The Palais de l'Alma (; English: Palace of the Alma) is a national palace of the

French Republic France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

's 7th arrondissement. It is located just east of the Musée du Quai Branly, almost in front of the

Pont de l'Alma Pont, meaning "bridge" in French, may refer to: Places France * Pont, Côte-d'Or, in the Côte-d'Or ''département'' * Pont-Bellanger, in the Calvados ''département'' * Pont-d'Ouilly, in the Calvados ''département'' * Pont-Farcy, in the Cal ...

. The name of the palace comes from the

Battle of the Alma The Battle of the Alma (short for Battle of the Alma River) took place during the Crimean War between an allied expeditionary force (made up of French, British, and Ottoman forces) and Russian forces defending the Crimean Peninsula on 20Sept ...

(1854).

History

The palace was built between 1861 and 1864 by

Jacques-Martin Tétaz Jacques-Martin Tétaz (6 March 1818 – 16 October 1865) was a French architect. He was admitted at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts where he was the student of Jean-Nicolas Huyot and Louis-Hippolyte Lebas. He was the recipient of ...

in the objective to become stables for

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

, as well as house their personnel. In 1881, it became a dependency of the presidency under the Third Republic. Then in 1947, it housed the French meteorology office. The palace has become a French

Monument historique () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, ...

since 30 October 2002. The palace now houses approximately 70 official housings, amongst those some of them are used for close collaborators to the

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the po ...

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

used an apartment to house his mistress

Anne Pingeot Anne Pingeot (born 13 May 1943) is a French art historian specialising in French sculpture of the 19th century and author of several books and catalogues. She was curator at the department of sculpture at the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay. She wa ...

and their daughter

Mazarine Jules Mazarin (born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino or Mazarini; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), from 1641 known as Cardinal Mazarin, was an Catholic Church in Italy, Italian Catholic prelate, diplomat and politician who served as the Chief minister o ...

when he was president.

François de Grossouvre François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * François-Marie Arouet (better known as Voltaire; 1 ...

was also living there at the same time.

Alexandre Benalla The Benalla affair () or Benalla affairs (''affaires Benalla'' or ''affaires Macron-Benalla'') are political and judicial cases involving Alexandre Benalla (), who served as a security officer and deputy chief of staff to President of France Em ...

, who served as a security officer and deputy chief of staff to President

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

, was housed there from 9 July 2018, one week before being taken into custody for the judicial and political case which took his name.

References

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in the 7th arrondissement of Paris Government of France Official residences in France Monuments historiques of Paris 1864 establishments in France