Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre: history and sights
Served by: metro lines 1 and 7.
Did you know?
Serves both the Palais-Royal garden, once Cardinal Richelieu's residence, and the entrance to the world's largest museum. Its arcaded gardens today house elegant boutiques and art galleries, offering a peaceful setting in the very heart of Paris.
Anecdote
Buren's striped columns, installed in 1986 in the Palais-Royal courtyard, sparked fierce controversy at first.
Around Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre
- Fontaine Molière, 300 m away — A 19th-century fountain on Rue de Richelieu, dedicated to the playwright who died nearby, adorned with a marble depiction of his complete works.
- Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 260 m away — One of the world's largest decorative arts collections, 150,000 works from the Middle Ages to today, in the Louvre's Marsan wing.
- Musée du Louvre, 30 m away — The world's largest museum, a former royal palace home to the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, with its famous glass pyramid.
- Jardin du Palais-Royal, 280 m away — A 17th-century arcaded garden, once Cardinal Richelieu's residence, adorned with the famous striped columns by Buren.
- Comédie-Française, 130 m away — The world's oldest still-active theatre, founded in 1680 on Louis XIV's orders, home to the classic French repertoire.
- Galerie Vivienne, 500 m away — Widely regarded as the finest covered passage in Paris, built in 1823 and listed as a historic monument since 1974: mosaic floors, a glass roof and elegant shops along 176 metres.