Travel to France: Paris 2: Classical: Photo 7

Meanwhile, back on the west side, Henri IV in the 1590s had ordered the construction of a huge wing that would connect the Louvre to the Tuileries, 500 meters away. The shell of that wing, the Grande Galerie, was complete when Henri was assassinated in 1608; work stopped until Napoleon fired up the crews once again. Work on the opposing or north wing also began at his order. One of the preliminary tasks there was clearing away the housing which filled the space; the work was done by a young Haussmann. (The doomed neighborhood is clearly detailed on the Turgot map of Paris, from the 1730s.) Construction in the 19th century came to a peak with the career of Hector-Martin Lefuel, who went to work in 1853 with 3,000 workmen and "transformed the palace beyond recognition."

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Back to France: Paris 2: Classical chapter

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