Palais Royal

At the time the palace was known as the Palais Cardinal; it became a royal palace after the cardinal bequeathed the building to King Louis XIII.
The Sun King, Louis XIV spent his youth here before moving to the nearby Louvre and later to Versailles.

Between 1871 and 1874, Louis-Philippe d'Orléans, cousin of King Louis XVI expanded the palace by adding arcades and shops. For some time the palace also housed gambling dens and cafes.

The Palais Royal was mobbed during the revolution of 1848 and was almost destroyed by fire in 1871. Fortunately the basic structure survived. After its restoration in 1876 the building was handed over to the government.
It currently houses the Ministry of Culture, the Conseil d'état and the Constitutional Council.

The palace is not open to the public, but you can visit the courtyard and the garden. The courtyard, known as Cour d'Honneur, is dominated by a large sculpture by Daniel Buren, installed in 1986. It consists of 280 black and white striped truncated columns.

Adjacent to the courtyard is the Jardin du Palais Royal, the palace's garden. The garden is formally laid out around a central fountain. It is a quiet refuge in the heart of the city.

The current garden is somewhat smaller than originally designed in 1630 for Cardinal Richelieu due to the construction of 60 arcaded buildings on three sides of the park by Louis-Philippe d'Orléans in 1874. The buildings around the garden now house restaurants, deli shops and galleries.