Paris (France) -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- History
In 1643 the Queen moved across to it with her family. When the King left
it in 1652, Henriette of England, widow of Charles I, lived there for a
time. In 1672 Louis XIV made it over to his brother the duc d’Orléans,
who did some rebuilding, but the most drastic changes were made in the
vast construction close upon Revolutionary days. Then, in 1784,
Philippe-Égalité, finding himself in an impecunious condition,
conceived a fine plan for making money. Round three sides of the
extensive garden of his palace he built galleries lined with premises to
let--shops, etc.--and opened out around them three public thoroughfares:
Rue de Valois, Rue Beaujolais, Rue Montpensier. The garden thus
truncated is the Jardin du Palais-Royal as we know it to-day. It was
even in those days semi-public. Parisians from all time have loved a
fine garden, and the population of the city resented this curtailment.
They resented more especially the mercantile spirit which had prompted
it.
It was in the year 1787 that the theatre known subsequently as the
Comédie Française, more familiarly the “Français,” was built. The
artistes of the _Variétés_ _Amusantes_ played there then, and for
several succeeding years. The theatre Palais-Royal had already been
built, bore many successive different names and became for a time the
Théâtre Montansier, later Théâtre de la Montagne. The fourth side of the
palace had been left unfinished. The duc d’Orléans had planned its
completion in magnificent style. The outbreak of the Revolution put a
stop to all such plans. Temporary wooden galleries had been built in
1784. They were burnt down in 1828 and replaced by the Galerie
d’Orléans, now let out in flats.
Richelieu was titular Superintendent-General of the Marine: some of the
friezes and bas-reliefs illustrative of this office, decorating the
Galerie des Proues, are still to be seen there. But of the great
statesman’s original palace comparatively little remains. The duc
d’Orléans, Regent for Louis XV, razed a great part of Richelieu’s
construction; many of the walls of the palace as we know it date from
his time--1702-23. Disastrous fires wrought havoc in 1763 and 1781. The
financially inspired transformations of Philippe-Égalité made in 1786,
and finally the incendiary work of the Commune in 1871, changed the
whole aspect of the palace. It went through many phases also during the
Revolution. Seized as national property, it was known for a time as
Palais-Égalité. Revolutionary meetings took place in its gardens.
Revolutionary clubs were organized in its galleries. The statue of
Camille Desmoulins, set up in recent years--1905--records that decisive
day, July 12th, 1789, when Desmoulins, haranguing the crowd, hoisted a
green cocarde in sign of hope. That garden was thenceforth through many
years the meeting-place of successive political agitators. In our own
day the Camelots du Roi met and agitated there.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account