The letter K, the mark of Charles VIII. (1483-1498),
occurs on many parts of the existing building, and fixes its epoch. The
house was mostly built by Jaques d'Amboise, abbot, in 1490. The style is
late Gothic, with Renaissance features.
The abbots, however, seldom visited Paris, and they frequently placed
their town house accordingly at the disposition of the kings of France.
Mary of England, sister of Henry VIII., and widow of Louis XII., occupied
it thus in 1515, soon after its completion. It was usual for the queens of
France to wear white as mourning; hence her apartment is still known as
the "Chambre de la reine blanche."
At the Revolution, when the property of the monasteries was confiscated,
the Hotel de Cluny was sold, and passed at last, in 1833, into the hands
of M. du Sommerard, a zealous antiquary, who began the priceless
collection of works of art which it contains. He died in 1842, and the
Government then bought the house and museum, and united it with the Roman
ruin at its back under the title of Musee des Thermes et de l'Hotel de
Cluny.
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