Plan of Catherine de' Medici (16th century) The site of the Tuileries Palace was originally just outside the walls of the city, in an area frequently flooded by the Seine as far as the present
Rue Saint-Honoré. The land was occupied by the workshops and kilns craftsmen who made 'tuiles', or roof tiles. Because of its proximity to the
Louvre Castle, members of the royal family began buying plots of land there. After the death of
Henri II in 1559, his widow
Catherine de' Medici moved into the Louvre Castle with her son,
Francis II. She planned a new residence for herself, on a site that was close to the Louvre and had space for a large garden. She sold the medieval
Hôtel des Tournelles, near the
Bastille, where her husband had died, and between 1563 and 1568 acquired several pieces of land which she put together for her new residence. Construction began in 1564, with
Philibert de l'Orme working as chief architect. De l'Orme died in 1570, when the work was still in its early stages. His place was taken by
Jean Bullant. The
1588 Day of the Barricades between Catholics and Protestants in the city abruptly halted the work; the unprotected site was abandoned and pillaged.
Additions of Henri IV Work did not resume until 1594, when
Henri IV made a triumphal return to Paris and recommenced construction of the Louvre and the Tuileries. He constructed the
Grande Galerie, parallel to the Seine, which connected the two palaces. At the same time, Henri commissioned the landscape gardener
Claude Mollet to modify the plan of the gardens. The architects and decorators
Étienne Dupérac,
Louis Métezeau, and
Jacques II Androuet du Cerceau contributed to the new palace. Androuet du Cerceau contributed the
Pavillon des Tuileries, a tower that linked the Louvre and Tuileries palaces.
Louis XIV and Louis XV – enlargement and departure (17th and 18th centuries) File:Louvre palais 1.jpg|The Tuileries Palace (in foreground) and its garden, in plan engraved by
Matthäus Merian the Elder in 1615 File:Israel Silvestre, Palais de la Reyne Catherine de Medicis - Metropolitan Museum of Art.jpg|The Tuileries Palace in the 17th century File:Louvre1615.jpg|The
old Louvre castle (background) and the Tuileries (foreground) linked by the Grande Galerie along the Seine, in 1615 File:Carrousel-LouisXIV-1662.jpg|Grand Carrousel of 1662 at the Tuileries under Louis XIV to celebrate the birth of his son Louis, Dauphin of France After the death of Henri IV in 1610, work on the palace halted. His son
Louis XIII had no intention of continuing construction. Work did not resume until after the end of the
Fronde in 1653. Between 1659 and 1661,
Louis XIV and
Cardinal Mazarin had
Louis Le Vau enlarge the palace, extending it to the north with the addition of the
Théâtre des Tuileries. In 1662, Louis XIV celebrated the birth of his son and heir,
Louis, Dauphin of France, with a spectacular 'Carrousel' held in the courtyard on the east side of the palace. The equestrian pageant, with dressage and other exercises, drew over 700 participants. It offered a variety of tournaments and competitions, including a contest in which horsemen were asked to spear the cardboard heads of '
Saracens' and '
Moors', as well as a series of mounted processions around the courtyard, complete with music. The King himself took part, dressed as a Roman emperor. The courtyard thereafter became known as the Carrousel. From 1664 to 1666, Le Vau and his assistant
François d'Orbay made other significant changes. They transformed Philibert de l'Orme's façades and central pavilion, replacing its grand central staircase with a
colonnaded vestibule on the ground floor and the Salle des Cents Suisses (Hall of the Hundred Swiss Guards) on the floor above. They also added a rectangular dome. A new grand staircase was installed in the entrance of the north wing of the palace, and lavishly decorated royal apartments were installed in the south wing. The King's rooms were on the ground floor, facing the Louvre, and the Queen's on the floor above, overlooking the garden. At the same time, Louis' gardener,
André Le Nôtre, redesigned the Tuileries Garden. Louis XIV fully used his redecorated and enlarged palace for only a short time. The court moved into the Tuileries Palace in November 1667 but left in 1672, and soon thereafter settled in the
Palace of Versailles. The Tuileries Palace was virtually abandoned and used only as a theatre, but its gardens became a fashionable resort for Parisians. Following the death of Louis XIV in September 1715, his great-grandson,
Louis XV, just five years old, was moved from Versailles to the Tuileries Palace on 1 January 1716. The palace had been rarely used in forty years; it was refurnished and redecorated for the new King, but he remained only until 15 June 1722, when he returned to Versailles, three months before his coronation. Both moves were made at the behest of the regent,
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans. The King also resided at the Tuileries for short periods in the 1740s. The large palace theatre continued to be used as a venue for operas, concerts and performances of the
Comédie-Française.
Louis XVI – Royal sanctuary and revolutionary battleground File:Expérience du globe aérostatique de MM Charles et Robert au Jardin des Thuileries le 1er décembre 1783 (2).jpg|Manned balloon flight of
Jacques Charles taking off at Tuileries Palace, 1 December 1783 File:Louis XVI Tuileries.jpg|Louis XVI and family celebrate Mass at the Tuileries Palace File:Jacques Bertaux - Der Tuileriensturm am 10. August 1792.jpg|Storming of the Tuileries Palace on 10 August 1792 and the massacre of the Swiss Guard File:Salle du manège le 10 août 1792.jpg|Meeting of the National Convention in the Salle du Manège in August 1792 On 1 December 1783, the palace garden was the starting point of a major event in aviation history—the first manned flight in a hydrogen balloon, by
Jacques Charles and the
Robert brothers. It took place just two months after the first manned balloon flight by the
Montgolfier brothers in a hot air balloon from the Palace of Versailles. King
Louis XVI watched from the tower. Among the crowd of spectators was
Benjamin Franklin, the United States ambassador to France. The balloon and its passengers landed safely at
Nesles-la-Vallée, around 50 kilometres from Paris. On 6 October 1789, Louis XVI and his family were forced to leave Versailles for Paris, moving into the Tuileries. Nothing had been prepared for their arrival; the various occupants who had moved into the palace were abruptly expelled, and furniture had to be brought from Versailles. The royal family lived in relative calm for a time; the gardens were reserved for them until noon when they were opened to the public. On 9 November 1789 the
National Constituent Assembly moved its meetings from Versailles to the
Salle du Manège. This was the Tuileries' covered equestrian academy, on the north side of the palace, which was the largest meeting hall in the city. It was also used by the Assembly's successor, the
National Convention and, in 1795, the
Council of Five Hundred (
Conseil des Cinq-Cents) of the
Directory until the body moved to the
Palais Bourbon in 1798. In 1799, the
Jacobin Club du Manège had its headquarters there. The
Committee of Public Safety, led by
Robespierre, met in the
Pavillon de Flore. On 21 June 1791, as the Revolution intensified and their safety became increasingly compromised, the King and his family attempted to leave Paris. That night they attended a final
Vespers Mass in the palace chapel, and then, disguised and with their attendants, attempted to reach
Montmédy by coach. They were stopped and arrested in
Varennes, brought back to Paris, and placed under house arrest. On
10 August 1792 a large mob stormed the gates, entered the gardens, and overwhelmed and massacred the
Swiss Guards who were defending the palace. They set fires in several of the outlying buildings of the palace. Vestiges of buildings destroyed by the fires were discovered during archaeological excavations in 1989. After the massacre of the Swiss Guards, the palace itself was taken over by the
sans-culottes. In November 1792, the invaders discovered the
armoire de fer, a safe in the royal apartments, believed to contain the secret correspondence of Louis XVI with other European powers, appealing for help. This increased anger against the imprisoned royal family. The National Convention, first meeting in the Salle du Manège and from 10 May 1793 in the remodelled Salle des Machines in the palace, launched the
Reign of Terror in 1793–94, leading to the
execution of the King, his wife
Marie Antoinette, his sister
Madame Élisabeth, and thousands of others accused of opposing the Revolution.
Napoleon Bonaparte File:The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries, by Jacques-Louis David (1812) - National Gallery of Art (Samuel H. Kress Foundation) - 2.jpg|Napoleon in his study at the Tuileries File:Hippolyte Bellangé - Un jour de revue sous l’Empire - 1810.jpg|Military review in front of Napoleon's new triumphal arch in the courtyard by
Hippolyte Bellangé, 1810 File:Throne Tuileries Napoléon.jpg|Napoleon on his throne at the Tuileries Palace, 1810 File:Banquet impérial dans la salle de spectacle des Tuileries, 2 avril 1810.jpg|A banquet in the Salle de Spectacle of the Tuileries, 1810 On 19 February 1799,
Napoleon Bonaparte moved his residence from the
Petit Luxembourg to the Tuileries, a more suitable setting for his imperial ambitions.
Charles Percier and
Pierre Fontaine began redesigning the interior in the
Neoclassical Empire style. Napoleon also began a series of reconstructions around the palace, tearing down the ruins of buildings burned during the Revolution. In 1806, in the centre of the courtyard of the Carrousel, he ordered the construction of a
triumphal arch modelled after the ancient
Arch of Septimius Severus in
Rome to serve as the ceremonial gateway of the palace. In 1808, after he proclaimed himself emperor, he moved forward with the grand project of
Henri IV. This project entailed the construction of a new wing of the palace on the north side of the gardens, which would match the existing wing on the south side. This wing would connect the Tuileries with the Louvre. This involved tearing down the Manège and other buildings to clear the courtyard, and the construction of a new street, the
Rue de Rivoli, was carried out. The Hall of the National Convention in the former Salle des Machines was remodelled as a theatre which could easily be reconfigured as a large banquet hall. After Napoleon's divorce,
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon was commissioned to design the apartments of his new wife,
Marie Louise. Her bridal suite was decorated with furniture and interior decorations in the
Greek Revival style. The son of Napoleon and Marie Louise was born in 1811. He was given a residence in the Waterside Gallery of the Louvre, connected to the Tuileries by a short underground passageway, and his own small pavilion in the courtyard, decorated by Fontaine.
Palace of the Bourbon Restoration, Louis Philippe d'Orléans, and Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte File:Banquet des dames aux Tuileries 1835.jpg|Banquet for women given by Louis Philippe, 1835 File:1848 Tuileries.jpg|The throne room seized by a mob in the French Revolution of 1848 File:Paris moderne. Les Tuileries, le Louvre, et la rue de Rivoli, vue prise du Jardin des Tuileries.jpg|The Tuileries (foreground) and
Louvre (centre) in 1860 File:Facade of the Tuileries Palace.jpg|Garden façade Following the defeat and exile of Napoleon, the gardens became a large camp for
Russian and
Prussian soldiers, while the House of Bourbon returned to the palace during the
Bourbon Restoration. During the
July Revolution of 1830, which installed
Louis Philippe d'Orléans as the new monarch, the Tuileries was again stormed and occupied by an armed mob. Louis Philippe used the palace until 1848, when he was overthrown by the
French Revolution of 1848.
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, the nephew of Napoleon, was elected as the first
President of France in 1848 and first moved into the
Élysée Palace. In 1852, when he could not run again, he proclaimed himself emperor and moved his residence to the Tuileries. The Tuileries was extensively refurbished and redecorated after the looting and damage that had occurred during the Revolution of 1848. Imposing staterooms were designed and richly decorated in what became known as the
Second Empire style. The prominent roof lines of the palace, and especially its square central dome, became influential prototypes; they were adopted for hotels and commercial buildings, as well as government buildings and residences both in France and abroad. The new staterooms were theatrical settings for the ceremonies and pageantry of the Second Empire, such as the visit of
Queen Victoria in 1855. The old buildings that had filled the courtyard were cleared away; and the northern wing of the Louvre along the Rue de Rivoli, linking the Tuileries Palace with the Louvre, was completed. The private apartment used by Louis-Napoléon, on the ground floor of the palace's southern wing, consisted of 'gilt boxes furnished in the style of the First Empire.' His rooms were known to be kept at extremely high temperatures, per his request and were filled with smoke, as he smoked cigarette after cigarette. Napoleon III's bedroom was decorated with a talisman from
Charlemagne (a symbol of good luck for the Bonaparte family), while his office featured a portrait of
Julius Caesar by
Ingres and a large map of Paris that he used to show his ideas for the reconstruction of Paris to his prefect of the Seine department, Baron
Georges-Eugène Haussmann. His wife,
Eugénie de Montijo, had her apartment, comprising 8 of the 11 rooms on the
piano nobile of the southern wing's garden side, above, connected to her husband's by a winding staircase, highly decorated in Louis XVI style with a pink salon, a green salon and a blue salon. Along this staircase was a mezzanine occupied by the treasurer of the privy purse. The little-used northern wing of the palace, which contained the chapel, the Galerie de la Paix, and the Salle de Spectacle, was used only for performances, such as the
Daniel Auber cantata performed on the evening of Louis-Napoléon and Eugénie's civil wedding ceremony, 29 July 1853, or for important fêtes, such as the party given for sovereigns attending the
International Exposition on 10 June 1867. The Salle de Spectacle was also used as a hospital during the
Franco-Prussian War. Between 1864 and 1868, Napoleon III asked that the Pavillon de Flore, now the southernmost pavilion, be redesigned by
Hector Lefuel to match his other modifications to the palaces.
Destruction during the Paris Commune File:Commune de Paris 24 mai incendie des Tuileries.jpg|Burning of the Palace by Paris Commune, 23–24 May 1871 Tuileries Palace in 1871 after the burning during the fights of the Commune de Paris.jpg|Palace façade after the arson File:Tuileries Palace; Main Hall, and Place du Carrousel WDL1261.png|Main hall after the arson File:Image andrieu jean desastres de la guerre palais des tuileries galerie de la paix ph4380 407366.jpg|Galerie de la Paix after the arson File:Les Ruines de Paris et de ses Environs 1870-1871, Cent Photographies, Premier Volume. DP161584.jpg|Ruins of the Palace after the arson, with walls intact On 23 May 1871, during the suppression of the
Paris Commune, 12 men under the orders of the Commune's former chief military commander Jules Bergeret set the Tuileries on fire using
petroleum, liquid
tar, and
turpentine. The fire lasted 48 hours and thoroughly gutted the palace, with the exception of the foundations and the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. The dome itself was blown up by explosives placed in the central pavilion and detonated by the fires. In his note to the
Committee of Public Safety, Bergeret said, 'The last vestiges of Royalty have just disappeared. I wish that the same may befall all the public buildings of Paris.' It was not until 25 May that the Paris fire brigades and the 26th battalion of the
Chasseurs d'Afrique managed to put out the fire. The library and other portions of the
Louvre were also set on fire by Communards and entirely destroyed. The museum itself was saved by the efforts of firemen. The ruins of the Tuileries stood on the site for 11 years. Although the roofs and the inside of the palace had been utterly destroyed by the fire, the stone walls of the palace remained intact and restoration was possible. Other monuments of Paris also set on fire by Communards, such as the
City Hall, were rebuilt in the 1870s. After much hesitation, the
Third Republic, more sympathetic to the Commune, pardoned the Commune members exiled abroad. In 1882, despite opposition from
Georges-Eugène Haussmann and historians, they had the walls torn down. File:Palais des Tuileries - Ruines - Paris - Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine - APMH00006652.jpg|Palace interior cleaned up after the arson (1871–1883) File:Palais des Tuileries - Ruines - Paris - Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine - APMH00006658.jpg|Palace portal after the fire (1871–1883) File:Palais des Tuileries - Ruines - Paris - Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine - APMH00006644.jpg|Ruins of the grand staircase (1871–1883) File:Jardins du Trocadéro vestige.jpg|A vestige of the palace now in the gardens of the Palais du Trocadéro File:Restes des arcades du palais des Tuileries reconstruits au jardin des Tuileries.jpg|Vestige of the palace in the
Tuileries Garden The demolition was started in February 1883 and was completed on 30 September 1883. Bits of stone and marble from the palace were sold by a private entrepreneur, Achille Picart, as souvenirs, and even to build a palace in
Corsica, near
Ajaccio, the , which is essentially a reconstruction of the Pavillon de Bullant. The courtyard pediment of the central pavilion can be seen in Paris's , other pieces are found in the garden of the Palais du Trocadéro, the Louvre and the
Museum of Decorative Arts. In addition, other parts of the palace are located within France in
Arcueil,
Barentin, in
Courbevoie,
Château de Varax in
Marcilly-d'Azergues,
Nantes,
Saint-Raphaël and
Salins, and other countries such as
Schwanenwerder in
Berlin, Germany,
Bordighera in Italy and
Palacio de Carondelet in
Quito, Ecuador. File:Tuileriensaeule Schwanenwerder.jpg|A column from the palace is located on
Schwanenwerder island in Berlin, Germany File:Villa Garnier, colonna delle Tuileries.jpg|A column at
Villa Garnier in
Bordighera, Italy ==The Tuileries Garden and the
Axe historique==