Sunday, June 27, 2021

Hôtel de la Marine


From Afar:

First, a little history. The Hôtel de la Marine dates back to 1755, when Ange-Jacques Gabriel, Louis XV’s chief architect, conceived the plan for the vast royal square now known as Place de la Concorde. Flanked on one side by monumental palaces, open to the Seine on the other, the city’s largest square would be an homage to the king after the end of the War of the Austrian Succession, his equestrian statue presiding over it all. 

The Garde-Meuble de la Couronne—the depository for the royal furniture collections, crown jewels, tapestries, and precious objets d’art—was housed behind one of the imposing facades on the square. When it was open freely to visitors in 1772, the building—what is now the Hôtel de la Marine—became a museum even before the Louvre. (Read more.)


More HERE.

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