Élysée Palace
The Elysee Palace [ eli'ze ] (French Palais de l' Élysée ), named after the nearby Champs Elysees in the heart of Paris, is the official residence of the President of the French Republic. It stands north of the Seine in the 55 Rue du Faubourg Saint- Honoré in the 8th arrondissement, a few steps from the Avenue des Champs- Élysées and the Place de la Concorde.
History
The Elysee Palace was built in the years 1718-1722 according to the plans of the architect Armand- Claude Mollet, who had the surrounding land recently sold to the Count of Evreux, Henri -Louis de la Tour d' Auvergne, and from this has now been commissioned to build a residence for him.
After the death of the Count of Evreux in 1753 acquired Jeanne- Antoinette Poisson, better known as Madame de Pompadour, the palace and let him get ready in style by its architects in the interior. The garden was enlarged according to their ideas back and extended by colonnades and arcades, as well as a maze. At this time, Jeanne- Antoinette Poisson many a long year, the official mistress of the French King Louis XV., Which they inherited the residence in 1764. The house was now in possession of the Bourbons, and served King Louis XV. initially as a guesthouse for Ambassador and later as an exhibition of paintings. In the meantime (1773 ) the king sold the palace to a banker; his grandson, Louis XVI. but bought it back in 1786 and left him to his cousin, the Duchess of Bourbon.
When the Bourbons were in 1792 overthrown during the French Revolution and became the Duchess of Bourbon in April 1793 in captivity, was the Elysee Palace (then under the name of Hôtel de Bourbon ) is initially empty and served as a warehouse for confiscated furniture by immigrants and detainees. While the Duchess four years later received the palace back, but she later went into exile to Spain and sold the palace to an entrepreneurial family who used it for prestigious events.
1805 Prince earned Marshal Joachim Murat and, brother of Napoleon I., the palace and had it converted him far-reaching. Still called the main staircase ( l' escalier d' honneur ), the " Escalier Murat " (literally " Murat step"). Likewise, Murat built the ballroom, which is called the "Salon Murat " today. Since the term of office of the President Georges Pompidou meets in this room the French Cabinet ( Conseil des Ministres ). Here originally hung four large canvases representing the Tiber, the Rhine, the Nile and the River Seine. Of these, four are today the painting from the Tiber with Rome at the time of river crossing Murat with his cavalry, as well as the painting of the castle Benrath in Dusseldorf, a residence of Murat as Grand Duke of Berg, left. The Emperor made Murat 1806 Grand Duke of Berg and 1808 King of Naples. Napoleon took over after the departure of the building, which he now renamed the Elysee Palace Napoléon. Only a few months later, the emperor had, however, divorced his wife, Empress Joséphine and left her the estate, before he in 1812 took possession and two years later, when the downfall of his empire was unstoppable, there also his abdication signed and went into exile.
1816 the Elysee Palace fell into the hands of the Bourbons and Louis XVIII. handed him over to his nephew Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, who moved with his newly wed wife Maria Carolina of Bourbon- Sicily. When the Duke already died four years later, took over Louis Philippe, who from 1830 until the February Revolution of 1848 was the last French king, the palace.
The French National Assembly declared the palace in 1848 by a decree from the headquarters, future President of the Second Republic. However, this lasted only four years after Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (nephew of Napoleon I. ), who was elected the first President to be unceremoniously appointed himself Emperor of a new Empire. Only when he came in 1870 during the Franco-German war in captivity, he was deposed in France and proclaimed there for the third time the republic. Even if the first President of the Third Republic, Adolphe Thiers, his work could not derive entirely from the Elysee Palace, he was from 1873 final official headquarters of the French heads of state.
On January 22, signed in 1963 General Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer here the Élysée Treaty.
The Elysee Palace as authority
The Secretary-General is the head of the civil service dar. since May 2012, this is Pierre -René Lemas. Him are the presidential advisor (French counselors and techniques ) assumes among other things, the President in the areas of social policy, economy, culture advice. The private secretary (French Directeur du cabinet ) has a more important position. He is the president spokesman assumed and the staff for the presidential post.
The General Staff is assigned directly to the President.
The Department of State is the diplomatic adviser, also called Sherpa. Since May 2012, this is Paul Jean -Ortiz. He consultant to work for the various regions of the world.
Analogous to the U.S. government, there is also a Security Council since 2002 and a security consultant ( conseil de sécurité du Secrétaire général ).
Direct assistant to the president have the title conseiller auprès du Président.
There is a personal secretary, the military commander of the Élysée Palace and the director of the palace, which is responsible for food and decor.
The state department has officially 150 employees. About 850 other employees are paid from the budgets of the ministries. The principal consultants have their offices in the palace itself, many more work in the surrounding buildings in its closed to through traffic Rue de l' Élysée, the diplomats there at the Hôtel de Hirsch.
Residence of the President
In the eastern wing of the palace is the residence of the President, which he can use as a dwelling. Former President Sarkozy took until 2012 in addition to the state-owned La Lanterne in Versailles.