Exterior window shutters with a section of LOUVRES set in a fixed frame that can be open outwards or inwards to let air through while keeping the sun out.
Persiennes were invented in 1727 in Versailles, France, by Antoine Duchesne, the prévôt des bâtiments du roi–a high-ranking official in charge of Royal residences and a talented architect. This mechanism was adapted for Louis V’s personal apartments in Versailles Palace and first mentioned in Diderot’s Encyclopedia in 1765.
They were called Persiennes in reference to the middle-eastern mashrabiyeh screens, as all things Oriental were generally referred to as ‘Persian’.
In fact, Persiennes are sometimes known as sultanes in French, as French louvres in Louisianna, U.S.A or persianeria francesa in Cuba.