The Salle Richelieu () is the principal

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

of the

Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state ...

. It is located in the

Palais-Royal The Palais-Royal () is a former royal palace located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. The screened entrance court faces the Place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre. Originally called the Palais-Cardinal, it was built for Cardinal ...

in the first arrondissement of Paris and was originally constructed in 1786–1790 to the designs of the architect

Victor Louis Victor Louis (10 May 1731, Paris – 2 July 1800, Paris) was a French architect, disqualified on a technicality from winning the Prix de Rome in architecture in 1755. Life He was born Louis-Nicolas Louis in Paris. He did not adopt the name Vic ...

.Wild 1989, pp. 383–384. It seats 862 spectators.

History

For the auditorium of his earlier theatre, the

Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux The Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux is an opera house in Bordeaux, France, first inaugurated on 17 April 1780. It was in this theatre that the ballet ''La fille mal gardée'' premiered in 1789, and where a young Marius Petipa staged some of his firs ...

(1773–1780), Victor Louis had combined the

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian language, Sumerian c ...

semicircle with the ellipse giving a horseshoe plan and devised open balcony boxes, both features which he employed again in the Salle Richelieu (1786–1790), as well as in his later theatre, the Théâtre des Arts (1791–1793). As originally designed, the auditorium of the Salle Richelieu seated around 2,000 spectators. The site for the building was so constricted, he placed the entrance foyer under the auditorium. His design was also innovative for the use of an iron frame (under the roof, the floors and boxes), mainly for the purpose of

fireproofing Fireproofing is rendering something (structures, materials, etc.) resistant to fire, or incombustible; or material for use in making anything fire-proof. It is a passive fire protection measure. "Fireproof" or "fireproofing" can be used as a n ...

. Originally called the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, it was first occupied by the

Théâtre des Variétés-Amusantes The Théâtre des Variétés-Amusantes was a theatre company in Paris. History In 1778, Louis Lécluse (or Lécluze), a former actor at the Opéra-Comique turned dentist, opened a theatre at foire Saint-Laurent, which shortly afterwards he trans ...

, who gave the inaugural performance on 15 May 1790. It became the theatre of the Comédie-Française by an act of 14 May 1799, which merged the Variétés-Amusantes with the players from the Théâtre de la Nation of the Faubourg Saint-Germain. The new company gave their first performance on 30 May 1799 under the name Théâtre-Français de la République. The interior of the auditorium was redesigned in 1798 by Jean-Charles-Alexandre Moreau and in 1822 by Pierre Fontaine,Wild 2012, pp. 383–384. who reduced the diameter of the balcony columns, which had previously obstructed the view for many spectators.Donnet 1821, p. 301
The ceiling was repainted by Pierre-Luc-Charles Ciceri in 1840. Additional interior restoration work was carried out by in 1847 and 1850. The capacity in 1857 was 1,350 spectators. In 1858 the ceiling was repainted by Joseph Nolau and

Auguste Rubé Auguste may refer to: People Surname * Arsène Auguste (born 1951), Haitian footballer * Donna Auguste (born 1958), African-American businesswoman * Georges Auguste (born 1933), Haitian painter * Henri Auguste (1759–1816), Parisian gold a ...

based on the designs of Félix-Joseph Barrias. From 1860 to 1864, carried out extensive modifications of the interior and exterior, as well as the expansion of the building toward today's

Place Colette Place Colette is a square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. Location and access The square is bordered to the north and east by wings of the Palais-Royal (containing, to the north, the Comédie-Française and to the east, the Conseil ...

. The ceiling was repainted in 1864 by

Philippe Chaperon Philippe Chaperon (2 February 1823 – 21 December 1906) was a French painter and scenic designer, particularly known for his work at the Paris Opera. He produced stage designs for the premieres of numerous 19th-century operas, including Verdi's ...

with the assistance of Joseph Nolau and Auguste Rubé. It was repainted in 1879 by Alexis-Joseph Mazerolle, and in 1885, by Guillaume Debuffe. The theatre was destroyed by a fire on 8 March 1900. Only the walls of the facade remained standing. The new building, as reconstructed under the supervision of architects

Julien Guadet Julien Guadet (1834–1908) was a French architect, theoretician and professor at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of Fran ...

and Henri Prudent, was inaugurated on 26 December 1900. The "Fauteuil de Molière" (armchair of

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...

), in which the actor agonized while performing the role of Argan in his last play, ''

Le Malade imaginaire ''The Imaginary Invalid'', ''The Hypochondriac'', or ''The Would-Be Invalid'' ( French title ''Le Malade imaginaire'', ) is a three- act ''comédie-ballet'' by the French playwright Molière with dance sequences and musical interludes (H.495, H. ...

'', is on permanent display in the public foyer of the theatre. The painter Pierre Roussel created numerous portraits of actors who have appeared at the theatre. These can be found in the corridors and boxes.

Photographs

Gourmand-Awards-Paris.jpg, Auditorium Salle Richelieu3.JPG, Stage Salle Richelieu4.JPG, Balconies Salle Richelieu Grand escalier1.JPG, Grand Staircase Paris - fauteuil de Molière à la Comédie française - 2.jpg, Fauteuil de Molière.

Historical drawings

File:Paris Comedie-Francaise.jpg, View of the auditorium and stage in 1790 (as designed by

) File:Salle Richelieu - Donnet 1821 plate9 GB-Ghent composite.jpg, Theatre in 1821 (as redesigned by Jean-Charles-Alexandre Moreau in 1798) File:Salle Richelieu - Donnet 1821 plate21 GB-Ghent composite.jpg, Theatre in 1822 (after its alteration by Pierre Fontaine)

Notes

Bibliography

* Ayers, Andrew (2004). ''The Architecture of Paris''. Stuttgart; London: Edition Axel Menges. . * Donnet, Alexis (1821)
"Théâtre Français", pp. 117–127
an
"Théâtre Français (depuis sa restauration)", pp. 299–306
in ''Architectonographie des théâtres de Paris''. Paris: P. Didot, ''l'aîné''
Title page
at

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

. * Mead, Christopher Curtis (1991). ''Charles Garnier's Paris Opéra: Architectural Empathy and the Renaissance of French Classicism''. New York: The Architectural History Foundation. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. . *

Wild, Nicole Nicole Wild (20 June 1929 – 29 December 2017) was a French musicologist, chief curator at the Paris Opera Library and Museum, and a specialist in the history and iconography of opera in France in the 19th century. Early life and education Bor ...

( 989. ''Dictionnaire des théâtres parisiens au XIXe siècle: les théâtres et la musique''. Paris: Aux Amateurs de livres. . (paperback)
View formats and editions
at

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

. * Wild, Nicole (2012). ''Dictionnaire des théâtres parisiens (1807–1914)''. Lyon: Symétrie. . . {{Authority control Theatres in Paris Comédie-Française