BnF Museum

You are approaching the Richelieu site of the Bibliotheque nationale de France, a complex that holds the title of the oldest museum in the country. Its origins trace back to the royal collections assembled by French kings during the Middle Ages. What you see today is the result of centuries of architectural evolution, beginning as a seventeenth-century palace built for Cardinal Mazarin and expanding over time into the grand research and exhibition center that stands here today.