Salle du Manège
The Salle du Manège was a royal riding arena (French: manège ) in Paris and during the French Revolution from 1789 to 1793 the meeting place of the National Assembly and (from September 1792) the National Convention . If you don't mean the interior, the building is called Le Manège des Tuileries in French .
The building was built between 1715 and 1722 for the young King Louis XV. , who held his riding exercises there. The architect Robert de Cotte created the 120 by 20 meter long building on one side of the Jardin des Tuileries not far from the Tuileries Castle . The functional, outwardly unadorned riding school of the Tuileries became a nucleus of the French and the entire European art of riding . From 1730 onwards, the most influential riding master François Robichon de la Guérinière taught there .
After the outbreak of the revolution and the return of Louis XVI. After Paris in October 1789, the constituent national assembly ( Konstituante ) , which had emerged from the Estates General , also moved its seat to the capital and met from November 9, 1789 in the manege hall and thus in the immediate vicinity of the monarch. Inside, the extremely narrow room has been redesigned for the new purpose and some rows of benches have been added for the MPs. Overall, parliamentary use suffered from the cramped situation and the acoustics were poor. There was little space for the spectators on the surrounding gallery and the two balcony stands (on the narrow sides).
The Constituent Assembly ended its activity with the promulgation of the first French constitution of 1791 , which was supposed to create the basis for a constitutional monarchy . The Constituent Assembly was replaced by the National Legislative Assembly in October 1791 , which was overwhelmed by the escalation of the revolution. During the Tuileries storm on August 10, 1792, the royal family fled to the arena and thus under the protection of the assembly, which then caused its establishment. The legislature dissolved and was replaced by a new parliament, the National Convention. This decided on September 21st to abolish the monarchy . The trial of Louis XVI, who was later executed, took place in the Salle du Manège in December 1792. instead of.
The Tuileries Castle was a symbol of state power. It was therefore natural for the institutions of the young republic to take their seat there on May 10, 1793. The freed-up arena was then used by part of the legislature, the “Council of Five Hundred”, during the directorate between 1795 and 1798. In 1799, before the coup d'état of Napoleon Bonaparte , it hosted a successor to the Jacobin Club . This "Manegeklub" ( Club du Manège ) could not build on the earlier meaning.
Napoleon carried out a major remodeling in the area of the Tuileries Park, to which the manege fell victim in 1803. A section of Rue de Rivoli is now on the site . Memorial plaques there remind of the historical place.
