Salle Richelieu

The Comédie-Française (French: [kɔmedi fʁɑ̃sɛːz]) or Théâtre-Français (French: [teɑtʁ(ə) fʁɑ̃sɛ]) is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state theatre in France to have its own permanent troupe of actors. The company's primary venue is the Salle Richelieu, which is a part of the Palais-Royal complex and located at 2, Rue de Richelieu on Place André-Malraux in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. The theatre has also been known as the Théâtre de la République and popularly as "La Maison de Molière" (The House of Molière). It acquired the latter name from the troupe of the best-known playwright associated with the Comédie-Française, Molière. He was considered the patron of French actors. He died seven years before his troupe became known as the Comédie-Française, but the company continued to be known as "La Maison de Molière" even after the official change of name.

Place Colette is a square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.

The Hôtel de Ratabon was a Parisian hôtel particulier, constructed in 1664 to the designs of the architect Pierre Le Muet for the French government official Antoine de Ratabon. It was located on a site, which at the time was between the western border of the garden of the Palais-Royal and the rue de Richelieu and is now at 10 rue de Richelieu in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. Antoine de Ratabon died in his house in 1670. It was destroyed in 1873.

The Hôtel du Louvre is a Parisian luxury hotel in the Second Empire style, with a 5-star rating. It is located opposite the Louvre Museum, on Place André-Malraux in the 1st arrondissement. It is owned by the Constellation Hotels Holdings group and operated by the Hyatt chain.

Les Deux Plateaux, more commonly known as the Colonnes de Buren, is an art installation created by the French artist Daniel Buren in 1985–1986. It is located in the inner courtyard (Cour d'Honneur) of the Palais Royal in Paris, France. As described by the architectural writer Andrew Ayers, "Buren's work takes the form of a conceptual grid imposed on the courtyard, whose intersections are marked by candy-striped black-and-white columns of different heights poking up from the courtyard's floor like sticks of seaside rock. ... In one sense the installation can be read as an exploration of the perception and intellectual projection of space."The work replaced the courtyard's former parking lot and was designed to conceal ventilation shafts for an underground extension of the culture ministry's premises. Some of the columns extend below courtyard level and are surrounded by pools of water into which passersby toss coins. The project was the brainchild of the culture minister Jack Lang and elicited considerable controversy at the time. It was attacked for its cost and unsuitability to a historic landmark. Lang paid no attention to the orders of the Commission des Monuments Historiques, which objected to the plan. In retrospect Ayers has remarked: "Given the harmlessness of the result (deliberate — Buren wanted a monument that would not dominate), the fuss seems excessive, although the columns have proved not only expensive to install, but also to maintain."

In France, the Council of State (French: Conseil d'État, [kɔ̃sɛj deta]) is a governmental body that acts both as legal adviser of the executive branch and as the supreme court for administrative justice. Established in 1799 by Napoleon as a successor to the King's Council (Conseil du Roi), it is located in the Palais-Royal in Paris and is primarily made up of top-level legal officers. The Vice President of the Council of State ranks as the ninth most important civil servant in France. Members of the Council of State are part of a Grand Corps of the French State (Grand corps de l'État). The Council of State mainly recruits from among the top-ranking students graduating from the École nationale d'administration.

The Palais-Royal (French pronunciation: ​[pa.lɛ ʁwa.jal]) is a former royal palace located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. The screened entrance court faces the Place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre. Originally called the Palais-Cardinal, it was built for Cardinal Richelieu from about 1633 to 1639 by the architect Jacques Lemercier. Richelieu bequeathed it to Louis XIII, and Louis XIV gave it to his younger brother, the Duke of Orléans. As the succeeding dukes of Orléans made such extensive alterations over the years, almost nothing remains of Lemercier's original design. The Palais-Royal now serves as the seat of the Ministry of Culture, the Conseil d'État and the Constitutional Council. The central Palais-Royal Garden (Jardin du Palais-Royal) serves as a public park, and the arcade houses shops.

Palais Royal–Musée du Louvre (French pronunciation: ​[palɛ ʁwajal myze dy luvʁ]) is a station on Line 1 and Line 7 of the Paris Métro. Situated in the heart of the 1st arrondissement, it most notably serves the Palais-Royal, Comédie-Française and Louvre.

In France, the Tribunal des conflits is a court system charged with settling conflicts of jurisdiction between the judiciary and administrative courts of the French legal system and with preventing denials of justice born of conflicting decisions from the two branches. It was originally organized under the règlement du 28 octobre 1849 and the law of 4 February 1850, but it was abolished at the beginning of the Second Empire, then recreated by the law of 24 May 1872 reorganizing the Conseil d’État. The tribunal de conflicts may be called on to decide whether an administrative judge (administrative court, Conseil d’État, etc.) or a judiciary judge (Tribunal judiciaire, Labour Court, Tribunal de Commerce, etc.) should rule in a particular case, or sometimes to determine the solution to be applied when decisions from the two branches conflict. Decisions of the Tribunal des conflits apply to all levels of the judiciary and administrative legal system and cannot be appealed. It is said to be paritaire, that is, made up of equal numbers of conseillers d'État and of magistrates from the Cour de cassation. The Tribunal des conflits sits at the Palais-Royal and is housed in the offices of the Conseil d'État.

The rue Molière is a short road in central Paris, in the 1st arrondissement. It begins at avenue de l'Opéra, near the Comédie-Française, and ends at the rue de Richelieu with the Fontaine Molière. It has borne several names, including rue de la Fontaine-Molière, rue Traversière-Saint-Honoré before 1843, earlier the rue Traversine or Traversante, and in 1625 rue de la Brasserie or rue du Bâton-Royal. It is notable for collège Jean-Baptiste-Poquelin, named after the playwright Jean-Baptiste-Poquelin, the real name of Molière.

The Hôtel de Rambouillet, formerly the Hôtel de Pisani, was the Paris residence of Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet, who ran a renowned literary salon there from 1620 until 1648. It was situated on the west side of the rue Saint-Thomas-du-Louvre, just north of Marie de Rohan's Hôtel de Chevreuse, in a former quarter of Paris (demolished during the 19th century), located between the Louvre and Tuileries palaces, near the then much smaller Place du Carrousel, in the area of what was to become the Pavillon Turgot of the Louvre Museum. Members of her salon, received in the intimacy of her Chambre Bleue, admitted to the ruelle—the space between her daybed and the wall of the alcove— represented the flower of contemporary French literature, fashion, and wit, including Madame de Sévigné, Madame de La Fayette, Mademoiselle de Scudéry, the Duchesse de Longueville, the Duchesse de Montpensier, Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac, Bossuet, Jean Chapelain, Corneille, François de Malherbe, Racan, Richelieu, La Rochefoucauld, Paul Scarron, Claude Favre de Vaugelas, and Vincent Voiture. They adopted for themselves the term précieux, which became a term of abuse when satirized by Molière in Les Précieuses ridicules (1659). The quality looked for in this self-defining circle was honnêteté, a quality looked for in vain at the contemporary court, crass, ostentatious, corrupt and corrupting. Honnêteté was a mode of restraint and decorum, so practiced that it had become easy and as if natural, shared by aristocrats and fastidious members of the high bourgeoisie, but which could not readily be taught or learned. In contrast with the court, the Hôtel de Rambouillet received an elite that chose its own members, or, more precisely, whose members recognized one another's right to belong.... The ordinary rules of civility did not govern daily interchange. Members of the group wrote and above all talked to one another. Conversation was a sacred art, the forum in which the group developed its taste. L'Astrée was staged as well as read; other reading included the novels of La Calprenède and Mlle de Scudéry, which held up a mirror of this microsociety".The préciosité refinements of the French language would find some codification in the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française eventually published by the Académie française, which found its start in the Hôtel de Rambouillet. Words like "celadon" to describe a certain range of pale glaucous blue-green glazes of Chinese porcelain come straight from the Hôtel de Rambouillet.

The Autorité de la concurrence (French: [ɔtɔʁite də la kɔ̃kyʁɑ̃s]; French for 'Competition Authority') is France's national competition regulator. Its predecessor, the Competition Council, was established in the 1950s. The Competition Authority is an autorité administrative indépendante ('independent administrative authority'), responsible for preventing anti-competitive practices and monitoring the functioning of markets. It aims to ensure respect for the law linked "to the defense of a sufficient market competition". Although it is not considered a court, it pronounced injunctions, makes decisions, and if necessary, imposes penalties, subject to appeal to the Court of Appeal of Paris and the Court of Cassation. It also issues opinions. The main sources of law of its action are the Commercial Code (Book IV) and Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Its headquarters are in Paris, at 11 Rue de l'Echelle (some services such as the concentrations or the economy are at 6 avenue de l'Opéra)