Palais Bourbon

The Palais Bourbon is a building in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, on the Pont de la Concorde directly connected to the Place de la Concorde on the right side of the Seine. The palace is the seat of the French National Assembly, the first chamber of parliament of France.

History

The palace was originally built for the legitimized daughter of King Louis XIV, Louise Françoise de Bourbon. The plan was by the Italian architect Lorenzo Giardini in cooperation with the French architect Jules Hardouin -Mansart. Giardini himself supervised the construction progress from 1722 until his death in 1724. Thereafter, the construction management had ( until completion 1728) successively Lassurance Pierre, Jacques Gabriel and Jean Aubert.

At that time the building was not referred to as palace (palace), but as a maison de plaisance ( pleasure house ) because it was not royal seat of power. The to the north -facing facade was built overlooking the Seine, and the Jardin des Tuileries to the east and the then nascent Champs- Élysées to the west. At first it consisted of a main section with simple wings ending in matching pavilions. A small grove with carefully arranged trees separated it from the nearby Hôtel de Lassay, the same time for the beloved of the Duchess of Bourbon, was the Marquis de Lassay built. 1756 acquired Louis XV. The palace initially for the crown and then sold it to the grandson of the Duchess, Louis Joseph, Prince de Condé, who had it to expand in 1765 by Jacques- Germain Soufflot.

During the French Revolution the Palais Bourbon was nationalized and from 1798 to the meeting of the Council of Five Hundred. As part of Napoleon's plans for a monumentaleres Paris a classical portico on the Place de la Concorde, facing page was added, which should form a counterpoint to similar portico of the church of La Madeleine at the end of the Rue Royale.

As part of the restoration by the Bourbons after 1815, the palace of the ninth prince of Condé, Louis VI was. Taken Henri Joseph de Bourbon repossessed and mostly leased to the Chamber of Deputies that the building in 1827 finally acquired by his son. The building was adapted inside extensive for the purposes of the Chamber of Deputies. Thus, the corridors and numerous adjoining rooms were newly decorated and furnished a generous library. The interior decoration was designed, among others, by Eugène Delacroix, who himself later became a deputy.

With the revolution of February 1848, the Chamber of Deputies was replaced by an elected by universal, direct suffrage Constituent Assembly with 900 members, 1849 by a Legislative Assembly of 750 members.

The Palais Bourbon today

Today, the facilities of the National Assembly spread over several buildings. The neighboring Hôtel de Lassay, connected by a corridor to the Palais Bourbon, is the official residence of the President of the National Assembly. 1974, a seven -story office building was built in the Rue de l' Université, which is connected to the palace through an underground passage and in which the offices of the members are. In order to meet by increasing the number of deputies to 577 further increased space requirements, in 1986 another building was acquired on Boulevard Saint- Germain. The Palais Bourbon includes with its outbuildings today a total floor area of 55,000 sqm with about 2,000 spaces for about 3,000 people.