The Louvre, the Place Royale (now the Place des Vosges), the Place and rue Dauphine, the Pont Neuf and the Hopital Saint Louis were part of a building programme initiated by Henry IV that would be unmatched in Paris for more than two centuries. Drawing on notarial archives in Paris's Minutier central, Hilary Ballon provides an account of the crucial period between 1605 and 1610 when Paris was transformed from a medieval city decimated by war and neglect into a modern capital.