at its center. This enigmatic bit of fake nature is visible from long distances, even today.
By the early 2000s, the zoo had fallen into disrepair, and the Grand Rocher posed a major safety hazard as bits of it had begun to crumble and fall down. The zoo was closed for repairs in 2008 and reopened to the public after significant renovation efforts in 2014.
This beautiful bit of Art Deco kitsch no longer serves as an entrance into the park, but I’m so glad they decided to restore and preserve it. It’s such a joy to stumble upon stunning vestiges of Paris’ past like this, often in the most unexpected places. And it’s a great reminder of how important it is to always keep your eyes peeled when you’re walking around Paris. You never know what treasures are waiting for you just around the bend!
Night and day. Or, the delightful Neo-Gothic drama of the Basilique Sainte-Clothilde.
Constructed from 1846-1857, this beauty is France’s *first* Neo-Gothic (aka Gothic Revival) church.
Beginning in the late 18th century, many European countries, including England and Germany, and a bit later France, began reinvesting in Gothic architecture. The style had become outmoded beginning in the 15th century as the Italian Renaissance and later the Neoclassical styles privileged the architecture of classical antiquity over “barbaric” medieval designs (the term Gothic was actually coined by Italian art critic Vasari, who lobbed it as an insult at the style of the “barbaric” Goths from the north). But in the 19th century, the Romantic movements in art and literature began to celebrate the “romantic ruins” of Gothic buildings. And then, a growing tide of nationalism motivated England and Germany to claim the Gothic style as “theirs.”
But any medievalist can tell you that the Gothic style was a *French* invention. And throughout the Middle Ages, the style was called the “opus francigenum,” or “French Work.”
France entered into the Romantic reinvestment in Gothic art in the mid-19th century with the publication of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The novel reignited popular interest in Gothic masterpieces like Notre-Dame de Paris and spurred Violet-le-Duc’s extensive restoration campaigns of Gothic buildings throughout France. And at the same time that these restorations were going on, new churches based on old models were built, beginning with this stunner in the 7th arrondissement.
Want to know how to tell a “real” medieval building from a revival one? There are two major tells that are easy to spot. First, look to the towers. If they’re perfectly identical like this, there’s a good chance it’s revival (true Gothic buildings rarely have matching towers). And second, is all the lines of the stone are perfectly crisp, there’s a good chance it’s 19th century.
Do you know of any other Neo-Gothic beauties around Paris? Or in France more broadly?
Up next on , edition: Foix.
Much like the Chateau of Montségur, the Chateau of Foix is perched atop a rocky outcropping. Rather than dominating an expansive mountain valley, though, this chateau is located right at the center of the (very charming) town of Foix.
The rocky base upon which the chateau was built has been used for human habitations since the paleolithic period (that’s 20,000+ years ago!). Even today, there are a number of houses built into the rock walls, and the deep caves inside the rock even serve as “back yards” for the houses (photo 2)!
The chateau we see today has its origins in the 10th century, but it was expanded several times in the following centuries, and heavily restored in the 19th century. The earliest records of the chateau date to 1002, when Roger I of Carcassonne bequeathed his simple donjon in Foix to his oldest son, Bernard, who became the first count of Foix. Over the next several centuries, the counts of Foix became a dominant force in the region, and their hilltop fortified chateau expanded with their power. The counts added a square tower to the rectangular one in the 12th/13th century. A stronghold for the Cathars, Foix was attacked multiple times during the Albigensian Crusade, but the hillside chateau-fort was never captured (though much of the rest of the county was razed by crusaders). By the 15th century, the County controlled parts of Spain, most of Andorra, and vast swaths of southwestern France. They added the round tower to the ever-expanding chateau at this time, broadly giving it the form that we see today.
The Counts of Foix lost most of their power by the 16th century when their holdings in Navarre became part of the French crown (through Henry IV of France), and all their Catalan lands (except for Andorra) were confiscated by Ferdinand of Aragon.
Today, the chateau is an enduring symbol of the once-powerful Counts of Foix. Making the hike up to the chateau—and then up spiral staircases to the top of its highest towers—is well worth it. It’s a fabulous way to imagine life in medieval Foix, and to get some of the best views of the area’s stunning mountain landscapes.
It’s been a while since we’ve done , so let’s spend some time this week exploring some of southern France’s most celebrated chateaux.
Up first, what must be one of the world’s most breathtaking chateaux: Montségur. It’s notalbe not because of its extravagant architecture or décor, but because of its impressive location high atop a rocky outcropping in the Ariège countryside.
The name Montségur comes from the Latin “mons securus,” meaning “safe hill.” Perched precariously 170m (557 ft.) above the road below, the chateau was nearly impenetrable, and offered unparalleled views of the surrounding countryside. In short, it was (nearly) impossible to sneak up on Montségur.
The chateau is most well known for its role as a Cathar stronghold during the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229). Cathars were dualist Christians who believed in the idea of two gods, one good and the other evil. This dualism went against the monotheistic principles of the Catholic Church, and led Pope Innocent III to declare Catharism a heresy. Throughout the Crusade, the Pope, with the aid of the French kings, worked to stamp out the heretical sect. The French kings got involved in the fight because they saw its political potential: defeating the Cathars could realign the independent County of Toulouse with the French crown and diminish the regional power of Languedoc (and that’s exactly what happened).
During the Crusade, Montségur was the principal stronghold of the Cathars. Its easily-defensible location made it ideal for the persecuted “heretics” seeking to avoid ex*****on. The chateau remained a stronghold until 1243, when a small group of “alpinistes” working for the King climbed the sheer northern rock face in the dead of night and laid siege to the fortress on Christmas morning. This siege ultimately led to the end of the Cathars three months later.
Today, visitors can climb their way to the chateau on steep, rocky switchbacks which have been made *slightly* more passable by the addition of wooden “stairs” (photo 2). The danger of the climb is worth it—the chateau ruins and the seemingly-infinite views of the countryside and mountains from the top can’t be beat.
When traveling in France, it’s easy to feel pressured to fill every day with trips to museums and cultural heritage sites. There’s just SO much to see in every city! But sometimes, it pays to to experience France’s historical and natural patrimony in a whole new way.
During our week in the Pyrénées-Ariégoises, for example, we rented electric mountain bikes and spent a day riding kilometer after kilometer through the Vallées d’Ax for breathtaking mountain views and unique angles on the region’s historical monuments. While in Tarascon-sur-Ariège, we also saw people kayaking down the river and taking in views of the many stunning old cliffside villages along their route. We did something similar while visiting the Dordogne a few years ago. A three-hour float gave us access to a number of incredible chateaux perched atop hillsides that can’t be seen quite so easily by car or on foot.
My partner and I try to plan at least one of these “experiences insolites” into our yearly vacations now. They always end up being the highlight of our trips. When planning your next French vacation, why not consider mixing a half day, full day, or even several days of outdoor activities into the usual mix of museums and monuments? These unique experiences provide a welcome break from the crowds and information overload of museums, and allow you to explore even more of the beauty and history of this incredible country.
Bon dia from Andorra la Vella, the highest capital city in Europe (1300 meters above sea level) and the capital of the 16th-smallest country in the world: Andorra.
This country of 77,000 inhabitants is nestled away in a high mountain valley along the border separating France and Spain. It isn’t part of the European Union; however, its leaders are. Controlled by a unique political system that has been in place since 1278, Andorra is a Co-Principality ruled jointly by the French head of state (currently Emmanuel Macron) and the Spanish Bishop of Urgell (currently Joan Enric Vives Sicília). This “diurnal” system of Co-Princes arose from a military dispute between the Counts of Foix, who controlled the area north of the Pyrenees, and the Bishops of Urgell, who controlled the Iberian Peninsula south of the mountains, in the years following the Albigensian Crusade. The Counts of Foix became the Kings of Navarre in 1479 and took the Co-Prince title with them. In 1589, when Henri III of Navarre became Henri IV of France, the leadership role was transferred again, and Andorra has been ruled (in part) by the French head of state ever since.
Today, the country is essentially all new-build towns or under construction. The route from France to the Andorran capital is lined with duty-free alcohol and to***co shops and outlet stores (the country’s principal economy). But if you look closely, you can find remains of Andorra’s medieval cultural heritage hiding among all the new things, like the Romanesque (11th- to 13th-century) chapels of Santa Coloma and Sant Joan de Caselles, pictured here. There are 40 such churches that lie along the “Andorran Romanesque Route,” which traverses the mountainous country from its southwest to the northeast.
If ever you find yourself with a bit of time to explore this unique country, I’d highly suggest focusing not on the capital city, but on these hidden treasures from Andorra’s greatest period of artistic flourishing. The views of these small churches perched precariously against the craggy mountains just can’t be beat.
Bonjour from Tarascon-sur-Ariège!
We ended up here by chance following a little bit of car trouble, and were so happy with this unexpected discovery!
Located at the confluence of the Ariège and Vicdessos rivers as well as the crossroads of several overland trade routes, the town played an important commercial role in the Middle Ages. By the 12th century, it had also become an administrative capital as one of the four principal cities of the powerful Counts of Foix.
Much of the medieval high town (and some of its defensive walls) remains intact. The hike up to the 18th-century Tour du Castella is like being transported back in time to a medieval Occitan world... and the views of the Pyrénées from the top are sensational!
For an unplanned emergency stop along our route, this has turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip so far!
Greetings from high above Mérens-les-Vals. So far, our trip has consisted mostly of climbing steep mountains in the Pyrénées-Ariégeoises in search of breathtaking views and alpine lakes. Not much history to share here today... beside perhaps to say that hiking here makes it abundantly clear why these mountains have acted as a natural land border between France and Spain for centuries. Getting across on foot (and even by car) is NOT easy!
In Nouvelle-Aquitaine, on the road from Limoges to Toulouse, there’s a bit of France that’s built on a bed of bright red sandstone. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, there’s a town there called Collenges-la-Rouge. It overflows with chateaux and churches and adorable old houses built entirely from the stuff.
The village was founded by monks in the 8th century, and gained its wealth as a stop along the pilgrimage road to Santiago de Compostela in the Middle Ages l (like so many of the other places in this region did beginning in the 11th century). Today, the entire city is classed as a historic monument, and is celebrated as one of the “most beautiful villages in France.”
My partner and I spent the afternoon here on our way south to the Pyrénées-Ariégeoises. We’ll be spending the next few weeks exploring the mountainous borders of France, Andorra, and Spain. Posting may not be as regular or as history dense until we return to Paris, but stay tuned all the same for some of the highlights from our August vacances.
This truly delightful fantasy of a 19th-century clock is part of the collections of the Musée Carnavalet, Paris’ city history museum. The museum has been closed for renovations for several years (reopening is planned for later this year), but this clock made a featured appearance in the “Paris Romantique” exhibition last year at the Petit Palais.
The Romantic period began in France in the late-18th century, when artists started rebelling against the strictures and rigidity of the dominant Neoclassical style, opting instead for more “realistic” subjects drawn from current events and daily life. Sometimes, these new subjects were serious and critical of the ruling elite, as in the case of Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa; other times, they were more fanciful, as in the case of the clock pictured here.
Especially during the Restoration (1814-1848), bronze workers were often commissioned to make majestic clocks, and they frequently looked to Gothic architecture for inspiration for their works. (This isn’t so surprising, given that the Gothic Revival was in full effect in France and England at this time.)
This clock, made between 1835 and 1845, was probably the work of the Barozet family, who created several cathedral clocks in the period. Their mini replicas of the cathedrals of Rouen, Reims, and—in this case—Notre-Dame de Paris were meticulous in their detail. In addition to being fun to look at, these works provide an important historical record of what the churches looked like *before* Viollet-le-Duc’s extensive restoration campaigns. Of particular note here are the missing spire and the central portal, which Germain Sufflot had significantly modified in the 18th century by knocking out the trumeau and parts of the lintel and tympanum.
Daguerre’s early 19th-century photo of Notre-Dame de Paris (photo 2) shows just how faithful the Barozet family was to the cathedral in their clock design. Photo 3 records the form of the cathedral shortly before the 2019 fire, with Violet-le-Duc’s spire and reworked central portal.
I’m really looking forward to experiencing this clock—and other works like it—when the Carnavalet reopens this winter.
that there’s a museum that allows you to travel through time and across France without ever leaving Paris... and it hides in plain sight in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower?
The Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine is truly one of Paris’ best-kept secrets (and, as an , one of my very favorite places in the city). The current iteration of the museum (inaugurated in 2007) has its roots in the 19th-century Museum of French Monuments. Beginning in 1837, the Commission of Historical Monuments began making full-sized plaster casts of Romanesque and Gothic church sculptures from around France with the goal of preserving the country’s architectural heritage. More than 7000 casts were created for the museum over the course of the 19th and early-20th centuries, 350 of which are on display on the ground floor of the Cité de l’archi today. A century later, the museum began amassing a collection of life-sized reproductions of fresco paintings from French medieval churches. Of the 350 reproductions made for the museum, 36 are now on display in the second-floor galleries. Many of the murals are located in full-scale copies of the churches, creating unique immersive experiences for the museum’s visitors.
For art historians, medievalists, and art fans alike, walking through these galleries provides an incredible crash course in French medieval architecture, and allows visitors to experience (parts of) more historical monuments in an hour than a traveler could hope to see in a month of road tripping through France.
If you’re not a huge fan of medieval art, never fear. There’s something for modern architecture lovers, too. The second-floor galleries contain an impressive collection of maquettes of modern buildings, and even (a true delight) a full-scale replica of an apartment from Le Corbusier’s Marseille housing project, the Cité Radieuse.
Next time you visit the Place du Trocadero for its iconic views of the Eiffel Tower, promise me you’ll plan a bit of extra time into your itinerary to pop into this incredible space (if you take the metro, the museum actually stands directly between the metro exit and Trocadero square!).
Before there was the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles... before there was the galerie d’Apollon at the Louvre... there was the galerie François 1er at the Chateau de Fontainebleau.
King Francis I (r. 1515-1547) commissioned this stunning ceremonial gallery in 1528, just a short time after he’d begun the process of transforming the medieval royal hunting lodge of Louis VII (r. 1120-80) into a grand Italianate palace. Often considered the father of the French Renaissance, Francis I was a major patron of the arts and was especially interested in bringing the Italian Renaissance to France. To achieve this, he invited many Italian artists to work for him (including Leonardo da Vinci, who spent his final years at the Chateau d’Amboise/Chateau du Clos Lucé in the Loire Valley).
For his ceremonial gallery in Fontainebleau, Francis I commissioned three of the most celebrated Italian artists of the period to complete the work: Rosso Fiorentino, Francisco Primaticcio, and Francisco Scibec da Carpi. From 1528 to 1539, these three artists created an intricately-decorated gallery full of carved wood paneling (boiseries), frescoes, and stuccoes. Across the galerie’s boiseries, we find the blazons of the king: the initial F and the salamander (photo 2). Francis I understood the importance of iconographic symbols, and did not hesitate to use them liberally to quite literally mark his authority in the spaces he constructed. Above these wooden panels, a series of murals framed by elaborate frescos adorn the upper sections of the walls (photo 3). Even in the 16th century, the meaning of these mythological paintings was not immediately clear to their audiences— the king’s sister, Marguerite d’Angoulème, even once described decoding them as “reading in Hebrew.” Despite their mysterious meaning, however, we can assume that the painted cycle was a reference to the king’s skills in governing his country.
Most tourists flock to Versailles to experience the grandeur of French royal architecture. Next time you’re in France, consider a trip to the Chateau of Fontainebleau to discover some of the French monarchs’ most breathtaking spaces away from the crowds.
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Last week, I got to visit the Louvre for the first time in almost a year, and it was a real delight. While I stopped to say hello to some of my favorite works along the “classic tourist route” while I was there, I decided to spend most of the day visiting the quieter corners of the museum away from the (still very minimal) crowds. So, I thought I’d spend this week sharing some of those off-the-beaten-path places with you. These are the perfect kinds of places for returning visitors to the Louvre, who have already checked the “incontournables” like the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo off their lists, to explore. . . Let’s start here, in the so-called Apartments of Napoleon III. I say “so-called” because contrary to the name, this isn’t actually a place where Napoleon lived. When he became Emperor, he took up residence in the adjoining (but now destroyed) Tuileries Palace at the opposite end of the Louvre complex. This suite of apartments was built *under the direction of* Napoleon III for the use of his Ministre d’Etat, Achille Fould. The whole suite of apartments, located on the first floor of what is now called the Richelieu wing of the museum, was designed and constructed in a very short time, from 1858 to 1861. Like many of Napoleon’s other architectural commissions (like the Opera Garnier), these apartments were designed in what we call the “Eclectic Style” – the Emperor’s riff on the Baroque style of Louis XIV… with other design elements that he enjoyed thrown in for good measure. So if all the gilding, frescoed ceilings, and massive chandeliers made you think of Versailles, you’re absolutely right! . . The room we see in this video was the Grand Salon, one of the public-facing rooms of the apartments. It could be used for a variety of formal occasions, including the costume ball that served as the inaugural event of the apartments in February 1861. But it could also be transformed into a theater that could seat more than 250 guest
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