Bourse de Commerce

Here’s a Paris site you haven’t seen too often yet on social media, but that will change soon due to the spanking restoration! This highly expected new museum is set for inauguration in the spring of 2021 and will house the art collection of billionaire business and press mogul Francois Pinault (gossip time: his son is married to Salma Hayek).

This beautiful circular building has a history dating back to the sixteenth century. The original building has been destroyed by several successive fires, and has gone through several owners and reincarnations until it served as a grain hall during the French Revolution. While the current building “only” dates back to 1886, in the back, the column commissioned by Catherine de Medicis in 1572 still stands!

This hundred foot tall column had been designed for astronomers to study the stars. Catherine’s belief in astrology had been reinforced when Nostradamus’ prediction about her husband King Henry II came true: he died tragically in a jousting tournament. The top of the column bears the HC monogram: Henry & Catherine.