The Palais Royal - the Royal Palace - was not always royal at all. At first. it was called the Cardinal's Palace because Cardinal Richelieu built it.
Richelieu, a great lover of beauty and comfort, managed to build a palace that was in many ways in many ways superior to the nearby Louvre. Perhaps the royal family a little jealous of such splendour - at any rate, Richelieu considered it a good thing to bequeath the palace to the monarch's family. to bequeath the palace to the monarch's family.
After the death of Louis XIII, it was here that the widow Anne of Austria and her children were removed from the Louvre. of Austria and her children. The palace becomes the Royal Palace. This is where Louis XIV. of Louis XIV, the Sun King. When he's older, he'll have his favourite, Louise de Lavallière. Lavallière, but she is forced to flee the Palais Royal during the Fronde.
Then Louis gave the palace to his brother, Philip of Orléans. Accustomed to to a life of luxury and always in need of money, Philippe put the business on a commercial basis. on a commercial basis. Cafés and shops sprang up in front of the palace. There was a theatre, which later which later became the Comédie Française. Then even a circus-chapiteau. For a few years. the block around the Palais-Royal became a huge entertainment centre, even a brothel. even a brothel.
The last renovation of the Palais-Royal ended in 1986. At the entrance to the palace garden, the so-called Buren Columns were added - 260 sections of of columns of varying heights, clad in black and white marble. Parisians debated for two years before agreeing to place such an unusual installation here. В eventually got used to the idea and now consider the Buren Columns to be one of Paris's Parisian landmarks.
