Palais Bourbon

The Palais Bourbon is the meeting place of the National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French Parliament. Located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris on the Left Bank of the Seine, directly across from the Place de la Concorde, it has served as the seat of France's lower house of parliament since 1795, with continuous use as a legislative chamber since 1798. The palace complex, which includes the adjacent Hôtel de Lassay, represents one of the most significant examples of aristocratic architecture transformed into a working democratic institution, embodying over three centuries of French political history from the Ancien Régime through the Revolution, Empire, and modern Republic.

Construction began in 1722 for Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Duchess of Bourbon, the legitimised daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, who had acquired land in the then-rural Pré-au-Clercs area at the edge of Paris. Four successive architects, Lorenzo Giardini, Pierre Cailleteau (Lassurance), Jean Aubert, and Ange-Jacques Gabriel, completed the palace in 1728. The Duchess's reputed lover, Armand de Madaillan de Lesparre, Comte de Lassay, had purchased adjacent land, and the two buildings were constructed simultaneously. The Duchess died in 1743, and after passing through royal hands, Louis XV sold the palace in 1756 (or 1764 in some accounts) to her grandson, Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé, who embarked on large-scale rebuilding in the Neoclassical style and purchased the neighbouring Hôtel de Lassay in 1768. During the French Revolution, the palace was confiscated in 1791 after the Prince emigrated, briefly served as a prison and then as the site of the future École Polytechnique from 1794. A decree of 18 September 1795 assigned it to the Council of Five Hundred, and the hemicycle opened on 21 January 1798. Under Napoleon, Bernard Poyet designed the new Neoclassical north façade between 1803 and 1807 to mirror the Madeleine church across the Seine. The state acquired permanent ownership in 1827, and between 1827 and 1832 architect Jules de Joly reshaped the interior, creating the current hemicycle and library. The building was occupied by German forces in June 1940 and served for propaganda purposes; Philippe de Gaulle received the German surrender order there on 25 August 1944. Major modernisations included a seven-storey office building in the Rue de l'Université in 1974 and acquisition of additional space on the Boulevard Saint-Germain in 1986. Conservation work continued into the 21st century, with a significant safety and restoration programme between 2016 and 2017, and the Delacroix-decorated library reopened in April 2025.

The Palais Bourbon does not function as a traditional museum collection but rather as a working parliamentary palace whose decorative and artistic elements constitute a significant heritage ensemble. The holdings encompass Neoclassical and Romantic-era decorative schemes, contemporary art commissions, and historical documentary collections. The library contains rare manuscripts including works by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, records from Joan of Arc's trial, and the Codex Borbonicus. The decorative programme features allegorical works by Eugène Delacroix in the library, covering domes and pendentives with representations of Science, Philosophy, Legislation, Theology, and Poetry. The palace also maintains a collection of commemorative statues honouring major figures of French political history, including Jean Jaurès and Olympe de Gouges in commemorated in the Salle des Quatre-Colonnes, and statues of Mirabeau, Portalis, and Henri IV in the Salle des Pas-Perdus and Salon Casimir-Perier. Contemporary art includes the Sphere of Human Rights by Walter De Maria, installed in 1989 in the Cour d'Honneur, and the work Liberty, Equality, Fraternity by American graffiti artist JonOne, inaugurated in January 2015 in the Salon of Mariannes.

The most celebrated artistic holding is the library decorated by Eugène Delacroix between 1833 and 1835, featuring allegorical paintings that remain among the artist's major decorative works. The fauteuil du président de la chambre, designed by Jacques-Louis David for Lucien Bonaparte, survives from the early 19th-century hemicycle, as does the bas-relief L'Histoire et la renommée by François-Frédéric Lemot. The pediment of the north façade presents an allegory of France flanked by Force and Justice, a sculptural group that was damaged in the mid-20th century and subsequently repaired. Four external statues at the foot of the main façade were conserved for the republic's bicentenary in 1989. The Salle des Quatre-Colonnes contains statues of Jean Jaurès and Olympe de Gouges, the latter symbolising the ideals of the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Citizen. James Pradier's statues of Liberty and Public Order stand in the hemicycle as reminders of legislative responsibilities. The Sphere of Human Rights by Walter De Maria, a large granite sphere on a marble pedestal, was commissioned for the bicentenary of the French Revolution and installed in 1989.

The original palace followed an Italianate U-shaped plan with the main building parallel to the Seinerich and two wings enclosing a courtyard, with roofs hidden by balustrades invisible from street level. The entrance on the Rue de l'Université featured an ornate archway flanked by pavilions. The Neoclassical transformation begun under the Prince of Condé and continued under Napoleon added the twelve-column Corinthian colonnade on the north façade facing the Seine, designed by Bernard Poyet to form a visual dialogue with the Madeleine church across the river. The palace complex today encompasses approximately 124,000 square metres with over 9,500 rooms, though the German Wikipedia gives a figure of 55,000 square metres with about 2,000 rooms for the palace with its outbuildings. The complex includes the Hôtel de Lassay on the west side, connected by a gallery, which serves as the official residence of the president of the National Assembly. A separate hemicycle, the Salle Colbert, was built in 1932 for smaller sessions. The site occupies a strategic position in the urban plan of Paris, forming the southern terminus of a north-sight line that runs across the Place de la Concorde to the Madeleine church.

The Palais Bourbon is located at 126 Rue de l'Université, 75007 Paris, in the 7th arrondissement, with its north façade facing the Seine directly across from the Place de la Concorde. It is served by the métro stations Assemblée nationale, Concorde, and Invalides. The palace has been open to the public since November 2012, with guided tours organised every Saturday during parliamentary sessions and individual visits available during adjournment periods from Monday to Saturday. Group visits accommodate up to 50 people, last approximately ninety minutes, and are free of charge. The official website is http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr. The building is guarded by the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Republican Guard. As the seat of the National Assembly, it remains a functioning parliamentary institution rather than a museum, with visiting arrangements subject to the parliamentary calendar and security requirements.