| Charles IX, then Henry III continued their father's policy, adding more stones to the building towards the south. However, Henry II's Louvre was still about the same size as the early citadel, tiny compared to royal cities such as Blois, Fontainebleau, Vincennes or Saint-Germain. Monarchs lived there the darkest hours of the late Valois reigns, with the Saint-Barthelemy massacre in 1572, as Paris political powers were increasing.
Located in the middle of the city, the neighborhoods of the Louvre were residential and animated. It had a tiny corridor to the Tuileries, a pleasure palace Catherine de Medicis had asked Philibert Delorme and Jean Bullant to build, but which had remained incomplete. Hard times had forced architects to cope with lack of gold, civil wars and the superstitious florentine Queen. |
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