Palate of Tileries

The Old Mode

The site of the palate was occupied, at the 13th century, by waste grounds and factories of tiles. At the 14th century, the provost of Paris Pierre of Essarts had there a home and forty Arpent S of arable land; at the 16th century, Neufville de Villeroy, secretary with Finances, made there build a hotel that François Ier bought for his mother.

The first constructions

The whole of these constructions was bought by Catherine de Médicis which wished to leave the Hôtel of the Small towers where Henri II had died. She made them shave and asked the architects Philibert Delorme and Jean Bullant to build there a palate which was to rise in the west of Louvre, beyond the enclosure of Charles V. The project of origin was ambitious: two large parallel buildings joined together by four shorter buildings, compartmentalizing three courses interior. But only the building of the west was finally built, and it is this building which one ultimately called the Palate of Tileries.

This building comprised a surmounted central house of a dome, equipped with a staircase suspended on vault which was regarded as a masterpiece. This house was framed of two wings. The southern wing ended in a house, called house of Bullant (built in 1570) while the northern wing was not completed. Indeed, Catherine de Médicis, very superstitious, finally refused to live with Tileries and settled in a hotel (called of the queen, then of Soissons, current Produce exchange) which it made build in all haste in 1574 close to the church Saint-Eustace. The legend tells that its astrologer Ruggieri had predicted to him that she would die “close to Saint-Germain” and the palate was near the church Saint-Germain-the Auxerrois.

Under the reign of Charles IX, the building site of Tileries was gradually abandoned. Henri III gave some festivals to it but did not reside at it; he flees however of Paris by the garden of Tileries, the May 12th 1588, at the time of the day of the barricades.

The “great Intention”

At the beginning of the 17th century, Henri IV decided to connect Louvre to the palate of Tileries while making build a long gallery skirting the the Seine, gallery whose starter had existed for a few years. It is what one called the " Large Dessein". This Large-Gallery or Galerie of the edge of the water (which always exists) was built of 1607 with 1610 by Jacques-Androuet of the Hoop. At the same time, the palate of Tileries was prolonged towards the south by a wing called Small-Gallery, intended to connect the house of Bullant to the Large-Gallery: with the crossing of the two buildings was built a house, baptized house of the River (and renamed Pavillon of Flora in 1669). The Palate of Louvre and that of Tileries from now on were thus connected between them.

After the death of Henri IV, in 1610, the palate knew a long period of abandonment again.

It was Louis XIV which decided to take again the building site. The palate of Tileries was indeed dissymmetrical: the Small-Gallery built under Henri IV did not have indeed during in north. Between 1659 and 1666, Louis Vau and François d' Orbay built: initially a house intended to make during with the house of Bullant (and which was baptized house of the Theater ), then a gallery intended to make during with the Small-Gallery (and which was baptized gallery of the Machines ), finally a house intended to make during with the house Flora (and which was baptized house of Pomone , then house of Marsan ). The palate was thus from now on symmetrical and complete north and south. However, several decades had been passed between the construction of the buildings located at the south of the central house and that of the buildings located at north. The building thus suffered from a great heterogeneity on the architectural level. The king ordered that it is thus largely modified by Vau. The central house (baptized House of the Clock ) was entirely rebuilt in the traditional style: broader, more raised, it was covered with a bulky dome; the wings which flanked it, as well as the Small-Gallery, were also rebuilt.

At the end of the 17th century, the palate of Tileries thus presented the aspect which it was going definitively to preserve during two centuries, 260 meters length, since the house of Marsan in north to the house of Flora in the south. To the west of the palate the garden extended from Tileries, until the future place Louis XV (current Place of the Harmony); in the east was a vast court, called court of the Carousel, itself prolonged by a place (the Place of the Carousel), then by a district of old houses (located at the site of the current pyramid out of glass), finally by the Carrée court of Louvre.

During the Old Mode, the principal inhabitants of Tileries were the Duchesse of Montpensier, known as Grande Miss (of 1638 with 1652), Louis XIV (of 1664 with 1667) and Louis XV (of 1715 with 1722). A Lit of justice was held with Tileries the August 26th 1728. The palate then was deserted and occupied by courtiers which the King granted residences of favor, like by artists, pensioners and people of any condition.

Driven out Palais Royal by a fire the April 6th 1763, the Opéra settled with Tileries, in a theater who had been arranged by Louis XIV in the gallery of the Machines; it remained there until in 1770, date on which it was replaced by the Comédie-Française, which remained there until in 1782. The first of the Barber of Seville , of Beaumarchais, took place there the February 23rd 1775.

The palate under the Revolution and the Consulate

The October 6th 1789, Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and their children settled in the palate after to be brought back Château of Versailles by the rioters. Tileries entered the great history: during 80 years, the palate was going to be the principal residence of the kings and the emperors, as well as the theater of major political events.

The interior distribution of the castle was the following one:

One penetrated in the palate on the side of the court of the Carousel, by the hall of the house of the Clock. On the right the staircase was which stopped with a first driving stage with the vault and continued after a half-turn to the room of the Members of the Swiss Guards (future living room of the Marshals);

In the south of this room, and to the house of Flora, was in row, giving on the court, the anteroom of the King, the room of Parade, the large cabinet of the King and the gallery of Diane. Side of the garden were the apartment of the Queen then the apartment of winter of the King, occupied by Louis XVI on his arrival with Tileries.

During the Revolution, the old apartment of the Queen was occupied by Marie-Therese de France and its brother, the dolphin. Marie-Antoinette settled at the ground floor, side garden, while Mrs Elisabeth, sister of Louis XVI, occupied the first stage of the house of Flora.

The royal family lay during three years in the palate. The June 21st 1791, it tried to flee but, stopped with Varennes, was forced to regain Tileries.

The August 10th 1792, at 7 o'clock in the morning, the royal family had to leave the Tileries, besieged by the rioters, to go to take refuge in the room of the Manège, which sheltered the legislative Assemblée then and was along the garden (with the site of the current crossroads of the street of Rivoli and the street of Castiglione). The garrison of Swiss guards remained in place around the empty palate from now on. It was invaded and plundered, and nearly 600 guards died during the combat or, massacred afterwards by crowd. A hundred guards managed however to escape with complicity from part of the Parisian population. The August 21st, the Guillotine was drawn up on the place of the Carousel, in the east of the palate.

The May 10th 1793, the Convention settled with Tileries, in the gallery of the Machines. The palate accepted then the name of national palate . The Comité of public hello occupied the Small-Gallery while Comité of general security settled in a private mansion located at the north of the court of the Carousel, near the house of Marsan. Many events proceeded with Tileries, in particular the proscription of the Girondins and the fall of Robespierre.

Under the Directory, Tileries sheltered the Conseil of Old the (1795 - 1799).

The February 19th 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul, settled with the palate of Tileries. It took for housing the first stage of the palate, occupying old the apartment of the King (it slept in the room of Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI). If Cambacérès, second Consul, preferred to reside at the hotel of Elbeuf, the Third Consul Lebrun settled in the house of Flora.

The Empire, the Restoration and the Monarchy of July

Napoleon i was maintained with Tileries, which then became the official residence of the Emperor. This one occupied, on the first floor of the southern wing, the old royal apartments, the provision and the denomination of the parts remaining unchanged. In 1806, a theater and a vault were arranged in the gallery of the Machines, while the interior decorations were altered by the architects Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine.

It was also into 1806 that these same architects built the Triumphal arch of the Carousel. This building, imitating the Severe arc of Septime of Rome, and which always exists, constituted the new official entry of the palate to replace an old door of the XVIIe century. It gave access by the east, since the place of the Carousel, at the main courtyard of Tileries, itself separated from the place by a long grid.

In parallel, with a view to continue the Great Intention started under Henri IV, Napoleon made build a gallery which closed the court of the Carousel in the north, and which extended from the house of Marsan at the level of the street of the Scale, along the street of Rivoli.

The November 28th 1804, the pope Black and white VII, come with Paris to crown Napoleon, settled in the palate, where it resided until the April 4th 1805. It occupied the old apartment of Mrs Elisabeth, on the first floor of the house of Flora.

It is at the ground floor of the southern wing that was born, in 1809, the son of Napoleon and Marie-Louise, the " King de Rome ".

In 1815, Napoleon left the palate not to return more there. It was replaced there by Louis XVIII, which was only king de France to die in Tileries (1824). His/her brother Charles X replaced there, until the Révolution of July 1830 drove out and which the palate was plundered by the rioters, for the second time of its history.

The palate remained uninhabited until the September 21st 1831, Louis-Philippe initially preferring to reside in its family residence, the Palais Royal. But Casimir Perier, to raise the prestige of the Monarchy of July, required of him that it settle with Tileries, that the queen Marie-Amélie found sad and called a casauba (Casbah). The royal family thus settled at the ground floor of the southern wing.

During more than one year, one made complete important work of refitting which cost more than 5 million. The palate took its final aspect then, with in particular the creation of a large staircase in the Pavillon of the clock, by the architects Percier and Fontaine.

The king also made dig, in the garden of Tileries, a trench which made it possible to delimit a private garden, closed of grids, along the Western frontage of the palate. Louis-Philippe had however to give up, for lack of money, with the project of meeting of the Louvre and Tileries on the northern side, presented in 1833 but which was carried out only by Napoleon III.

The days of February 1848 drove out the royal family of Tileries, which were plundered once again. After reconvertbeing reconverted in old people's home for the invalids of war, the palate became again official residence when Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, President of the Republic, settled there, before being proclaimed there Empereur in December 1852.

The palate under the Second Empire

The Second Empire remade Tileries the imperial Résidence. The old label reappeared (rider S, Chambellan S, Préfets of the palate) while the festivals and the ceremonies gave to the palate an unequalled gloss. The January 29th 1853, it was the theater of the civil wedding of Napoleon III and Eugenie de Montijo.

In addition, the architect Visconti was charged by the Emperor with giving to the palate a new youth. He followed the demolition of the houses and the lanes which still separated the place from the Carousel of the Square Cour of Louvre. But especially, the Emperor completed the Great Intention wanted by Henri IV and continued by Napoleon by making prolong, along the street of Rivoli, the gallery that this last had built. Towards 1870, and for the first time, the palate of Tileries and the palate of Louvre thus formed only one and even together, vastest and one of most majestic of Europe.

After the defeat of Sedan, the Eugenie empress left, the September 4th 1870, the palate of Tileries encircled by the riot. She flees by the house of Flora, from where she passed in the Large Gallery of Louvre.

Interior description

At the end of the Second Empire, the interior provision of the palate arised in the following way:

one entered, as regards court, by the hall of the house of the Clock;

the Large staircase of Percier and Fontaine carried out, on the first floor, north towards the room of the Spans and the platforms of the vault, then the theater and, in return towards the south and the central house, the room of the Guards then the gallery of Peace. This one led to the living room of the Marshals, occupying all the stage of the house of the Clock: transverse, it was high on two stages. From this living room one passed, side court, in the Blanc living room, then the living room of Apollon, the throne room, the living room Louis XIV then finally the gallery of Diane, which led to the house of Flora, giving on the the Seine;

the southern wing (towards the the Seine) was occupied, on the first floor side garden, by the apartments of the Impératrice (of the house of the Clock to the house of Bullant) and the apartments of the secretaries of the Emperor. A small staircase carried out these apartments towards the hall; the rez-of-court between the houses of the Clock and the house of Flora was affected with the service of the Emperor and the palate (Aide-de-camps, Garde), the ground floor with the apartment of the Emperor. Parts, side court, were affected, a time, with the imperial Prince;

the house of Flora, giving on the Seine, was occupied by the apartments of the imperial Prince;

the northern wing (towards the street of Rivoli) sheltered the vault in the house of the Vault on the first floor of which was located the gallery of the Spans and the platforms of the vault. The wing ranging between this house and the house of Marsan, in the extreme north of the palate, were occupied by the room of the Spectacles, broadside on the side of the court by a narrow corridor running to the house of Marsan;

the house of Marsan, giving on the street of Rivoli, was occupied by the apartments assigned to the Heads of State in official visit.

Fire and destruction

Become main of the places, the Commune made Tileries the theater of festivals and concerts: " concerts communards" thus took place in the living room of the Marshals. The May 10th 1871, one evening artistic was organized with the profit of the casualties of the National guard. The 18, three consecutive concerts took place, attracting an huge crowd. These concerts were, in the thought of the organizers, the prelude to the fire of the palate: they wanted to make sure that the population would accept the idea of the destruction of the palate. Installed with Tileries with his staff, the federate chief Bergeret declared: " When I leave Tileries, Tileries will be in ashes ".

Fire

The 22 and the May 23rd, the communards made provision of Pétrole, of Poudre, Goudron liquid and Spirits of turpentine. The 23, called the Bénot, butcher's assistant, led two others Fédérés, Boudin and Bergeret, in all the apartments of the palate and made sprinkle the walls and the floors of all these products. A powder barrel was placed in the hall of the house of the Clock while an inflammable material cluster was stored in the living room of the Marshals. As soon as fire was lit, the fire set ablaze all the building. Little before 9 hours evening, the clock of the palate stopped under the action of fire; around 11 a.m., an explosion shook the central house, letting the dome damage itself in a sheaf of flames.

The palate burned during three days. Bergeret and its men, having ordered a cold meal, soupèrent on the terrace of Louvre by contemplating the fire. The May 27th, it did not remain any more of Tileries but blackened sections of wall.

Demolition

As of 1872, many petitions and requests were deposited for the restoration of the palate, completely or in its major part. In fact, the building was reparable, since only the floors, the roof and the decorations had been entirely consumed. Parliamentary commissions were made up: a senatorial commission drew aside thus, in 1876, any idea to see disappearing the ruins. Haussmann, Lefuel and Purple-the-Duke proposed projects of safeguard of the ruins or rebuilding of a new palate. The main clause consisted of the restoration of the only central part, isolated, of Tileries, including/understanding the house of the Clock, the two wings and the two houses of the Theater and Bullant, the Small-Gallery and the gallery of the Machines being thus demolished.

After many tergiversations, the House of Commons finally decided in 1879 to demolish the ruins, which were shaven in 1883. Only the houses of Flore and Marsan remained, like two galleries to the counters of Louvre. From now on, a vast prospect extended from the garden for Tileries to the palate from Louvre, letting discover the Triumphal arch Carousel, old door of honor from now on isolated in the middle of a vast esplanade. The vestiges of the palate knew many destinations: the grid of the court of the Carousel was re-used in the castle of the family Esterhazy; columns were raised in a villa located at Suresnes, another with Marly; many stones were used to build the castle of Punta, property of the duke Pozzo di Borgo, above bay of Ajaccio; other vestiges were repurchased by the State and were dispersed between the garden of Tileries (with the foot of the museum of the Play-of-Palm), the gardens of the Trocadéro, those of the Luxembourg and Chaillot, in the court of the École of the Art schools,… But the vestige more moving remains without any doubt the pediment of the central house and its clock, always visible in the public garden Georges Cain, street Payenne. Lastly, of beautiful statues which decorated this same pediment can be admired in the hall which is under the triumphal arch of the Carousel.

As for the site even of the palate of Tileries, it is symbolized today by a small panel of bad invoice that few tourists are able to notice.

Several associations militate still to date for the rebuilding with identical of the palate.

Legend

The history of the palate of Tileries is related to a legend, that of Jean the flayer : to stop having its stall not far from the palate, it would have been cut the throat of on order of Catherine de Médicis with the reason which it knew some of the secrecies of the crown. At the time of dying, he would have said: " I will return ". He would have then appeared with the astrologer Cosme Ruggieri, to which he would have predicted the forfeiture of the future occupants of the castle and his own disappearance at the same time as the palate.

Known under the name of " small red man of Tileries " , it regularly haunted the palate, its appearance always announcing a drama with that with which it appeared. Thus, in July 1792, it appears with the Queen Marie-Antoinette, little time before the fall of Monarchy; in the same way, in 1815, appears it with Napoleon i, a few weeks before the Bataille of Waterloo. Finally it appeared with Louis XVIII and its brother the count d' Artois, a few days before the death of the first.

The May 23rd 1871, during the fire of the palate, the witnesses will affirm that, while the dome of the room of the Marshals crumbled in the flames, the silhouette of the small red man appeared last once at a window of the palate.

Towards a rebuilding of the palate?

A National committee for the rebuilding of Tileries militates for the rebuilding with identical of the palate of Tileries, with funds which would be collected near private companies. The cost would rise to 350 million euros according to the Committee. A commission of studies directed by Maurice Druon and composed of partisans of the project, instituted by ministerial decree, returned an in February 2007 report/ratio. The opposition to this idea to rebuild Tileries is strong among the historians of art and architecture, like among defense associations of the inheritance.

See too

Louvre
August 10th, 1792 (the catch of Tileries)

External bonds

To promote the memory of the castle of Tileries
To promote the rebuilding of the Palate of Tileries
Tileries, place of memory of the Revolution
a castle built with stones of Tileries
Forum on the palate of Tileries
Article: " Taste of the faux" on the Platform of Art

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