The Tuileries Palace—which no longer exists—was a royal palace built by Catherine de Medicis, the widow of Henry II of France, after his death in 1559. The name comes from the workshops that had previously occupied the site, which used the clay from the land to make roof tiles (tuiles). The palace, located at the west end of the Louvre, became the royal residence of many French sovereigns, and during the French Revolution Louis XVI and his family were brought to Paris and kept under surveillance at the Tuileries for two years. When Napoleon Bonaparte came into power in 1799, he made the Tuileries his official residence and, later, the Imperial palace. The palace's last resident was Napoleon III.
To conmemorate the Grande Armee's victory at Austerlitz, Napoleon I built in front of the palace the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, a majestic triumphal Roman arch that was modeled after the Arch of Constantine in Rome. On top of the Arc were placed the famous Horses of Saint Mark, the Triumphal Quadriga from Saint Mark's Cathedral in Venice that had been taken by Napoleon in 1798 (and which had previously been stolen by the Venetians from Constantinople in 1204). The Horses of Saint Mark returned to Venice in 1815 following Napoleon's downfall and were replaced by another quadriga depicting Peace riding in a triumphal chariot led by gilded Victories on both sides.
The following archive picture shows the palace and the arc before the palace was destroyed in 1871.
The Palace was set on fire during the Paris Commune and its ruins were demolished in 1882. The arc still remains, as do the Tuileries Garden, which had become a public park after the French Revolution. Centrally located between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde, it is one of the places where Parisians love to promenade, meet, and relax.
We were there last weekend during one of the last warm, sunny days of this autumn. From the park you have some impressive views of the city, and we also witnessed a beautiful sunset.
The park has two distinct areas: the Grand Carré is the open part of the garden that surrounds the large round basin, and the Grand Couvert, the part covered with trees. There are two very nice cafes, the standard merry-go-round, a playground, plus an area with trampolines that the kids simply love.
