Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/93

 PARIS 83 bly the best known are the palaces. Of these the two principal (now united) are described in special articles. (See LOUVRE, and TUILERIES.) Near them stands the lyse"e palace, at present the residence when he is in the city of the president of the republic. It was built early in the 18th century by a private nobleman ; was next purchased and for a time occupied by Mme. de Pompadour, who added to its pretty garden a part of the Champs Elysees ; it was afterward set apart for the use of ambassadors extraordinary sent to the court of France ; then fell into the hands of the rich banker Beaujon, and passed from him to the duchess of Bour- bon ; was used as a printing house during the early years of the revolution, and then sold to private speculators, who converted it into a place of public amusement; was afterward bought and inhabited by Murat, till he left it to be king of Naples, when it again became gov- ernment property, and was at different times occupied by Napoleon I. It has been inhabited by the duke of Wellington and Alexander I. of Russia. Louis XVIII. restored to it one of its earlier names, Elysee Bourbon, and gave it to the duke de Berry, after whose assassination it descended to the duke of Bordeaux. After December, 1848, it took the name of lys6e Nationale, and became the official residence of the prince president Louis Napoleon, who on becoming emperor changed its name to lys6e Napoleon, and intended it for the ultimate residence of the prince imperial. The palace on the quai d'Orsay was destined by Napoleon I. to be the residence of his son, the king of Rome ; Charles X. had more work done on this fine edifice with a view to fitting it for national in- dustrial exhibitions; Lou- is Philippe completed it; Louis Napoleon's imperial council of state occupied it while the second empire lasted ; the followers of the commune burned it. The still standing walls are beau- tiful. By its side, entirely restored from its injuries, is the ornate little palace of the legion of honor, built in 1784 by the prince of Salm, who was guillotined in 1794, when it was dis- posed of by lottery, and fell to a journeyman hair dresser. The Luxembourg palace is remarkable for its happy combination of graceful lines with solid- ity of effect; the gardens are not inferior to those of the Tuileries. The hotel de ville, between the rue de Rivoli and the river, opposite the upper end of the ile de la Cite", was, before its almost total de- struction under the commune in 1871, a beau- tiful building in the style of the renaissance, forming a quadrangle about 300 ft. by 250, and having three courts. Its exterior is profusely ornamented, several hundred statues in niches forming part of its decorations ; while the state apartments within were among the most mag- nificent rooms in the world, the great galerie des fetes being especially splendid. This struc- ture is connected with nearly every impor- tant event in the modern history of Paris. It was begun in 1533, and the first building, about one fourth the size of the subsequent one, was finished in 1628. It remained almost un- touched till 1837, when improvements were be- gun, and in 1842 it was enlarged to its great- est dimensions. Its whole cost has been esti- mated at 16,000,000 francs. In 1873 the gov- ernment selected for the reconstruction of the burned edifice the plans of Messrs. Ballu and Deperthes, who rebuild it very much in the old fashion. The Palais Royal is a very large quadrangular building, surrounding an exten- sive court or garden about 230 yards by 100, the scene of many historical events, notably of public meetings during the revolution, and of the speeches of Camille Desmoulins and others. The lower story is now occupied by ranges of shops, among the finest in Paris. The pal- ace has been the residence of various members of the successive ruling families of France. The H6tel des Invalides, occupying, with its courts, &c., an area of about 16 acres near the left bank of the Seine, W. of the faubourg St. Germain, was founded under Louis XIV., in 1670, as an asylum for veteran soldiers, and has been enlarged by later sovereigns. In the church of St. Louis, forming a part of The Bourse. the Invalides, is the tomb of Napoleon I., the great porphyry sarcophagus standing direct- ly under the dome which crowns the edifice. Other noteworthy public buildings are the Palais de Justice, the Bourse (shown in the accompanying engraving), the military school,