Cour Bonaparte / The Bonaparte Courtyard

Each of the bays at the southern edge of the courtyard were originally decorated with architectural relics from the end of the 15th and 16th centuries. They were partially taken down in 1976 so that the facades could be cleaned and restored. The stone arcade from the first bay came from the former hotel de la Trémoille, built at the end of the 15th or at the beginning of the 16th century on the rue Bourdonnais in Paris.

On the northern side, two pillar fragments, placed on either side of the Anet doorway, have the same provenance. The chapel door belonged to the Anet castle (Eure-et-Loir), the building of which was started in 1548 by Henri II's architect, Philippe de l'Orme. The castle was built for Diane of Poitiers, the duchess of Valentinois, widow of Louis de Brézé. Twenty-two meters high, it is made up of the three superimposed orders: Tuscan, Ionic, and Corinthian.

A building decorated with medallions of enameled lava rock (as on the opposite side) made by the Balze Brothers (1868-1869) unfolds from the Anet portal. Starting from the right, the medallions represent the sculptor David d'Angers, the painter Antoine-Jean Gros, the sculptor Pierre Cartellier, and the painter Pierre-Paul Prudhon.