I had read about a connection between the Denon wing of the Louvre and the French ‘Parlement’. I presume it was during the ‘ancien régime’ that it was used for parliamentary sessions but I haven’t been able to locate anything online. I hope someone can help me in this matter.
The “Parlements” in the ancien régime weren’t parliaments in the modern sense. They were law courts that also functioned as registries recording statutes adopted by the king. France had several such parlements throughout the country, and since they started as advisory councils to the king it’s quite possible that the one of Paris held meetings at the Louvre, which was the main royal palace before the construction of Versailles.
The section of the Denon Wing to the north of the Grande Galerie was part of the expansion of the Louvre undertaken by Napoleon III. Although some of that was to provide new galleries for the Museum, it was also intended as an extension of the principal imperial palace, the Tuilleries.
The centrepiece of what is now the Denon Wing was the Salle des États. That was built to accommodate joint sessions of the Senate and the Corps législatif. The imperial riding school, the Salle du Manège, was on the floor below. Subsequently much altered, the Salle des États is the room that now houses the Mona Lisa.
Thanks APB.
The Parlement de Paris was based in the Palais de la Cité, which is not part of the Louvre. The Parlement was abolished during the Revolutionary period.
Although it wasn’t completely unknown for French kings to require the Parlement de Paris to met elsewhere, including the Louvre, for the purpose of holding a lit de justice. For example, Louis XIV did so after his entry to Paris in October 1652 during the final stages of the Fronde. Making the Parlement wait on him at the Louvre was, in the circumstances, a pointed piece of political symbolism.