the Prince de Condé, a grandson of its first owner, and he got Sufflot to enlarge it. Napoleon confiscated the palace during the Revolution, then commissioned architect Bernard Poyet to build the magnificent portico in 1806 as a sort of counterpoint to the distant Madeleine beyond the Place de la Concorde to the north.
After the Bourbon restoration, the Prince de Condé rented the building to the Chamber of Deputies who then bought it outright in 1827. It has been home to France’s lower house of parliament ever since. (It was also the seat of Germany’s occupying government during World War II.) The adjacent Hôtel de Lassay, also built by the Prince, is now the residence of the President of the National Assembly. It is possible to enter the building and watch parliamentary debates.
Assemblée Nationale Palais-Bourbon
Did You Know?
France’s crown jewels were stolen from the Hôtel de la Marine in 1792. Some of them have never been recovered.
Galerie Nationale du
Jeu de Paume
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Overlooking the eastern side of Place de la Concorde sit two famous galleries: the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume and the Musée de l’Orangerie. The Jeu de Paume – which means ‘real tennis court’ – was built by Napoleon III in 1851. Real (royal) tennis has long since been replaced in popularity by lawn tennis, and this former tennis court is used to exhibit artworks. Originally famous for its magnificent collection of Impressionist art, this moved across the river to the Musée d’Orsay in 1986. The Jeu de Paume is now home to the Centre National de la Photographie, which shows exhibitions of contemporary art. It is also affiliated to the Hôtel de Sully in the Marais, which acts as an ancillary exhibition space.
The Musée de l’Orangerie is a lovely space and contains some impressive artwork, including the Walter-Guillaume collection, the highlights of which include some of the Ecole de Paris late Impressionist works that were created between the end of the 19th century and the outbreak of World War II. The collection includes 14 works by Cézanne and 27 by Renoir. There are also some early Picassos, and works by Rousseau, Matisse and Modigliani. The highlight of the collection is probably Claude Monet’s delightful Nymphéas (water lily) series. Painted in his garden at Giverny near Paris, these magnificent works were presented to the French state in 1927.
Tuileries
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