Tuileries Palace
48°51′44″N 2°19′57″E / 48.86222°N 2.33250°E
Tuileries Palace | |
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Palais des Tuileries | |
Napoleon III Style | |
Construction started | 1564 |
Completed | 1860s |
Demolished | 30 September 1883 |
The Tuileries Palace (French: Palais des Tuileries, IPA: [pale de tɥilʁi]) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from Henry IV to Napoleon III, until it was burned by the Paris Commune in 1871.
Built in 1564, it was gradually extended until it closed off the western end of the Louvre courtyard and displayed an immense façade of 266 metres. Since the destruction of the Tuileries, the Louvre courtyard has remained open to the west, and the site now overlooks the eastern end of the Tuileries Garden, forming an elevated terrace between the Place du Carrousel and the gardens proper.
History
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 Palace, members of the royal family began buying plots of land there.[1]
After the death of
Additions of Henry IV
Work did not resume until 1594, when
Louis XIV and Louis XV – enlargement and departure (17th and 18th centuries)
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The Tuileries Palace (bottom) and its garden, in plan engraved by Matthieu Merian in 1615
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The Tuileries Palace in the 1600s
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The old medieval Louvre (background) and the Tuileries (foreground) linked by the Grande Galerie along the River Seine, in 1615
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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 Henry IV in 1610, work on the palace halted. His son
In 1662, Louis XIV celebrated the birth of his son and heir,
From 1664 to 1666, Le Vau and his assistant François d'Orbay made other significant changes. They transformed Philibert de l'Orme's facades 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 constructed 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.[6]
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 of Parisians.[7]
Following the death of Louis XIV in December 1715, his great-grandson, Louis XV, just five years old, was moved from Versailles to the Tuileries Palace on 1 January 1716. He moved back to Versailles on 15 June 1722, three months before his coronation. Both moves were made at the behest of the Regent, the duc d'Orléans. The king also resided at the Tuileries for short periods during the 1740s.[8] The palace had been rarely used in forty years; it was refurnished and redecorated for the new king, but he remained only until 1722, when he also moved to Versailles. The large palace theater continued to be used as a venue for operas, concerts and performances of the Comédie-Française.[9]
Louis XVI - Royal sanctuary and revolutionary battleground
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Manned balloon flight of Jacques Charles taking off at Tuileries Palace, 1 December 1783
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Louis XVI and family celebrate a last Mass at the Tuileries Palace before his attempted escape (21 June 1791)
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The storming of the Tuileries Palace on 10 August 1792 and the massacre of the Swiss Guard
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Meeting of the revolutionary 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, 31 miles from Paris.[10]
Not long afterwards, on 6 October 1789, Louis XVI and his family were forced to leave Versailles for Paris, moving back 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.[10]
On 9 November 1789, the
On 21 June 1791, as the Revolution intensified, the king and his family attempted to escape. That night they attended a final Vespers Mass in the palace chapel, and then, disguised and with their attendants, attempted to reach the Austrian border by coach. They were recognised and arrested at Varennes, brought back to Paris, and placed under house arrest.[11]
On 10 August 1792 a large mob stormed the palace gates, entered the gardens, and overwhelmed and massacred the Swiss Guards who defended 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.
Napoleon in the Tuileries
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Napoleon in his study at the Tuileries
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Military review in front of Napoleon's new triumphal arch in the courtyard (1810) by Hippolyte Bellangé
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Napoleon on the throne at the Tuileries Palace (1810)
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A banquet in the Salle de Spectacle of Tuileries (1810)
On 19 February 1799,
After Napoleon's divorce,
Palace of Louis Philippe and Louis Napoleon
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Banquet for women given by Louis Phillipe (1835)
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The throne room seized by a mob in the Revolution of 1848
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The Tuileries Palace (foreground) and Louvre (center) in 1860.
Following the defeat and exile of Napoleon, the gardens became a large camp for Russian and Prussian soldiers, while the Kings of France returned to the palace during the
The private apartment used by Napoleon III, 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. Empress Eugénie had her apartment above, connected to the emperor's by a winding staircase. Along this staircase was a mezzanine occupied by the treasurer of the privy purse, comprising 8 of the 11 rooms on the bel etage of the southern wing's garden side.[15]
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Reception by Napoleon III in the Hall of the Marshals
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A masked ball in the Hall of the Marshals
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Banquet at the Tuileries (1867)
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Salon of theEmpress Eugenie
The state rooms of the south wing—located on the side facing east to the Carrousel—were used variously, depending on the occasion. At informal dinners, the household would gather in the private drawing room, or Salon d'Apollon, which was separated from the Salle de Maréchaux, in the central pavilion, by the First Consul's Room, or Salon Blanc. The party would proceed through the throne room to dinner in the Salon Louis XIV. However, gala dinners were held in the larger Galerie de Diane, the southernmost of the state apartments. If it were a state ball, then refreshments would be set up in the Galerie; and the procession of the imperial party would be from there to the Salle de Maréchaux, which occupied the space of two entire floors of the central Pavillon de L'Horloge and served as the ballroom.[15]
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
Between 1864 and 1868, Napoleon III asked that the Pavillon de Flore, now the southernmost pavilion, be redesigned by
Destruction during the Paris Commune
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Burning of the Palace by Paris Commune, 23–24 May 1871
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Palace facade after the arson
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Main hall after the arson
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Galerie de la Paix after the arson
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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, the Pavillon de Flore and the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel.[19][20] 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."[21] 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 the 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
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Palace interior cleaned up after the arson (1871–1883)
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Palace portal after the fire (1871–1883)
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Ruins of the grand stairway (1871–1883)
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A vestige of the Palace now in the gardens of thePalais du Trocadéro
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Vestige of the Palace in the Tuileries Garden
The demolition was started in February 1883 and 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 castle in
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A column of the Tuileries Palace is located on island Schwanenwerder in Berlin, Germany
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A column at Villa Garnier in Bordighera, Italy
The Tuileries Garden and the Axe historique
Tuileries Garden
The Tuileries Garden (French: Jardin des Tuileries) covers 22.4 hectares (55 acres); is surrounded by the Louvre (to the east), the Seine (to the south), the Place de la Concorde (to the west) and the Rue de Rivoli (to the north); and still closely follows the design laid out by the royal landscape architect André Le Nôtre in 1664. The Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume is a museum of contemporary art located in the northwest corner of the garden.[26]
Originally designed in 1564 as an Italian Renaissance garden by Bernard de Carnesse, the Tuileries Garden was redesigned in 1664 by Le Nôtre as a jardin à la française, which emphasized symmetry, order, and long perspectives.[27] His formal garden plan drew out the perspective from the reflecting pools one to the other in an unbroken vista along a central axis from the west palace façade, which has been extended as the Axe historique.
The Axe historique
This straight line which runs through the
After the palace was demolished in 1883, the large empty space between the northern and southern wings of the Louvre, now familiar to modern visitors, was revealed, and for the first time the Louvre courtyard opened onto the unbroken Axe historique.
Proposed reconstruction
In 2003, a group called the Committee for the Reconstruction of the Tuileries (French: Comité national pour la reconstruction des Tuileries)[28][29] proposed the reconstruction of the Tuileries on its original site. Proponents of the plan noted that much of the original furniture and paintings still existed, put into storage when the Franco-Prussian War began in 1870.
In 2006 a rebuilding of the Palace of the Tuileries was estimated to cost 300 million euros (£200 million pounds sterling or US$380 million). The plan was to finance the project by public subscription with the work being undertaken by a private foundation, with the French government spending no money on the project. The French president at that time, Jacques Chirac, called for a debate on the subject. Former president Charles de Gaulle had also supported reconstruction, saying that it would "make a jewel of the centre of Paris."[20]
However, in 2008, Michel Clément, Director of Architecture and Heritage, stated "From our point of view, the reconstruction of the Tuileries Palace is not a priority. In addition, it is not part of French heritage culture to resurrect monuments out of the ground ex nihilo. Rather, we are concerned with the vestiges that have survived."[29]
Gallery
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State rooms of the Tuileries Palace before 1871 - Salon Louis XIV
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Great staircase
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Tuileries Palace before 1871 - View from the Tuileries Gardens
See also
Citations
- ^ Jacquin, "Les Tuileries - du Louvre à la Concorde" (2000), p. 4
- ^ Jacquin, "Les Tuileries - du Louvre à la Concorde" (2000), p. 6
- ^ Jacquin (2000), p. 9
- ^ a b Ballon 1991, pp. 55–56.
- ^ Coeyman 1998, pp. 45–46.
- ^ Hautecoeur 1927, pp. 123–142; Devêche 1981, pp. 9–13
- ^ Hautecoeur 1927, pp. 123–142; Devêche 1981, pp. 9–13.
- ^ Bernier, Oliver, Louis The Beloved: The Life of Louis XV, Doubleday, Garden City, 1984 pp. 12-39
- ^ Jacquin 2000, p. 24.
- ^ a b Jacquin 2000, p. 65.
- ^ a b Jacquin 2000, p. 24-25.
- ^ a b Jacquin 2000, p. 24-27.
- ^ Jacquin 2000, p. 33.
- ^ Jacquin 2000, p. 34.
- ^ a b Filon, Augustin (1920). Recollections of the Empress Eugénie. London: Cassell and Company, Ltd. pp. 61–74. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- ^ Kurtz, Harold (1964). The Empress Eugénie: 1826-1920. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 56.
- ^ Filon, Augustin (1920). Recollections of the Empress Eugénie. London: Cassell and Company, Ltd. pp. 126–127. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
- ^ Filon, Augustin (1920). Recollections of the Empress Eugénie. London: Cassell and Company, Ltd. pp. 107–108. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- ^ "Paris". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (14th ed.). Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 1956. p. 293.
- ^ a b Samuel, Henry (14 August 2006). "£200m plan to restore glory of Tuileries Palace". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
- ^ 'Paris under Siege' by Joanna Richardson publ. Folio Society London 1982
- ^ Jacquin 2000, pp. 36–37.
- ^ "Le Chateau de la Punta". Pagesperso-orange.fr.
- ^ Van Cappel de Premont, François. "Du Pavillon Bullant au Château de la Punta" (PDF). Retrieved 17 March 2013.
- ^ "Les Tuileries: Grands décors d'un palais disparu" (PDF) (in French). Éditions du patrimoine. 27 October 2016. p. 4.
- ^ "The Carrousel & Tuileries Gardens". Louvre Museum.
- ^ "Les Tuileries Gardens. Facts. Information". Paris Digest. 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
- ^ "Alain Boumier, président du Comité national pour la reconstruction des Tuileries, en chat sur L'Internaute" (in French). Linternaute.com. 9 December 2006.
- ^ a b "Le Palais des Tuileries va-t-il renaître de ses cendres ?" [Will the Tuileries Palace Rise From Its Ashes?]. La Croix (in French). 14 September 2008. Archived from the original on 14 September 2008. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
Bibliography
- Ballon, Hilary (1991). The Paris of Henri IV: Architecture and Urbanism. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ISBN 9780262023092.
- Coeyman, Barbara (1998). "Opera and Ballet in Seventeenth-Century French Theatres: Case Studies of the Salle des Machines and the Palais Royal Theater" in Radice 1998, pp. 37–71.
- Devêche, André (1981). The Tuileries Palace and Gardens, translated by Jonathan Eden. Paris: Éditions de la Tourelle-Maloine. .
- Hautecoeur, Louis (1927). L'Histoire des Chateaux du Louvre et des Tuileries. Paris: G. Van Oest. .
- Jacquin, Emmanuel (2000). Les Tuileries, Du Louvre à la Concorde. Paris: Editions du Patrimoine, Centres des Monuments Nationaux. ISBN 978-2-85822-296-4.
- Radice, Mark A., editor (1998). Opera in Context: Essays on Historical Staging from the Late Renaissance to the Time of Puccini. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 9781574670325.
External links
- National Committee for the rebuilding of the Tuileries Palace (in French)
- Rebuilding the Tuileries by Charles T. Downey (Ionarts, 17 August 2006)
- Project for Reconstruction of the Tuileries Palace: 13th Legislature, 2008 Senate question (in French)
- Photos of the gardens of the Tuileries
- Interior and exterior photos, as well as plan of the state floor, of the Second Empire period