The Palais de la Légion d'honneur (
French for "Palace of the Legion of Honour") is a historic building on the
Left Bank
In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography, as follows.
In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terra ...
of the
River Seine
)
, mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur
, mouth_coordinates =
, mouth_elevation =
, progression =
, river_system = Seine basin
, basin_size =
, tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle
, tributarie ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. It houses the
Musée de la Légion d'honneur
The Musée national de la Légion d'honneur et des ordres de chevalerie ( French for "National museum of the Legion of Honour and of orders of chivalry") is a French national museum of orders of merit and orders of chivalry. It is located in th ...
("Museum of the Legion of Honour") and is the seat of the
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
, the highest French
order of merit
The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...
.
The building is also known as the Hôtel de Salm. It is located at 64 rue de Lille, next to the old
Orsay railway station (now the
Musée d'Orsay
The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...
) in the
7th arrondissement of Paris
The 7th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''le septième''.
The arrondissement, ca ...
.
History
The original Hôtel de Salm was constructed between 1782 and 1787 by the architect Pierre Rousseau (1751–1810) for the German prince
Frederick III, Prince of Salm-Kyrburg
Frederick III, Prince of Salm-Kyrburg (Frederick John Otto Francis Christian Philip; 1744–1794) was the prince of Salm-Kyrburg, Hornes and Overijse, Gemen and Count of Solre-le-Château. He was the eldest son of Philip Joseph, Prince of Salm- ...
. The
revolutionary government nationalised the building, and from 13 May 1804, it was renamed the "Palais de la Légion d'honneur" and became the seat of the newly created
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
.
The interior was remodeled for that purpose by
Antoine-François Peyre,
and new exterior sculptures were added by
Jean Guillaume Moitte and
Philippe-Laurent Roland.
An additional building was added in 1866 along the then-new
rue de Solférino
Rue de Solférino is a street in the Left Bank area of Paris. It was most commonly heard as a reference to the headquarters of the French Socialist Party, which were located there until 2018. The street is named after the Battle of Solferino, fou ...
, but the palace was burned in 1871 by the
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871.
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...
. A replica was rebuilt soon afterwards under
Anastase Mortier, with painters
Jean-Paul Laurens
Jean-Paul Laurens (; 28 March 1838 – 23 March 1921) was a French painter and sculptor, and one of the last major exponents of the French Academic style.
Biography
Laurens was born in Fourquevaux and was a pupil of Léon Cogniet and Alexa ...
and
Théodore Maillot Théodore is the French version of the masculine given name Theodore (given name), Theodore.
Given name
*Théodore Caruelle d'Aligny (1798–1871), French landscape painter and engraver
*Théodore Anne (1892–1917), French playwright, librettist, ...
providing interior decoration. An additional building was added from 1922–1925 on rue de Bellechasse in order to house a museum of the Légion d'honneur.
Influences
The
California Palace of the Legion of Honor
The Legion of Honor, formally known as the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, is an art museum in San Francisco, California. Located in Lincoln Park, the Legion of Honor is a component of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which a ...
, a three-quarter scale replica of the Hôtel de Salm, was constructed in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
in 1924; it houses a fine arts museum.
In
Haarlem
Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...
in the Netherlands, the banker
Henry Hope
Henry Hope (1735–1811) was an Amsterdam merchant banker born in Braintree, Massachusetts. He emigrated to the Netherlands to join the family business Hope & Co. at a young age. From 1779, Henry became the manager of Hope & Co. and he participa ...
had his
Villa Welgelegen
Villa Welgelegen is a historical building in Haarlem, the Netherlands, which currently houses the offices of the provincial executives of North Holland. Located at the north end of a public park in the city, it is an example of neoclassical ar ...
built to resemble the Hôtel de Salm. In
Rochefort-en-Yvelines
Rochefort-en-Yvelines is a commune in the Yvelines department, part of the Rambouillet in the Île-de-France in France.Jules Porgès
Jules Porgès (25 May 1839 – 20 September 1921) was a Paris-based financier who played a central role in the rise of the Randlords who controlled the diamond and gold mining industries in South Africa.
He was born Yehuda Porges in Vienna and ...
by the architect
Charles Mewès
Charles-Frédéric Mewès (30 January 1858 - 9 August 1914) was a French architect and designer.
Biography
Born in Strasbourg, Alsace in 1858, Charles Frédéric Mewès grew up a Parisian after his family fled the Prussian invasion and annexat ...
, and it is known as the ; today, it is a golf club.
The architect
John Nash included a domed semi-circular bow in his design for the garden front at
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...
, inspired by the Hôtel de Salm.
References
External links
*
Palais de la Légion d'honneur
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palais De La Legion D'honneur
Houses completed in 1787
Museums in Paris
Palaces in France
Houses in Paris
1787 establishments in France
Buildings and structures in the 7th arrondissement of Paris
Domes