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Leave the Louvre Rivoli metro station and walk up rue du Louvre until you come to rue Etienne-Marcel. Turn left and Place des Victoires will be straight ahead of you. Located at the confluence of six streets, this circular public space is centred on a 12-metre-high (40-foot) statue of Louis XIV dressed as a Roman general and seated on a rearing horse. A series of private mansions were demolished to make way for this circus in the 1670s. In 1685 Jules Hardouin-Mansart designed the ring of houses that line the space today. Giant pilasters rise two storeys over arcaded bases to end in Mansart’s famous two-slope roof design accommodating the dormer windows. Because the building work was incomplete at the time of the statue’s unveiling in 1692, the façades of the buildings were painted onto canvas and hung as a backdrop. The original gilt-bronze statue by sculptor Martin Desjardins shows the king trampling enemies underfoot. This was destroyed precisely a century later during the Revolution, when the circus was briefly renamed Place des Victoires-Nationaux, with a wooden pyramid replacing the king’s statue. This was replaced by a nude statue of one of Napoleon’s generals before eventually being replaced by a new statue of Louis XIV, at the behest of Charles X in 1828. The area is extremely fashionable today and is home to some of France’s most important fashion designers, including Kenzo and Thierry Mugler.
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Leave Place des Victoires via rue Croix des Petits Champs and the Banque de France will take up most of the city block to your right. France’s Central Bank was founded by Napoleon in 1800 and is housed in an aristocratic town house with royal connections. The Hôtel de Toulouse, originally called Hôtel de la Vrillière, was built between 1635 and 1640 for the Marquis de la Vrillière by François Mansart. De la Vrillière was Louis XIII’s Secretary of State and it was he who created the magnificent 50-metre-long (164-foot) Galerie Dorée to hang his important art collection. This has remained unchanged since it was built, although it was painted a different colour after its new owner, the Compte de Toulouse, bought it in 1712. The son of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, the Compte hired architect Robert de Cotte to redesign the building, which was done in collaboration with the sculptor François-Antoine Vassé. The house originally had a large garden, with a formal parterre, to the southwest. It was badly damaged during the Revolution but was restored later in the 19th century after it became the headquarters of the Banque de France in 1811. The building is now used occasionally for receptions and conferences.
Banque de France
Tel: 01. 42 92 42 92
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