If nothing remains of the theatre buildings Molière occupied in Paris, we still retain the memory of them thanks to the archives, architects’ plans and detailed research that has been undertaken. Molière’s presence in Paris is known for two specific periods. His youth, when he was learning his trade, was marked by a series of failures. In order to break through in the capital, he and the Illustre Théâtre troupe converted two tennis courts into theatres at the beginning of the 1640s: the Métayers and the Croix-Noire. Having been unable to attract an audience, Molière left Paris for several years, but following his return in 1658, his second Paris period was highly successful. The troupe first settled in the Petit-Bourbon – a huge hall that, in the 1640s and 1650s, had been home to the spectacular stage designs of the ‘magician’ Giacomo Torelli. But it moved soon afterwards to the large old hall in the Palais-Royal that Richelieu had had constructed specifically for the performance of plays. Molière’s greatest successes were given there up until his death in 1673, and the plans drawn up by Vigarani in that same year reveal the dimensions of its playing area.