Palais-Royal

The Palais-Royal features a courtyard lined with two hundred and sixty striped black and white marble columns of varying heights. Cardinal Richelieu commissioned the palace in sixteen thirty-three to serve as his private residence, but he willed it to the crown before he died. Decades later, the Duke of Orleans turned the garden into a commercial hub. He lined the perimeter with shops, cafes, and gambling dens, making it the most scandalous and popular destination in Paris for revolutionaries and writers alike.