The (, 'King's Buildings') was a division of the ('King's Household') in France under the . It was responsible for building works at the King's residences in and around Paris.

History

The Bâtiments du Roi was created by Henry IV of France to coordinate the building works at his royal palaces. Formerly, each palace had its own superintendent of works. Henry gave the task of supervising all works to Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully.

In the 17th century, the responsibilities of the extended beyond pure building works, to include the manufacture of tapestries and porcelain. In 1664, Jean-Baptiste Colbert was entitled ("superintendent and director-general of building, art, tapestries and factories of France"). This title was retained by several of his successors. Other areas that came within under the control of the Bâtiments du Roi included botanical gardens, and the Royal Academies of painting and sculpture, and of architecture.

The wide scope of the responsibilities meant that the superintendent of the was effectively a minister of the French king. The director general was assisted by the first architect to the King () and the first painter to the King (), a staff of inspectors, architects and several hundred workmen. Much of the work was left to the director's first lieutenants, such as Robert de Cotte and Gilles-Marie Oppenord.

Responsibilities

According to a royal decree of 1 September 1776, the Bâtiments du Roi was responsible for: works of construction and maintenance of the main royal residences (the Louvre, the Tuileries, Versailles) and other subsidiary residences (including Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Fontainebleau, Compiègne) and their parks and gardens; designing and building public works, such as the Place Louis-le-Grand (now the Place Vendôme) and the Invalides; managing the royal academies of painting and sculpture, and architecture; production of tapestries at Gobelins and Savonnerie, and porcelain at Sèvres; oversight of the town of Versailles.

Its responsibilities includes all buildings with a royal connection: Château de Versailles, Grand Trianon, Petit Trianon Château de Marly Château de Fontainebleau Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye Château de Meudon Palais du Louvre Palais des Tuileries Palais-Royal Palais du Luxembourg Château de Clagny Château de Madrid Château de La Muette Château de Vincennes Château de Compiègne Château de Blois Château de Chambord Château d'Amboise Château de Choisy Château de Saint-Hubert Château de Bellevue Jardin des Plantes Maison royale de Saint-Louis à Saint-Cyr-l'École Collège de France Manufacture des Gobelins Manufacture de la Savonnerie

Superintendents or directors-general of the Bâtiments du Roi

From 1602 to 1708, and from 1716 to 1726, the head of the Bâtiments du Roi was known as a superintendent (). From 1708 to 1716, and from 1726 to 1791, the head was known as the director general ().

1602–1621: Maximilien de Béthune (1560–1641), duc de Sully (also ) 1621: Louis d'Aloigny, baron de Rochefort 1622–1624: Jean de Fourcy de Corbinière 1625–1638: Henri de Fourcy de Corbinière 1638–1645: François Sublet de Noyers 1646–1648: Jules Mazarin (1602-1661) 1648–1656: Étienne Le Camus 1656–1664: Antoine de Ratabon 1664–1683: Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619–1683) (also and Secretary of State of the Maison du Roi) 1683–1691: François Michel Le Tellier de Louvois (1641–1691) 1691–1699: Édouard Colbert de Villacerf (1629–1699) 1699–1708: Jules Hardouin-Mansart (1646–1708) (also ) 1708–1736: Louis Antoine de Pardaillan de Gondrin (1665–1736), duc d'Antin 1736–1745: Philibert Orry (1689–1747) (also ) 1745–1751: Charles François Paul Le Normant de Tournehem (1684–1751) 1751–1773: Abel-François Poisson de Vandières (1727–1781), marquis de Marigny 1773–1774: Joseph Marie Terray (1715–1778) (also ) 1774–1789: Charles Claude Flahaut de La Billarderie (1730–1810), comte d'Angiviller

See also

References