Palais Brongniart

The Palais Brongniart in Paris, wrapped in Corinthian columns like a Roman temple to money. Napoleon commissioned it to give the Paris Bourse a permanent home, the architect Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart designed it, and it was inaugurated on November 4, 1826. Inside stood the corbeille, a railed ring around which brokers traded by open outcry, the beating heart of French finance for generations. Electronic trading ended that ritual in the late 1980s, and the building now hosts conferences and events rather than markets.