≈ 5 min awayLouvre Museum- Distance
- 300 m
Paris · France
Palais-Royal: what's nearby, how to get there and when to go · 2026
Long-term residents trade street noise for the enclosed palace gardens, using the historic galleries to bypass the dense crowds outside the Louvre.
Around here20
Exchange rate€0.89as of Nov 2, 2026
What is around20
Louvre Museum
Beaux-Arts de Paris
La Madeleine
Sainte Chapelle
Palais Garnier
arc de triomphe du Carrousel
Louvre Pyramid
Musée des Arts et Métiers
Palais Bourbon
place de la Concorde
place Vendôme
Pont Neuf
Tuileries Palace
Folies Bergère
Hôtel de Ville, Paris
Musée National d'Art Moderne
Royal abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés- Notre-Dame de Paris
- Centre Georges Pompidou
- Conciergerie
About the place
Built as a cardinal residence before becoming the epicenter of royal intrigue, Palais-Royal remains an architectural sanctuary set slightly apart from the surrounding commercial bustle.
Constructed as the personal residence of Cardinal Richelieu by architect Jacques Lemercier, the estate bore the name Palais-Cardinal before passing to the crown. Royal ownership transformed the complex into the Palais-Royal, sheltering Queen Anne of Austria, young Louis XIV, and exiled English royals. Continuous rebuilding under the Dukes of Orléans eventually erased nearly all traces of Lemercier's initial layout.
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The grounds developed into a cultural capital within Paris, featuring formal gardens reshaped by André Le Nôtre and annex wings that housed royal academies of painting and architecture. When court etiquette silenced entertainment at Versailles, aristocratic society returned here for public gatherings. Today the arcaded courtyards serve long-term residents as a quiet pedestrian corridor insulated from the heavy traffic around the Louvre.
Associations
- Cardinal Richelieu
- André Le Nôtre
- Royal Academies
- Louvre spillover crowds
Facts
- The site was originally commissioned as the Palais-Cardinal for Cardinal Richelieu before passing into royal ownership.
- Architect Jacques Lemercier designed the initial complex, though later ducal renovations removed nearly all of his original work.
- Exiled English royalty including Queen Henrietta Maria found shelter here during the English Civil War.
- The Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture and the Académie Royale d'Architecture both operated inside the adjoining Palais Brion.
Palais-Royal in pictures8 photos · 1 place
Getting there and staying
Free stays with hostsSee hosts
In the city5,030
2 sources · As of November 3, 2026
Source: TravelHub · OurAirports (public domain)
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Similar nearby
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- Distance
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