Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature
Opening times: 11am–6pm Tue–Sun
Closed public hols
Tel: 01. 53 01 92 40
12
Leave the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature and turn left down rue des Archives. The entire block on your left between rue des Quatre Fils and rue des Francs-Bourgeois is taken up by the National Archives, with its main entrance at No. 60 rue des Francs-Bourgeois. This is the famous Hôtel de Soubise. Centred on a huge courtyard, this beautifully symmetrical mansion was built by Pierre-Alexis Delamair for the Prince and Princess de Soubise between 1705 to 1709. Its impressive façade features twin colonnades topped by statues by Robert de Lorraine.
One of the two main buildings housing the National Archives (the other is the nearby Hôtel de Rohan), it was built on the site of an old manor house, which had been built in 1375 on the site of an older property belonging to the Knights Templar. It was the Paris residence of the ducs de Guise until François de Rohan, Prince de Soubise, bought it in 1700 (his wife, Anne de Rohan-Chabot, had been one of Louis XIV’s mistresses, and he probably helped the couple pay for its construction).
The interiors, which have changed little since they were first designed by Germain Boffrand in the 1730s, are excellent examples of the ornate Rococo style. They feature work by some of the most celebrated painters of the day, including François Boucher. The rocaille work in the Princess’s bedroom, the Oval Salon, is by Natoire and forms part of the museum of French history. Unfortunately this is only accessible to academic researchers. The building became home to the National Archives during the Revolution and Napoleon granted it to the state in 1808.
National Archives
Open for research only 9am–4.45pm Mon–Sat, phone for appointment
Tel: 01. 40 27 64 19
13
Continue along rue des Archives and you will come to the only remaining medieval cloister in Paris, the Cloître des Billettes, which will be on your left at No. 26. Built in 1427 for the Brothers of Charity, or Billettes, three of its four original arcades still exist. The church that adjoins the cloister is in a simple Neoclassical style. It replaced the monastery’s original church in 1756.
42
