Editing Palace (section)

===France===
[[File:3919ParigiPalaisDeJustice.JPG|thumb|[[Palais de Justice, Paris|Palais de Justice]] of [[Paris]], France]]
[[File:Palace of Versailles June 2010.jpg|thumb|[[Palace of Versailles]]]]
In France there has been a clear distinction between a [[château]] and a ''palais''. The palace has always been urban, like the ''[[Conciergerie|Palais de la Cité]]'' in [[Paris]], which was the royal palace of France and is now the supreme court of justice of France, or the palace of the [[Pope]]s at [[Avignon]].

The château, by contrast, has always been in rural settings, supported by its [[demesne]], even when it was no longer actually fortified. Speakers of English think of the "[[Palace of Versailles]]" because it was the residence of the king of France, and the king was the source of power, though the building has always remained the ''Château de Versailles'' for the French, and the seat of government under the ''[[Ancien Régime]]'' remained the '''Palais''' du [[Louvre]]. The Louvre had begun as a fortified ''Château du Louvre'' on the edge of Paris, but as the seat of government and shorn of its fortified architecture and then completely surrounded by the city, it developed into the ''Palais du Louvre''.

The ''[[hôtel particulier]]'' remains the term for an urban residence sited ''entre cour et jardin'', behind a forecourt and opening onto a garden; when fronting directly on streets, they are ''maisons'', "houses". Bishops always had a ''palais'' in the town of their diocese, an ''hôtel'' in other towns, though they might possess ''chateaux''.

The usage is essentially the same in Italy, Spain and Portugal, as well as the former [[Austrian Empire]]. In [[Vienna]], Austria, all large mansions belonging to aristocratic or very wealthy families were traditionally called ''palais'', but this never applied to imperial palaces themselves which were called ''Burg'' within the city and ''Schloss'' when outside it. In Germany, the wider term was a relatively recent importation and was used rather more restrictively.