With interiors even better than Versailles, Paris has a new must-see, the restored Hôtel de la Marine

The Hôtel de la Marine, built under King Louis XV as a showcase of French decorative arts, survived little changed as France’s naval headquarters for 200 years

Reopened after a four-year restoration, the palace is arguably a more complete representation of 18th century design than anything else in Paris

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A ceremonial hall in the Hôtel de la Marine, an 18th century palace in Paris opened to the public after a four-year, US$146 million restoration. Photo: Instagram/@hoteldelamarine

Published: 5:45am, 18 Mar 2022

First-time visitors to Paris will invariably tick a series of boxes: the Louvre, the Luxembourg Gardens, perhaps a day trip to the Palace of Versailles, if they have the time.

Each is a relic of France’s pre-revolutionary ancien régime, and each, in its own way, has been rebuilt or reconstructed over the past few centuries into some approximation of what it was like before France overthrew the Bourbon monarchy in 1789.

But there’s another building: the Hôtel de la Marine on the Place de la Concorde reopened last year after a four-year restoration, and is arguably a more complete representation of 18th century design than anything else in Paris.

Finished in 1775 from designs by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, official architect to King Louis XV, the building was intended to be the repository for state treasures.

A view of the Hôtel de la Marine on the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Photo: Instagram/@hoteldelamarine

After the French Revolution (1789–1799), it became the headquarters of the French navy, a transition that directly impacted the preservation of its original interior.

“During the revolution, there was the desire to change out all the people who’d been in charge, namely the aristocracy,” says writer Jérôme Hanover. “But at the time, France was waging war against basically everyone in Europe, and they desperately needed well-trained, credentialled people to run the armies.”