Palais Royal
The Palais Royal stands in Paris’s first arrondissement as a former French royal palace with several architectural layers. Cardinal Richelieu commissioned its construction between 1633 and 1639. Jacques Lemercier designed the original building, then called the Palais-Cardinal.
After Richelieu’s death, Louis XIII received it, and Anne of Austria later lived there with her sons. The future Louis XIV lived there with his mother and brothers. The Dukes of Orléans made extensive alterations, leaving little of Lemercier’s original design behind. Jean Le Nôtre designed the first gardens, while André Le Nôtre later redesigned them. Molière’s troupe and the Paris Opera used its theatre. The palace also housed the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture and the Académie Royale d’Architecture.
The complex houses the Ministry of Culture, the Conseil d’État, and the Constitutional Council. Its central garden serves as a public park. The garden’s arcade contains shops alongside the public space. During the English Civil War, Henrietta Maria and Henrietta Anne Stuart lived there in exile.
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Image: unknown print of 1788Public domain 
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