French National Assembly paperweight

The National Assembly is the lower house of the French Parliament. The seat of the National Assembly is the Palais Bourbon on the Rive Gauche of the Seine. This majestic semicircular building was constructed in 1722 and designed by Italian architect Lorenzo Giardini for the Duchess of Bourbon, the daughter of King Louis XIV. The National Assembly is France’s highest legislative body. The paperweight in the image shows the National Assembly’s meeting chamber, which has the form of a hemicycle. It’s much plainer and simpler than other spaces inside the Palais Bourbon.