Galerie Colbert

Galerie Colbert in Paris was built in 1826 and 1827 to plans by Jean Billaud right next to the commercially very successful Galerie Vivienne. But even with its 15m wide rotunda illuminated then by a gaz chandelier, Galerie Colbert lost the battle with its neighbour. Over time it was less and less maintained and in 1981 Luc Besson used it as a location for his first feature film Dernier Combat. In 1983 it had to be demolished and these days we actually visit a concrete-framed facsimile ! It now houses the Institut Nationale d’Histoire de l’Art and the Institut National du Patrimoine. The statue "Dying Eurydice" in the rotunda was created in 1822 by Charles-François Leboeuf.