Hôtel de Chimay, Private mansion at Quai Malaquais, 6th arrondissement of Paris, France.
The Hôtel de Chimay is a classical French mansion on the Quai Malaquais with stone facades and symmetrically arranged windows typical of 17th-century residences. The building spans multiple stories and displays the craftsmanship characteristic of its era.
The original structure dates to 1635 when it was first built as the Hôtel de La Bazinière. Architect François Mansart substantially redesigned it between 1653 and 1658 for royal treasurer Macé Bertrand.
The name comes from Joseph de Riquet de Caraman, prince de Chimay, who bought the mansion in 1852. Before that it was the Hôtel de La Bazinière, then the Grand hôtel de Bouillon, where Marie Anne Mancini, niece of Cardinal Mazarin, held a salon visited by La Fontaine, Madame de Sévigné and Molière's troupe, who played there in 1660.
The building now houses part of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and is used primarily for art education and cultural events. Check ahead to see if interior access is available, as it remains an active school building.
In 1883 the state bought the mansion for the École des Beaux-Arts, which emptied it almost entirely to install studios. The courtyard now holds two columns and a capital from the ruins of the Tuileries Palace, brought there after the 1871 fire.
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