Tuileries, << TWEE luh reez or TWEEL REE, >> a famous royal palace, stood on the right bank of the River Seine in Paris. During the French Revolution, mobs forced Louis XVI and his family to live there instead of at Versailles. For a time, the National Convention held its sessions in the Tuileries. Napoleon I made it his home, and it served as the royal residence after the Restoration.
Catherine de Médicis began the building of the palace in 1564, but much of it was built in the 1600’s. The original architect was Philibert de l’Orme. The palace was formed by a series of long, narrow buildings with high roofs that created one major and two minor courtyards. At the southeast corner it joined the Louvre. Supporters of the Commune destroyed most of the palace in 1871, but the gardens west of the palace remain. These gardens, covering about 63 acres (25 hectares), still closely follow a design laid out by landscape architect André Le Nôtre in the 1600’s.
