Le Marais (nord) Hôtel de Rohan-Soubise (english espanol)
HOTEL DE ROHAN ET DE SOUBISE (english espanol)
Hotel de Soubise
History
In 1705 the prince of Soubise gave one of his children, Armand-Gaston de Rohan, plots of land situated along the Rue Vieille-du-Temple, and the architect Pierre-Alexis Delamair would be asked to build a mansion.
Four cardinals, members of the Rohan family, and bishops of Strasbourg, lived in this mansion. In 1785, the fourth of them, Louis-René Edouard de Rohan, was involved in the necklace affair.
Louis-René Edouard de Rohan was manipulated by his mistress, Jeanne de la Motte. She convinced him that he would be in favour again with the queen if he advanced the funds in order to buy a 2 800-carat diamond necklace, which would cost nowadays about 7 million of euros. Missis de la Motte stole the necklace and asked her husband, Nicolas de la Motte, to sell the diamonds in England.
The jewellers Boehmer and Bossenge sold on credit the necklace to the cardinal. Between whiles, however, the jewellers started to worry about the fact that they still hadn’t received the first payment.
On the 15 August 1785, the cardinal was arrested and imprisoned in the Bastille. Nevertheless, on the 31 May 1786, the cardinal was acquited and Missis de la Motte was sentenced to be whiped and to be branded and then she was imprisoned for life. However, one year later, she escaped from her prison and fled in England, where she died in 1791.
What concers the mansion, it belongs to the state since the Revolution. In 1808, Napoleon I-st decided to allocate the Hôtel de Rohan to the Imperial Printing Office, which would later become the Government Printing Office, or Imprimerie nationale. This situation was prejudicial to the building but, in 1927, Charles-Victor Langlois, director of the archives, got the allocation of the mansion to the National Archives and had it restored.
Description
The entrance of the Hôtel de Rohan is at no.87 Rue Vieille-du-Temple.
The façade overlooking the courtyard has three levels and is vertically given rhytm by partition-walls.
The fore-part of the building is composed of a ground floor with arched openings adorned with masks.
The building is linked to the Hôtel de Soubise by a garden.
The façade overlooking the garden is longer than the one overlooking the courtyard. It has 16 bays and three levels.
The ground floor has arched openings, except in the two lateral aisles, and is surrounded by a frieze with triglyphs and metops with shields, quivers and helmets.
The fore-part has three bays with doric columns on the ground floor, ionic columns on the first floor and corinthian pilasters on the attic.
In the past the attic was adorned with statues and the pediment was sculpted wiyh the coat of arms of the cardinal of Rohan.
Above the former stables are the Horses of Apollo, a masterpiece by Robert Le Lorrain, sculpted in 1736-1737. The four horses seem to spring out of the clouds. In the center, a groom holds a huge shell in which a horse drinks, while a young man holds another horse by the mane.
This sculpture influenced the “Chevaux de Marly” by Guillaume Coustou.
L’Hôtel de Soubise
We are in front of the Hôtel de Soubise which was built for the Princess de Rohan and it is one of the 2 main buildings housing the national archives.
History :
The history of this imposing mansion started already at the end of the 14th century. The french soldier, Olivier de Clisson, built a manor house at this place. This manor was occupied by the English and became a residence of several dukes in the 15th century. Finally it was called Hôtel de Clisson (so it was a mansion) and it became the property of the french ducal family, the Guise.
In the 16th century the Guise called on the best artist’s services like those of Primatice (italian manerist painter, sculpturer and architect) and of Nicolo dell’ Abate (painter).
The mansion became the headquarters of the Catholic League, which organised the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day. When Marie de Guise (Marie de Lorraine), the last representative person of this ducal family, dies, the mansion is sold to François de Rohan, Prince de Soubise, in 1700.
He asks the architect Pierre-Alexis Delamair to remodel it completely. Delamair erects the majestic courtyard an the fasade. The magnificent interiour decoration which is a masterpiece of the Rococo style was created by many architects and painters such as Germain Boffrand, François Boucher, Carle Van Loo, Charles-Joseph Natoire. Unfortunately, a part of the decoration is dismantled today.
In 1808 this residence has become the property of the State. Nowadays it hosts the Museum of French History and a part of the French National Archives.
Architecture:
The fore-part of the fasade rises up in 2 levels of elevation. There are 3 bays, which are separated by superposed twin columns. The groundfloor houses the Prince’s appartments while the appartments of the Princess’ are situated on the 1st floor.
The raking cornices are decorated with a sculpture of Glory and a sculpture of Magnificence. The 4 statues which decorate the fasade are copies and represent the 4 seasons. We see Flore, Cérèes, Bacchus and a old man.
There is a balustrade between the 2nd level and the roof and the 4 sculptures on it depict Genius and Arts.
Nearly all Statues were carried out by Robert Le Lorrain.
The majestic courtyard is semicircular in shape and surrounded by 56 twin columns which culminate in composit capitals.
The top of this peristyle is ornamented with a terrace lined by a balustrade.
The 2nd building housing the National Archives is the Hôtel de Rohan.
El PALACIO DE SOUBISE
Mansión de Clisson
La primera mansión fue construida en el siglo XIV para Olivier de Clisson quien era un soldado al servicio del rey de Francia Carlos V. Fue un compañero de armas de Bertrán du Guesclin y le sucedió como condestable que era el puesto más alto en el rango militar.
Hoy en día, solo queda la puerta Clisson flanqueada por dos torrecillas en voladizo en la calle des Archives.
Mansión de Guise
Mas tarde, en el siglo XVI el duque de Guise que se llamaba Francisco de Lorraine y su esposa Ana de Este compraron la mansión. Contrataron al famoso pintor y arquitecto El Primaticio para la decoración. El Primaticio realizó también la decoración del palacio de Fontainebleau. La capilla fue decorada por el pintor Niccolo dell’Abbate.
Durante las guerras de religión la mansión fue el cuartel general del partido católico. Aquí se preparo la masacre de San Bartolomé por Enrique de Guise (al chirlo), hijo de Francisco.
Mansión de Soubise
En 1700 Francisco de Rohan, príncipe de Soubise, compró la mansión y contrato al arquitecto Pierre-Alexis Delamair para transformar la casa en un suntuoso palacio. Delamair cambio la entrada del palacio. Construyo la fachada principal. Esta fachada se compone de dos niveles. El arimez central se compone de tres ventanas a cada nivel enmarcadas por pares de columnas de cada lado, todo ello coronado con un frontón. Sobre el frontón a ambos lados hay dos estatuas representando la gloria y la magnificencia. La fachada esta coronada por una balaustrada con cuatro estatuas. Las estatuas fueron esculpidas por Roberto Le Lorrain quien era un famoso escultor en el siglo XVIII. Delamair creó también el majestuoso patio de honor con forma de herradura bordeado por un elegante peristilo.
El hijo de Francisco, llamado Hercule-Mériadec contrató al arquitecto Germán Boffrand para transformar la decoración del palacio. Bajo su dirección, numerosos pintores como Boucher, Natoire o Van Loo hicieron magnificas decoraciones que son obras maestras del estilo rococó. Entre todas las mansiones de Paris, el palacio de Soubise es el más grande.
LA MANSION DE ROHAN
En 1705 Delamair empezó la construcción del hotel de Rohan al mismo tiempo que la del hotel de Soubise. El palacio estaba destinado al Cardenal de Rohan, hijo del príncipe de Soubise, obispo de Estrasburgo. Luego en el siglo XVIII el cardenal de Rohan fue implicado en el asunto del collar de la reina. El cardenal había perdido los favores de la reina Maria Antonieta. La condesa de la Motte engaño al cardenal, haciéndole creer que la reina deseaba comprar un valioso collar (1600000 libras) y le convenció para que lo comprara y se lo ofreciera para adular a la reina. Pero el collar fue dado a una mujer que se hacia pasar por la reina (una impostora), finalmente los ladrones huyeron con el collar. El cardenal no pudo pagar el collar, fue juzgado y perdió sus cargos. La condesa fue condenada a cadena perpetua pero huyó a Inglaterra donde publicó sus Memorias desprestigiando a la reina que ya tenía la reputación de gastar el dinero del reino.
El portal esta coronado con un bajorrelieve llamado los caballos de Apolo y que representa caballos saliendo de las nubes, y un caballo que bebe en una concha. Este bajorrelieve fue esculpido por Roberto Le Lorrain.
Hoy el hotel de Rohan-Soubise alberga los archivos nacionales y el museo de la Historia de Francia.