TEC4710978: L'Hotel de Sully, 62 rue Saint-Antoine (Saint Antoine), Paris 4. Architecture by Jean Androuet du Cerceau (1585-1649), 1625-1630. The hotel de Sully was built between 1625 and 1630 by the master macon Jean Notin, on plans of Jean I Androuet du Cerceau, for the financier Mesme-Gallet. Sully became owner on 23 February 1634. He lived there and passed it on to his family. Henri IV's Superintendent of Finance will lavishly decorate his new home, without staying there assiduously. The hotel was sold to Benoit Turgot de Saint-Clair in 1752, before becoming the property of the family of Boisgelin 1771. Today it houses Monum, the former National Historic Monument Fund. / Bridgeman Images
ITR4755486: The archives of the Canal du Midi in Toulouse, Building des archives du Canal, Toulouse, Haute-Garonne (Haute Garonne), Midi-Pyrenees (Midi Pyrenees). Photography 2002. At 60 years old, under Louis XIV, engineer Pierre Paul Riquet embarks on an extraordinary adventure, connecting the Garonne to the Mediterranean with the technical and topographical means of the 18th century. The Midi Canal will take 15 years of work to dig and feed a 240 km long artificial stream. / Bridgeman Images
TEC4711631: The Mazarine library at the Institut de France, 23 Quai Conti, Paris 6. The Mazarine Bibliotheque is the oldest public library in France. Coming from Cardinal Mazarin's personal bibliotheque (1602-1661), it was considerably enriched by Gabriel Naude, to the point of becoming the first private library in Europe in the 18th century with nearly 40,000 volumes. To ensure her continued existence, Mazarin decided to join her in the College of Four Nations (intended for the education of sixty young people from the four provinces united in the kingdom under his government). College, which he founded shortly before his death. The library was restored in 1945 to the Institut de France, which has occupied the buildings of the former College of Four Nations since 1805. / Bridgeman Images
ITR4714145: Detail of La Tour Doree of Fort Camaret-sur-Mer (Camaret sur Mer), Finistere, Brittany, France. Architecture by Sebastien Le Prestre, Marquis de Vauban (1633-1707). The Vauban Tower had the task of monitoring the entrance of the Brest Gullet and the root of the Roscanvel Presquíile, through which the enemy could have sneaked into the Brest harbour. Still unfinished, the Doree Tower underwent its baptism with fire on 18 June 1694. Vauban breaks the assault of 147 Anglo-Dutch ships trying to unlock. Beautifully built, the tower is the prototype and the best example of a fort at the Vauban Sea with low battery and gorge tower. / Bridgeman Images