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Jacques Lemercier
1585-1654
ArchitectHistorical Figure
Architect to Richelieu, Jacques Lemercier put his art at the service of the kingdom's most powerful minister. Born in Pontoise, in northern France, around 1585, he was named the king's architect as early as 1615 and became first architect in 1639.
At the Louvre, tasked in 1624 with enlarging the Cour Carrée, he doubled the length of Pierre Lescot's facade beyond the Pavillon de l'Horloge. For Richelieu, he built the Palais-Cardinal in Paris, then the town and château of Richelieu, in the Touraine region of the Loire Valley.
Starting in 1629, he worked until his death on the chapel and buildings of the Sorbonne, whose dome remains one of the first great domes in Paris.
