Wednesday 7 March 2012

Wednesday Doorway: la Cour d'appel ou les écuries de la reine

This is the civil and criminal Court of appeals, one of the busiest in France. It is housed since the end of the 1960s in what used to be the queen's stables, which were built in the 1670s by François d'Orbay. Originally Louis the 14th's stables, he gave them to his wife Marie-Thérèse of Austria once his own vast stables opposite the palace were finished. The queen's stables were then extended in 1773 to Ange-Jacques Gabriel's plans. During the French Revolution, they became a prison.

Voici la Cour d'appel. Elle est hébergée depuis la fin des années 1960 dans les écuries de la reine, construites pour Louis XIV par François d'Orbay. Une fois que ses propres écuries furent achevées, il les donna à son épouse, Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche. Toutes les reines de France suivantes s'en servirent. Les écuries furent ensuite agrandies en 1773 sur des plans d'Ange-Jacques Gabriel et servirent de maison d'arrêt pendant la Révolution.

25 comments:

Jack said...

Wow! What a place for a modern courtroom.

Olivier said...

ce batiment est magnifique

Anonymous said...

An interesting history!

Kay L. Davies said...

Fascinating history. Interesting photo.
K

Lowell said...

My first thought was this place looked like a stable. Am I smart or what? But it's got more of a history than that.

We need some government buildings that are stables right now considering all the horses asses that are running for political office!

By the way: thanks for hanging in there on the comment thing. I'm working on that. Meanwhile, just enter your name so I know who left the comment...it will go through just fine that way.

I'm hoping Weebly will update the process soon.

Anonymous said...

Was für ein Abenteuer !


Den Mittwoch gut dir.

Regina K said...

Interesting history on this place. I wonder what the inside looks like.

Lowell said...

Hi again! Try the following URL for Stone Creek. It doesn't make sense but that's what comes up:

http://www.weebly.com/weebly/main.php#

SRQ said...

What a good looking court!

Randy said...

Wonderful post and photo. I like the arched windows.

Thirtytwo degrees said...

The King must have had a lot of horses to have had so many stables, and surely, the Queen must have owned a few as well. This is a very interesting conversion from stables to prison to court of appeals...incroyable!

Thirtytwo degrees said...

Besides, You know I love anything to do with King Louis XIV, and so I sincerely love it when you photograph anything from the Grand Siecle.

Dina said...

From horses to prisoners to lawyers.

Cezar and Léia said...

Very interesting place with an impressive facade and beautiful entrance!
Léia

Loree said...

What magnificent stables. They are fit for humans not just horses!

黄清华 Wong Ching Wah said...

I like your stories!

Malyss said...

Ils ont dû en voir et en entendre, des choses, ces murs!Jolie lumière sur les pierres dorées!

VP said...

Stables, prison, court of law: a quite strange career...

Halcyon said...

Cool way to reuse an old building. :)
There's so much history everywhere you turn in France. Love this doorway, even though I wouldn't want to pass through it for the wrong reasons!

Bergson said...

et on y appelle quoi ?

PerthDailyPhoto said...

For me just the fact that this was built in 1670 and is still in full use today is mind boggling, you're so lucky Ciel,to be surrounded by so much history.

Unknown said...

Stables, prison, court house... If only those walls could talk! Lovely façade.

Wayne said...

What a rich history. Seems ironic that a horse stable is now a government office :-)

theconstantwalker said...

Why is it so busy... what have you done? lol.xx

EG CameraGirl said...

Some lucky horses lived way better than a LOT of humans.