206 ARCHITECTURE, 
3. Taz Luxemsoure Patack iw Paris. When, after the death of 
Henry I., Maria di Medici wanted a palace for her own residence, she 
bought, in 1611, the old Palais Luxembourg, had it removed, and ordered 
Desbrosses to build a palace, of which the corner-stone was laid in 1615, 
and the Palazzo Pitti in Florence served as model. The plan of the 
Palais Luxembourg (pl. 53, jig. 4) is a rectangle. It has six large square 
pavilions, and is very regular. The north side has a row of arcades, over 
which there is an open terrace, which is divided into two parts by the dome 
over the entrance. The system of rustication prevails throughout the build- 
ing, and there are no columns, scarcely any pilasters, and thence the 
building has an appearance of great strength, but it is also monotonous. 
The small dome is unimportant in itself, but it very happily interrupts the 
long line between the pavilions. The walls here recede above the main 
story, forming two galleries. Upon the middle pavilion is a sun-dial, upon 
which the meridian of mean time is indicated. 
4. Toe Navy Department AND THE GaArpEe-Mevusies in Paris. In the 
year 1763 the Place Louis XV., now the Place de la Concorde, was designed. 
It was completed in 1772. Upon the north of this place stand two large 
buildings 288 feet long. Before the ground story of each is a row of 
arcades 10 feet wide, which form a covered passage 9 feet broad and 25 
feet high. On both sides (jig. 2) of the facade are pavilions, upon whose 
substructures of bound masonry are four Corinthian columns crowned with 
a triangular gable, whose sides rest on pilasters. Between the pavilions 
stand twelve Corinthian columns 30 feet high and three feet thick, forming 
a terrace over the lower passage. The columns extend through two stories 
and stand 11 feet apart. These buildings were originally designed as store- 
houses of the furniture and jewels of the crown (Gardes-Meubles) ; but one 
was changed into the present Navy Department. Jacques Gabriel, a pupil 
of Hardouin Mansard, was the architect of these edifices, and they have the 
advantage of the Louvre in not having their columns coupled, whilst on 
the other hand they are too weak and low and their distances too great. 
5. Tae Panace ar Versarttzs. The royal pleasure grounds at Ver- 
sailles were first planned by Louis XIII., but Louis XIV. caused the present 
palace to be erected after Leveau’s designs. It is 1320 feet in length, and 
consists of a centre building with two wings. Its finest part is the grand 
colonnade after Mansard’s design, fronting towards the garden. PJ. 54, 
jig. 1, gives the view of it. Unhappily the chief masses of the palace are 
injured by many projections and recedings, by which all the great architec- 
tonic lines are destroyed. The great entrance is truly insignificant, hidden 
as it is between the rear wings inclosing the open court which is 70 feet 
wide. The interior of the palace is magnificent, and Louis Philippe 
placed there the Museum, whose treasures are all of the grandest historical 
interest to France. One of the finest halls is the so called Battle Gallery 
(fig. 2) in the southern part of the ground story. It is 327 feet long, lighted 
from above, and contains in paintings, mostly by Horace Vernet, the history 
of Napoleon’s campaigns from 1796-1815, and of the French campaign in 
Algiers. Some of the paintings are of enormous size: the Battle of Isly for 
206 
