I thought I'd show a few photos of Cartes & plans (Maps & Plans) at the Archives nationales, where I've been doing a lot of research these past few weeks.
The Archives overall is a large complex taking up much of the hôtels de Rohan and de Soubise, two adjacent mansions built in the 18th century by the eponymous related noble families. Coming through the gate off the rather narrow street is the beautiful entrance court of the hôtel de Soubise. You really get a sense of how hôtel front courts (or "courts of honour") could sometimes evoke the spaciousness in front of a country château in the middle of the city, which was a desirable reference for the nobility. The hôtel itself is now a museum; but when I show up for my appointments at Cartes & plans (only available Mondays-Tuesdays-Wednesdays, 14:00-17:00), I head to the the arcade you see on the right, where it meets the main block of the mansion.
Not bad for a waiting area, eh? I wish we had more covered outdoor amenities like this back in Canada. They're very practical and civilized.
Pass through a few doors and you get to a back courtyard of the complex. The wing ending in the octagonal projection to the left is part of the hôtel de Soubise; the block straight ahead and to the right are, I believe, nineteenth-century wings when this complex was transformed to better house the Archives, which was instituted around the time of the Revolution. Where I work is the domed octagonal wing on the right...
... in a fairly bright rotunda space. The doors to the right lead to the archives storage, from which the archivists draw the drawings I've ordered for consultation.
The octagonal wing the Cartes & plans rotunda faces is itself interesting, since it houses on the upper floor the famous Salon de la Princess by Germain Boffrand, probably the most famous French Rococo interior. It was kind of nice knowing I just happened to be working that close to a masterpiece of the very kind of architecture I study...
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