Palais Bourbon | |
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![]() North façade of the Palais Bourbon | |
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General information | |
Location | 7th arrondissement, Paris, France |
Address | 126 Rue de l'Université |
Current tenants | National Assembly |
Named for | Louise Françoise de Bourbon |
Construction started | 1722 |
Completed | 1728 |
Renovated | 1765–1788, 1795, 1828 |
Owner | French State |
Technical details | |
Floor area | 124,000 m2 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Lorenzo Giardini, Pierre Cailleteau, Jean Aubert and Jacques Gabriel |
Renovating team | |
Architect(s) | Bernard Poyet, Jules de Joly |
Website | |
www |
The Palais Bourbon (pronounced [pa.lɛ buʁ.bɔ̃]) is the meeting place of the National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French Parliament. It is in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, on the Rive Gauche of the Seine across from the Place de la Concorde.
The original palace was built beginning in 1722 for Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Duchess of Bourbon, the legitimised daughter of Louis XIV and the Marquise de Montespan. Four successive architects – Lorenzo Giardini, Pierre Cailleteau, Jean Aubert and Jacques Gabriel – completed the palace in 1728. It was then nationalised during the French Revolution. From 1795 to 1799, during the Directory, it was the meeting place of the Council of Five Hundred, which chose the government leaders. Beginning in 1806, during Napoleon's French Empire, Bernard Poyet's Neoclassical facade was added to mirror that of the Church of the Madeleine, facing it across the Seine beyond the Place de la Concorde.
The palace complex today has a floor area of 124,000 m2 (1,330,000 sq ft), with over 9,500 rooms, in which 3,000 people work. The complex includes the Hôtel de Lassay, on the west side of the Palais Bourbon; it is the official residence of the President of the National Assembly.