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Origin and history

The Hotel Amelot de Bisseuil, built in the 17th century in the Marais district of Paris (4th arrondissement), is also called the Hôtel des Ambassadeurs de Hollande. His name would come either from his use as a residence for the Dutch ambassador, or from his role during the revocation of the edict of Nantes: in 1685, chaplain Marcus Guitton maintained an underground Protestant cult in his chapel, now disappeared. Ranked a historic monument in 1924, it illustrates the religious tensions of the period and the adaptation strategies of Parisian Huguenots.

The hotel occupies the location of the former hotel in Rieux, linked to medieval figures such as John II of Rieux, a companion of Du Guesclin, and his son Peter, who fought alongside Joan of Arc. In 1407, the assassination of Charles VI's brother Louis I of Orléans took place nearby, and his body was transported to this hotel. In the 17th century, Denis Amelot de Chaillou acquired it in 1638 and undertook a total reconstruction, resumed after his death by his son, Jean-Baptiste Amelot, Viscount de Bisseuil. The works, led by architect Pierre Cottard (1657–60), gave the hotel its current structure, with two atypical courses and sumptuous decorations.

In 1766, Miss Necker (future Madame de Staël) was baptized in the Protestant chapel. From 1776 to 1787, Beaumarchais rented all the places there to found a fictitious shipping company, Roderiguez, Hortalez and Cie, intended to support the American insurgents. He wrote The Marriage of Figaro (1778) and Tarare (1787). In the 20th century, the hotel was restored by successive owners, such as Paul Brenot (a pillar of the TSF) or Paul-Louis Weiller, who received such personalities as Nixon, Charlie Chaplin or Greta Garbo.

The hotel's architecture, marked by the influence of Pierre Cottard, is distinguished by its two courtyards (a narrow balcony with balusters, a second decorated with allegorical statues), its unique sundials designed by Father Truchet, and its classified interior decorations. The gallery of Psyche houses ceilings painted by Michel Corneille the Ancien, while the salon of Flore preserves works by Joseph-Marie Vien. In 2016, a major restoration (2 million euros) allowed to preserve these elements, before its sale in 2010 for 38 million euros, then in 2017 to a Belgian investor for 69 million, with a view to its transformation into a luxury hotel.

The site was also a filming site, as for the series Les Liaisons dangereux (2003). Its history reflects the social and political evolutions of Paris, from the wars of Religion to the worldliness of the twentieth century, to its role in the American Revolution. Today, it embodies both an exceptional architectural heritage and a testimony from European diplomatic and cultural networks.

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