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The Élysée Palace (French: Palais de l'Élysée, pronounced [palɛ d(ə) lelize]) is the official residence of the president of France in Paris. Completed in 1722, it was built for Louis Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, a nobleman and army officer who had been appointed governor of Île-de-France in 1719. It is located on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in the 8th arrondissement, near the Champs-Élysées. The name Élysée derives from the Elysian Fields, the place of the blessed dead in Greek mythology.
The Élysée Palace has been the home of personalities such
as Madame de Pompadour (1721–1764), Nicolas
Beaujon (1718–1786), Bathilde d'Orléans (1750–1822), Joachim
Murat (1767–1815), and Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry
(1778–1820). On 12 December 1848, under the Second Republic, the French
Parliament passed a law declaring the building the
official residence of the French president. The Élysée Palace, which contains
the presidential office and residence, is also the meeting place of the Council of Ministers, the weekly meeting of
the Government of France that
is presided over by the president of the Republic. Across the street is the Hôtel de Marigny, which has served as a state
guest house where the French government has hosted visiting dignitaries.
History
Hôtel d'Évreux
Portrait of the Count of Évreux by Hyacinthe
Rigaud, circa 1720_from_the_Turgot_map_of_Paris_circa_1737.png)
The Hôtel
d'Évreux and its gardens, circa 1737
The architect Armand-Claude Mollet[1]
possessed a property fronting on the road to the village of Roule, west of
Paris (now the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré), and
backing onto royal property, the Grand Cours through the Champs-Élysées. He sold this in 1718 to Louis Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne,
Count of Évreux, with the agreement that Mollet would construct an hôtel
particulier for the count, fronted by an entrance
court and backed by a garden.
The construction of the palace was financed by the
considerable dowry
of 2,000,000 livres received by the Count of Évreux upon his
marriage in 1707 to Marie-Anne Crozat, daughter of Antoine Crozat.[2]
This Toulouse businessman and shipowner was considered the wealthiest man in
France at the beginning of the 18th century.[3]
His fortune was built on colonial slavery and the slave trade, particularly through the
Compagnie de Guinée.[2][4]
The Hôtel d'Évreux was finished and decorated by 1722,
and though it has undergone many modifications since, it remains a fine example
of the French neo-classical style. At the time of his
death in 1753, Évreux was the owner of one of the most widely admired houses in
Paris, and it was bought by the Marquise de Pompadour on 24 December 1753 for
730,000 livres.[5] Opponents
showed their distaste for the regime by hanging signs on the gates that read:
"Home of the King's whore".[6]
After her death, it was left in her will to the crown.
In 1773, it was purchased by Nicolas
Beaujon, banker to the court and one of the richest men in France, who
needed a suitably sumptuous "country house" (for the city of Paris
did not yet extend this far) to house his fabulous collection of great masters
paintings. To this end, he hired the architect Étienne-Louis Boullée to
make substantial alterations to the buildings (as well as design an
English-style garden). Soon on display there were such well-known masterpieces
as Holbein's The Ambassadors (now in the National Gallery in London), and Frans Hals'
Bohemian (now at the Louvre).[7]
His architectural alterations and art galleries gave this
residence international renown as "one of the premier houses of
Paris".
Royal and imperial palace
The southern
façade seen from the gardens
The Élysée
Palace seen from the gardens
The palace and gardens were purchased from Beaujon by Bathilde d'Orléans, Duchess of Bourbon in 1787
for 1,300,000 livres.[8]
It was the Duchess who named it the Élysée. She also built a group of
cottages in the gardens which she named the Hameau de Chantilly, after the Hameau at her father-in-law's Château de Chantilly. With the French
Revolution, the Duchess fled the country and the Élysée was confiscated and
leased out. The gardens were used for eating, drinking, and dancing, under the
name Hameau de Chantilly, and the rooms became gambling houses.[9]
The Élysée was sold in 1805 to Joachim
and Caroline Murat, who administered major
renovations that made the building more grand and "imperial".[10]
Later, the house was transferred to Caroline's brother, Emperor Napoleon, in
1808; it became known as the Élysée-Napoléon. After the Battle of Waterloo, Napoléon returned to the
Élysée and signed his abdication there on 22 June 1815. He left the Élysée three
days later.[9]
Russian Cossacks camped at the Élysée when they occupied
Paris in 1814. The property was then returned to its previous owner, the
Duchesse de Bourbon, who then sold it to her royal cousin, Louis
XVIII, in 1816. Between 1820 and 1848, the palace was primarily used to
host guests of the royal family.[11]
Presidential residence
Outgoing
president Nicolas Sarkozy and incoming president François Hollande, surrounded by Republican Guards, in the interior court
during the ceremony of transmission of the mandate in 2012.
Following the French Revolution of 1848 and the
abdication of Louis Philippe I, the provisional government of
the Second Republic took over the palace. It was
initially used to host musical performances and lectures before being renamed
the Élysée National and designated as the official residence of the president
of the Republic under the administration of Louis-Napoléon
Bonaparte.[11]
The president also has the use of other official residences, including the Château de Rambouillet, forty-five
kilometres southwest of Paris, as well as the Fort de Brégançon near Toulon.
In 1853, following his coup d'état that ended the Second Republic,
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, now Napoleon III, tasked architect Joseph-Eugène Lacroix [fr] with renovations; meanwhile he moved
to the nearby Tuileries Palace, but kept the Élysée as a
discreet place to meet his mistresses, moving between the two palaces through a
secret underground passage that has since been demolished.[citation needed] Since Lacroix
completed his work in 1867, the essential look of the Palais de l'Élysée has
remained the same.
In 1873, under the Third Republic, the Élysée became the
official presidential residence. In 1899, Félix
Faure became the only officeholder to die in the palace.
Gardens of the
Élysée Palace
In 1917, a chimpanzee
escaped from a nearby ménagerie, entered the palace and was said to have
tried to haul the wife of President Raymond Poincaré into a tree only to be foiled by
Élysée guards.[12]
President Paul Deschanel, who resigned in 1920 because of
mental illness, was said to have been so impressed by the chimpanzee's feat
that, to the alarm of his guests, he took to jumping into trees during state
receptions.
The Élysée Palace was closed in June 1940 and remained
empty during World War II. It was reoccupied only in 1946 by Vincent
Auriol, President of the Provisional Government of
the French Republic, then first president of the Fourth Republic from 1947 to 1954. From 1959
to 1969, the Élysée was occupied by Charles
de Gaulle, the first president of the Fifth Republic. De Gaulle did not like its
lack of privacy and oversaw the purchase of the luxurious Hôtel de Marigny to lodge foreign state officials
in visits to France, saying, "I do not like the idea of meeting Kings
walking around my corridors in their pyjamas."
In the 1970s, President Georges
Pompidou had some of the original rooms in the palace redesigned by Pierre
Paulin in the modern style, of which only the Salle à Manger Paulin
survives.
Socialist President François Mitterrand, who governed from 1981 to
1995, is said to have seldom used its private apartments, preferring the
privacy of his own home on the more bohemian Rive
Gauche. A discreet flat in the nearby presidential annexe Palais
de l'Alma housed his mistress Anne
Pingeot, mother of his illegitimate daughter Mazarine
Pingeot.
By contrast, his successor Jacques
Chirac lived throughout his two terms in office (1995–2007) in the Élysée
apartments with his wife Bernadette.
Chirac increased the Palace's budget by 105% to 90 million euros per year,
according to the book L'argent caché de l'Élysée. One million euros per
year is spent on drinks alone for the guests invited to the Élysée Palace, 6.9
million euros per year on bonuses for presidential staff and 6.1 million euros
per year on the 145 extra employees Chirac hired after he was elected in 1995.
The Élysée has gardens, in which presidents hosted
parties on the afternoon of Bastille Day until 2010. That year, then-President Nicolas
Sarkozy decided to stop organising this event because of France's high debt
and the economic crisis.
Emmanuel Macron, the president of France since
2017, currently resides at the palace.
Description
Palais de
l'Élysée, Paris.
The entrance
gate of the Elysée Palace seen from the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré
The heavily guarded mansion and grounds are situated at
55 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré at its
intersection with Avenue de Marigny [fr]. A monumental gate with four Ionic
order columns, flanked by walls topped by a balustrade, opens onto a large
rounded courtyard. The majestic ceremonial courtyard imparts a degree of
grandeur to the house. The main residence is constructed in the French neo-classical style.
An entrance vestibule is aligned with the ceremonial courtyard and gardens.
There is a long central building, a great – or state – apartment divided in the
middle by a large salon that opens into the garden. This building also has a
central three-storey section, and two single-floor wings: the Appartement des
Bains to the right, and the Petit Appartement (private apartments) to the left.
The French-style garden has a central path aligned with the central building,
patterned flowerbeds and alleys of chestnut trees edged with hedgerows.
Ground floor
Diagram of
the ground floor: 1/ Terrasse 2/ Salon d'argent 3/ Salle à Manger 4/
Bibliothèque 5/ Salon bleu 6/ Salon des Cartes 7/ Salle des fêtes 8/ Salon
Murat 9/ Salon des Aides de camps 10/ Salon des ambassadeurs 11/ Salon
Pompadour 12/ Salon des portraits 13/ Salon Cléopâtre 14/ Escalier Murat 15/
Vestibule d'honneur 16/ Salon des tapisseries 17/ Jardin d'hiver 18/ Salon
Napoléon III 19/ Cour d'honneur.
The Vestibule d'Honneur (Hall of Honour) is the room
which the main entrance to the palace leads into. In this room the president of France meets visiting
officials, world leaders and spiritual leaders.
The Salon d'Argent (Silver Room), in the east wing of the
palace, was decorated by Caroline Murat, wife of Joachim
Murat and sister of Napoleon I. The room is so called because of the silver
coloured edges to the wall features, mantelpieces, tables, sofas, and
armchairs, of which the last have swan sculptures at the sides. Three notable
historical events happened in this room. On 22 June 1815, Napoleon formally
signed his abdication warrant after losing the Battle of Waterloo that year; on 2 December 1851
Louis-Napoléon
Bonaparte launched his coup
d'état; and in 1899, President Félix
Faure met his mistress, Marguerite Steinheil.[13]
The Salle à Manger Paulin (Paulin Dining Room), named
after its architect, Pierre Paulin, is a complete contrast to most of the
other rooms in the palace. It was designed as a private dining room for
President Georges Pompidou and his wife Claude,
and the interior and furniture date from the 1970s. The walls are made of 22 polyester panels,
the chairs have a single leg attached to a round base, and the round table is
made of glass. The room is lit by roof panels decorated with glass balls and
rods.[13]
The Salon des Portraits (Portrait Room) was used by the
Emperor Napoleon III for portrait medallions
of the most important sovereigns of the time, replacing earlier portraits of
the Bonaparte family installed by Joachim
Murat. The portraits are of: Pope Pius IX,
Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria-Hungary, Queen
Victoria of the United Kingdom, King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, King Frederick William IV of Prussia,
Queen Isabel II of Spain, and King William I of Württemberg. Previously a
dining room, President Nicolas Sarkozy used the room as his second office.
The Salle des Fêtes (Hall of Festivities) dominates the
west wing of the palace. It was designed by Eugène Debressenne [fr] and opened on 10 May 1889 by the then
president, Sadi Carnot, to coincide with the Exposition Universelle that year. The
room has paintings on the ceiling called "La République sauvegarde la
Paix" (The Republic Safeguards Peace), painted by Guillaume
Dubufe in 1894. There are also six Gobelins tapestries in the room, which is
predominantly laid out in red and gold decor. In 1984 President François Mitterrand added ten windows to the
room to let in more light. It is in this room that all French presidents are inaugurated,
and where they host official conferences and banquets.[13]
The Jardins d'Hiver (Winter Gardens) was built in 1883 as
a greenhouse for growing plants. Today it is no longer used for this purpose,
being instead an extension of the Salon des Fêtes, and used for official
banquets. There is a Gobelins tapestry on the wall, and three
chandeliers hang from the ceiling.[13]
Salon des
Ambassadeurs
Salon Cléopâtre
The Salon Murat (Murat Room) is used every Wednesday by
the president for meetings with the prime minister and the rest of the Government of France, along with the
presidential secretary, known as the "Secretary-General of the
Élysée". It was also in this room that Konrad
Adenauer, Chancellor of Germany, signed the Élysée Treaty in 1963.
The Salon Cléopâtre (Cleopatra Room) gets its name from a
Gobelins tapestry on the wall, installed
during the presidency of Sadi Carnot, which depicts Antony
and Cleopatra
meeting at Tarsus. Also in the room is a portrait of Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma,
painted by Alexandre Roslin.[13]
The Salon des Ambassadeurs (Ambassadors' Room) is where
the French president officially receives ambassadors
from abroad.
The Salon Bleu (Blue Room) is used as the office of the
first lady of France.
The Escalier Murat (Murat Staircase) is the main staircase in
the palace, linking the ground and first floors.
The Salle des Fêtes during the 1990 Conference for
Security and Co-operation in Europe conference
Salon Bleu
Caroline Murat in the Salon d'Argent, 1810
Salon des Ambassadeurs
Salon de la Cartographie
Salon Pompadour
First floor
The Salon Doré (Golden Room) is named after the gold
coloured edges to the wall features, doors, tables, and chairs. All the French presidents have used this
room as their main study except Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and Emmanuel
Macron.[14]
The Salon Vert (Green Room) is named after the green
curtains and chair covers (the doors, chairs, tables, and wall features have
gold edges). The room is used for meetings, and it was here that Nicolas
Sarkozy married his second wife, Carla
Bruni, during his presidency.
The Salon Angle (Angle Room) is a former dining room that
has been the office of the Secretary-General of the Élysée since 2007.
The Salon de Fougères (Flower Room) is named because it
has floral patterned wallpaper. In the room is a portrait of King Louis XV,
painted by Charles-André van Loo.[13]
The Ancienne Chambre de la Reine and the Ancienne Chambre
du Roi were the bedrooms of the former Kings and Queens of France. The latter
room was formerly used as the office of the Secretary-General before he moved
it to the Salon Angle.
Six other rooms on the first floor, in the east wing, are
the president's private living quarters.
The Escalier Murat, linking the ground and first floors
The president's desk in the Salon Doré in 2008, during
the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy
Ursula von der Leyen and Emmanuel
Macron in the Salon Vert
See also
- Fort de Brégançon
- La Lanterne, Versailles
- Hôtel Matignon (official residence of the
French prime minister)
References
1.
Armand-Claude Mollet (1660–1742), from
the Mollet
dynasty of royal gardeners, was the house architect for Henri-Louis, comte
de Dreux. Sharing responsibilities for the Tuileries
Garden with André Le Nôtre's nephew Jean Le Nôtre, he was accepted
into the Académie royale d'architecture in
1699.
2.
Grossin, Benoît (2 August 2020). "L'Élysée, le plus grand
symbole à Paris du passé esclavagiste de la France". France
Culture (in French). Retrieved 28 May 2026.
3.
Chaulin, Charlotte (16 February
2022). "Quelle est l'histoire du
Palais de l'Elysée ?". Géo
(in French). Retrieved 28 May 2026.
4.
Cléry, Célia (22 May 2026). "Pourquoi le palais de l'Elysée
doit son existence à la traite négrière ?". Outre-mer La
1ère (in French). Retrieved 28 May 2026.
5.
Lever, Evelyne (2002). Madame de
Pompadour (2nd ed.). New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
p. 168. ISBN 978-0312310509.
6. Simone Bertière,
« La Pompadour a-t-elle mené Louis XV à sa perte ? », émission Secrets d'histoire
sur France 2,
25 novembre 2007.
7.
Goetz
2021, p. 28.
8. C.
Leroux-Cesbron, Le palais de l'Élysée, chronique d'un palais national,
1925, deuxième édition, page 76.
9.
Henry Haynie, Paris: Past &
Present 2, New York, 1902. at Google Books
10.Goetz
2021, p. 35.
11.Goetz
2021, p. 40.
12.Bertrand
Meyer-Stabley, Les dames de l'Élysée, Perrin, 1999 (ISBN 2262016208), p. 33
13."Le Palais de l'Élysée, histoire et
décorum" (in French).
olivierberni-interieurs.com. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
14.Chrisafis,
Angelique (11 December 2018). "Macron's
appeal to French from behind gold desk leaves gilets jaunes unimpressed".
The Guardian. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
