PLACE VENDOME, Palaces

Now let's take a look at the buildings that surround Place Vendôme in a uniform, symmetrical fashion. By the way, I still haven't told you how the square got its final name: it is named after the illegitimate son of King Henry IV, the Duke of Vendôme, who owned a palace in the square that no longer exists.

A series of arches runs along the bottom of the buildings, while in the floors above you can see pairs of overlapping windows that alternate with Corinthian columns decorated with bas-reliefs, all covered by apartments with characteristic windows cut out of the spaces under the roofs: these spaces are called "mansards" in honor of the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart, the square's architect and one of the protagonists of European Baroque architecture.

After having daydreamed in front of the boutiques that, with elegance and glamorous pieces and prices, keep the tradition of French luxury jewelry, watchmaking, and haute couture alive, stop for a moment at number 12: the great composer and pianist Frédéric Chopin lived here for a few years....