Palace of the Tuileries

Palace of the Tuileries, Paris, former royal palace, now destroyed, built on the right bank of the Seine River adjoining the palace of the Louvre. The Tuileries stood on the site of a former tile factory (hence its name; tuilerie is French for tileworks) and was built for Catherine de Médicis, queen of France. Work on the palace began in 1564, according to designs by French architect Philibert Delorme, but was not completed until the early 17th century. French architects Jean Bullant, Jacques de Cerceau, and Louis le Vau also contributed to the design of the building. Gardens covering 30 hectares (74 acres) were laid out to the west of the palace.

At the time of the French Revolution, King Louis XVI, Queen Marie-Antoinette, and their children were forced to abandon the Palace of Versailles and take up residence in the Tuileries on October 6, 1789. It was from the Tuileries that the royal family attempted an ill-fated escape from the French capital on the night of June 21, 1790. The Tuileries was captured by the Parisian populace on August 10, 1792; the discovery of incriminating papers in a secret cupboard there led to the trial and execution of Louis XVI.

In 1793, the palace was occupied by the Committee of Public Safety (the war cabinet, which formed the center of power of the new revolutionary government). The palace was destroyed by supporters of the Paris Commune in 1871 (see Commune of Paris, 1871), but the Jardins des Tuileries, the original, elaborately formal gardens of the palace, remain as a public park.