Travel Tuesday: The Tuileries Garden or Jardin des Tuileries

The Tuileries Garden or Jardin des Tuileries is located between the Louvre and The Place de la Concorde in the 1st arrondissement of Paris (more about arrondissements later). The garden is a manifestation of a vision of Catherine de Medicis who moved to the Louvre Palace in July 1559 after her husband Henry II died. She moved with her son, the new king François II but decided that she wanted to build a new palace separate from the Louvre with a garden that was modeled after those in her homeland of Florence.

Catherine decided to use an empty area bordered by the Seine on the south, the rue Saint-Honore on the north, the Louvre on the east and the city walls and deep water moat on the west. The area has been occupied since the 13th century by workshops called tuileries which made tiles for the roofs of buildings. In the 16th century some of the land had been acquired by King François I and she acquired more land and began to make her vision a reality.

Catherine  commissioned Bernard de Carnesse a landscape architect from florence to build an Italian Renaissance garden complete with fountains, a labyrinth and a grotto decorated with faience images of plans and animals made by Bernard Palissy. Palissy was ordered by Catherine to discover the secret of Chinese porcelain. 

The garden and Palace changed hands many times  however it became the National Garden or Jardin National of the new French Republic after King Louis XVI was removed from power and executed during the French Revolution. 

In 1870, Emperor Louis Napoleon was defeated and captured by the Germans and Paris was the scene of the Uprising of the Paris Commune. When the army arrived and fought to recapture the city, the Communards deliberately burned dow the Tuileries Palace and attempted to burn the Louvre as well but were unsuccessful. The Palace ruins were not torn down until 1883 and the empty site, which was located between the two pavilions of the Louvre, became a part of the garden. 

Today the garden is a place where Parisians and of course visitors go to celebrate, meet, promenade and relax and I truly look forward to seeing it's beauty...

A Bientôt Mes Amis!