Understanding the Hôtel de Béthune-Sully in Paris

• Sully’s residence. Building started on the mansion in 1625. It is near the Place Royale (now the Place des Vosges), a development launched by Henri IV and overseen by Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully (1559-1641), who bought the residence in 1634. It stayed in his family until the middle of the 18th century. Madame de Sévigné and Voltaire both stayed here.

• A public building. It was bought by the State and its restoration, which started in the 1950s, launched the redevelopment of the entire district. Since 1967 the building has been the headquarters of the Centre des monuments nationaux.