View of the Salle Ovale

A preoccupation with context, as well as a learned eclecticism, is apparent in Pascal’s enlargement of the Biblioth�que Nationale, Paris, a responsibility he took on at the death of Henri Labrouste in 1875. He chose to restore the existing h�tel particulier, built by Robert de Cotte in the first half of the 18th century, and to reconstruct the interiors to accommodate administrative offices. He continued with the construction of the fa�ades designed by Labrouste and devised a building in the style of Louis XIII to accompany the gallery built by Fran�ois Mansart.