The Pavillon de Breteuil is the headquarters of the

International Bureau of Weights and Measures The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (french: Bureau international des poids et mesures, BIPM) is an intergovernmental organisation, through which its 59 member-states act together on measurement standards in four areas: chemistry ...

(BIPM). The building lies in the southeastern section of the Parc de Saint-Cloud in

Saint-Cloud Saint-Cloud () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, from the centre of Paris. Like other communes of Hauts-de-Seine such as Marnes-la-Coquette, Neuilly-sur-Seine and Vaucresson, Saint-Cloud is one of France's wealthiest tow ...

, France, to the west of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. It is listed in France as an

historic monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

History

Built overlooking the

River Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributari ...

by Thomas Gobert in the parkland surrounding the

Château de Saint-Cloud The Château de Saint-Cloud was a château in France, built on a site overlooking the Seine at Saint-Cloud in Hauts-de-Seine, about west of Paris. On the site of the former palace is the state-owned Parc de Saint-Cloud. The château was exp ...

, the building was inaugurated by

Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

in 1672 and first known as the ''Trianon de Saint-Cloud''. The ''Trianon'' was renamed as the ''Pavillon du Mail'' in 1743 after being slightly modified. In 1785 the whole of the château estate (the ''Domaine de Saint-Cloud''), including the pavillon, was acquired by

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...

, the queen of

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

. For his part in arranging the acquisition of the pavillon, the queen granted

Louis Auguste Le Tonnelier de Breteuil Louis Charles Auguste Le Tonnelier, Baron de Breteuil, Baron de Preuilly (7 March 1730 – 2 November 1807) was a French aristocrat, diplomat and statesman. He was the last chief minister of the Bourbon Monarchy, appointed by King Louis XVI ...

the use of the estate, and he made the pavillon his official residence, and it was renamed to the ''Pavillon de Breteuil''. During the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

(1789–99), Breteuil fled from France, and the state took ownership of the pavillon. Following the revolution, the pavillon was renovated by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

, renamed as the ''Pavillon d'Italie''. Until the fall of Napoleon in 1815, it was used as accommodation for visiting royalty. Following another restoration started in 1817, the pavillon, now the ''Pavillon de Breteuil'' again, was used as the official residence of a series of officials and dignitaries up until the start of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71). In 1870, as a result of shelling during that war, the château was destroyed and the pavillon was badly damaged.

Usage

In 1875, the ''Diplomatic Conference of the Metre'' in Paris, which had been convened by the French government to try to reach an agreement on international collaboration for the maintenance and development of the

metric system The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the definition of the Intern ...

, established the

International Committee for Weights and Measures The General Conference on Weights and Measures (GCWM; french: Conférence générale des poids et mesures, CGPM) is the supreme authority of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), the intergovernmental organization established i ...

(CIPM) to start preliminary work on the formulation of international standards. To facilitate their work, the French government offered them the use of a site in the ''Domaine de Saint-Cloud'', which included the badly war-damaged Pavillon de Breteuil, which they accepted. Following an agreement signed on 25 April 1969 between the CIPM and the French government, functional privileges and immunities were granted to the BIPM as an international organisation operating on the site of the Pavillon de Breteuil. It is the home of the

International Prototype of the Kilogram The International Prototype of the Kilogram (referred to by metrology, metrologists as the IPK or Le Grand K; sometimes called the ''wiktionary:ur-#Prefix, ur-kilogram,'' or ''urkilogram,'' particularly by German-language authors writing in Engli ...

, which lost its status as a standard on 20 May 2019. Since 1900, the building has been listed as part of the '' Domaine national de Saint-Cloud'' as an historic monument in France.

References

{{Reflist, refs= Rapport fait au nom de la commission des affaires étrangères sur le projet de loi autorisant l’approbation d’un accord relatif au siège du Bureau international des poids et mesures et à ses privilèges et immunités sur le territoire français et sur le projet de loi autorisant l’approbation de l’accord entre le Gouvernement de la République française et le Comité international des poids et mesures portant amendement de l’accord du 25 avril 1969 relatif au siège du Bureau international des poids et mesures et à ses privilèges et immunités sur le territoire français
Loi n°2008-738 du 28 juillet 2008 autorisant l'approbation de l'accord entre le Gouvernement de la République française et le Comité international des poids et mesures portant amendement de l'accord du 25 avril 1969 relatif au siège du Bureau international des poids et mesures et à ses privilèges et immunités sur le territoire français
{{cite book , title=Metrology: from Physics Fundamentals to Quality of Life , editor1=P. Tavella , editor2=M.J.T. Milton , editor3=M. Inguscio , publisher=IOS Press , year=2017 , isbn=978-1-61499-817-4 {{cite book , title=From Artefacts to Atoms: The BIPM and the Search for Ultimate Measurement Standards , last=Quinn , first=Terry , publisher=Oxford University Press , year=2012 , isbn=978-0-19-530786-3 {{cite web , title=Domaine national de Saint-Cloud (également sur communes de Sèvres, Ville-d'Avray, Marnes-la-Coquette) , url=https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/merimee/PA00088141 , website=Ministère de la Culture , language=French , access-date=8 February 2010 {{cite web , title=How to Get to the BIPM , url=https://www.bipm.org/en/conference-centre/directions/ , website=BIPM , access-date=8 February 2010

External links

BIPM History of the Pavillon de Breteuil
Buildings and structures in Hauts-de-Seine