page_title: History of parks and gardens of Paris
section_title: Jardin du Palais-Royal (1629)
hierarchical_section_title: History of parks and gardens of Paris / Renaissance Gardens and Gardens a la Française (1564-1700) / Jardin du Palais-Royal (1629)
caption_attribution_description: English: View of the Palais-Royal as depicted on the Turgot map of Paris
context_page_description: Paris today has more than 421 municipal parks and gardens, covering more than three thousand hectares and containing more than 250,000 trees. Two of Paris's oldest and most famous gardens are the Tuileries Garden, created in 1564 for the Tuileries Palace, and redone by André Le Nôtre in 1664; and the Luxembourg Garden, belonging to a château built for Marie de' Medici in 1612, which today houses the French Senate. The Jardin des Plantes was the first botanical garden in Paris, created in 1626 by Louis XIII's doctor Guy de La Brosse for the cultivation of medicinal plants. Between 1853 and 1870, the Emperor Napoleon III and the city's first director of parks and gardens, Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand, created the Bois de Boulogne, the Bois de Vincennes, Parc Montsouris and the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, located at the four points of the compass around the city, as well as many smaller parks, squares and gardens in the neighborhoods of the city. One hundred sixty-six new parks have been created since 1977, most notably the Parc de la Villette and Parc André Citroën.
context_section_description: The garden of the Palais-Royal was built by Cardinal Richelieu, after he bought the hôtel d'Angennes in 1623 and turned it into his own residence, the Palais-Cardinal. When he died he left it to Louis XIV, who had played in the gardens as a child, and in 1643 it became the Palais-Royal. The garden, designed by Claude Desgots, featured two rows of elm trees, elaborate parterres and ornamental flower beds, statues, fountains and two basins, and a grove of trees at one end. It became the property of Monsieur, the brother of Louis XIV, in 1692, and thereafter belonged to members of Orleans branch of the dynasty. After the death of Louis XIV, it became the residence of the Regent, Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, whose dissolute lifestyle provoked many scandals. The gardens became a popular meeting place for writers, and also a place frequented by prostitutes.
  A fire destroyed much of the Palais in 1773, and the owner, Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, decided to turn it into a profit-making establishment. He built an arcade of shops and cafés encircling the garden, with residences above, with a wooden gallery for promenading around the garden. A circus was established in the center for horseback riding. Since it was private property, he police were not permitted access. In the years before and after the Revolution, the garden and surrounding buildings became the meeting place for revolutionaries, for political debate, gambling and higher-class prostitution. The Theatre-Francaise, the future Comédie-Française, was established there in 1787. During the Revolution, the garden and arcade was nationalized, and the heads of those guillotined were on several occasions carried on pikes by a crowd around the garden, in front of the diners in the cafes. The owner of the garden, though he supported the Revolution and changed his name to Philippe-Egalité, was guillotined in 1793.
  After the Restoration, the new Duke of Orleans, Louis-Philippe recovered his property, and returned it to respectability. He expelled the gambling salons and prostitutes, and had the garden and arcade rebuilt into roughly the way they look today. The Palais-Royale was burned by the Communards in May 1871, along with the Tuileries Palace and other symbols of royalty, and were rebuilt. During the 20th century, the residences overlooking the garden were the home of many French celebrities, including André Malraux, Jean Cocteau and Colette. and Two works of modern sculpture were added in 1986; an arrangement of columns, by Daniel Buren, and a fountain-sculpture of steel balls, by Pol Bury.
caption: Gardens of the Palais Royal in 1739
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