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Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale
National
Jessica Phelan

How slavery money built the Élysée, France’s presidential residence

France Slavery Élysée Paris Emmanuel Macron the Élysée Palace Louis XIV Thomas Jefferson RFI the National Assembly
The Élysée Palace in Paris, the grand residence of the French president, was built in the 18th century using profits from the slave trade.
The Élysée Palace in Paris, the grand residence of the French president, was built in the 18th century using profits from the slave trade. © REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

What would become the Élysée Palace, the official residence of the French president, was built three centuries ago with a fortune amassed in the slave trade. As France grapples with its legacy of slavery, calls are mounting for the country to acknowledge this and other traces of the past.

The Élysée is France’s White House, shorthand for the presidency itself. And like the home of the United States’ president, it owes its construction to slavery.

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