In the 16th century, Catherine de Medici built herself a house in the country here on Chaillot hill, later occupied by the Marshall of Bassompière. Richelieu sent him to the Bastille, where they say he burned the more than 6,000 love letters he received over the course of his life. In 1651, Queen Henrietta of England -- following the execution of her husband, Charles I of Great Britain -- took over the palace and founded the convent of the Visitation, where many famous ladies came to relax. The convent was later torn down to accommodate the Palace that Napoleon dreamed of building for his son, the King of Rome. But his dream was shattered by the fall of his Empire.

The Trocadéro gets its name from the fort at Cadiz, taken by the French in 1823 to reestablish the Spanish monarchy. At that time, the French king intervened there to help restaure the Spanish absolute monarchy, an action very far from the 1789 French Revolution's ideas about human rights.

The Trocadero Palace, whose design was inspired by Moorish art, was built for the World Expo in 1878, and it was here that the ancient Chaillot Palace was built for the 1937 Expo. The current palace is the work of Azema, Carlu, and Boileau. Between its two curving wings that slope toward the Seine is the terrace of the Rights of Mankind, from which there is a magnificent view of the Eiffel Tower and the Champs de Mars.

The current Palais de Chaillot (or Trocadero) -- named after the hilltop -- was built in 1937 by architects Carlu, Boileau and Azema as one of the highlights of the 1937 French last colonial exhibition. At that time, the French colonial empire was the second largest in the world after the British empire. In particular, it included a large part of northern and western Africa plus Indochina. The Palais de Chaillot and hill on the right bank dominates the Seine river and spectacularly faces the Eiffel tower on the left bank. Its architecture is representative of 1937 modern architecture. Two large pavilions are separated by a large terrace providind spectacular views on the Eiffel Tower.

Today the Palais de Chaillot houses the Navy museum, the Mankind museum and the 1200 seats TNP theater. The TNP theater has been a center of Parisian cultural life after the second world war under the leadership of Jean Vilar and with actors such as Gérard Philippe and Maria Casares.