Official classification of the eastern wing of the King’s Palace of Rome in Rambouillet (Yvelines), as historical monuments

The Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, has decided to classify the facades and roofs of the southern part of the eastern wing of the former palace of the King of Rome in Rambouillet (Yvelines) as historical monuments by decree.

This palace was commissioned by Napoleon I^er to the architect Auguste Famin, on the site of the former Government Palace built in XVIII^e century, to welcome its guests when he resided in the castle of Rambouillet. At the birth of his son in 1811, the emperor dedicated the building to him then under construction. The new palace consists of two wings, joined to the south by a central body. They are extended to the north by lower parts, reused from the old building. The palace was not completed until the end of the Empire, in 1814.

The palace, which was awarded in 1834, was acquired by a private owner in 1836, who destroyed the central body, thus dividing the building into two symmetrical parts and taking the form it has retained to this day.

All the facades and roofs of the palace were listed as historical monuments in 1966. The facades and roofs of the main part of the western wing of the palace, which became the property of the municipality of Rambouillet in 1988, were classified in 1995.

The facades of the main part of the east wing, privately owned, were the subject of a restoration work that was abruptly interrupted in 2018, leaving the masonry bare. The health of the building having become dangerous, a danger order was made on 21 December 2018 by the municipality of Rambouillet.

Considering the imperial origin of the building, its high architectural quality testifying to the influence of Tuscan architecture of the Quattrocento in France at the beginning of the XIX^e the need to harmonize the protection of the two main surviving wings of the palace, the National Commission on Heritage and Architecture, meeting on 10 December 2020, unanimously voted in favour of the classification as historic monuments, if necessary, the facades and roofs of the southern part of the eastern wing of the former palace of the King of Rome at Rambouillet.

Since the agreement on the classification of the owner could not be obtained, Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin decided to classify the southern part of the eastern wing of the palace of the King of Rome as historical monuments, This will ensure the conservation of this remarkable architectural ensemble.