The Palais Royal (Royal Palace) was built in 1629 by Cardinal Richelieu, an influential French minister from 1624 to 1642.At the time, the palace was known as the Palais Cardinal; it became a royal palace after the cardinal bequeathed the building to King Louis XIII. Louis XIV, the Sun King, spent his youth here before moving to the nearby Louvre and later to Versailles.

Adjacent to the courtyard is the Galerie d’Orléans, a courtyard flanked by two colonnades. It is home to «Les fontaines à boules», two modern fountains created by the Belgian sculptor Pol Bury and installed here in 1985. The fountains feature metal balls that reflect the surrounding buildings.