Place Vendôme

The land beneath your feet was once the site of a private mansion belonging to the Duke of Vendôme, an illegitimate son of King Henri IV. By the late seventeenth century, King Louis XIV saw potential in this space for a grand monument to his own reign. He commissioned the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart, famous for his work at the Palace of Versailles, to transform the area into an octagonal square. The project was so strictly controlled that the uniform facades of the surrounding buildings were completed before the structures behind them were even constructed, ensuring the entire space achieved a perfect, symmetrical harmony.