Palais de la Légion d'Honneur
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The Palais de la Légion d'Honneur (French for "Palace of the Legion of Honor") is the building on the west bank of the River Seine in Paris that houses the Musée national de la Legion d'Honneur ("National Museum of the Legion of Honour") and is the seat of the Légion d'honneur, the highest order of chivalry of France. The building is also known the Hôtel de Salm.
The Palais de la Légion d'Honneur was constructed between 1782 and 1787 by the architect Pierre Rousseau for the German Prince Frederick III, Fürst of Salm-Kyrburg. The revolutionary government nationalised the building, and from 13 May 1804 it became the seat of the newly created Légion d'honneur. It was destroyed by fire under the Paris Commune in 1871, but was reconstructed with the support of funds raised among recipients of the Légion d'honneur and of the military medals which it also commemorates.
The address of the Palace is:
- 2, rue de la Légion d'honneur
- F-75007 Paris
- Open daily (except on Mondays) 2–5 pm
- RER: Musée d'Orsay (opposite the main entrance of the Musée d'Orsay)
An imitation of the Palace building was constructed in San Francisco (the California Palace of the Legion of Honor), and also serves as a museum. In Yvelines (near Paris) there is an almost exact replica of the Hotel de Salm, built for the wealthy banker Julius Porges called the Chateau Rochefort en Yvelines, today it is a golf club. In Haarlem in the Netherlands the banker Henry Hope had his resembling Villa Welgelegen. It was also a favorite of Thomas Jefferson, whose design for Monticello, his own estate, was influenced by it.
