Tuileries Garden

These magnificent royal gardens, comprising 28 hectares of parkland, were commissioned by Catherine de’ Medici as the garden of the Tuileries Palace in 1564.

Subsequently, the gardens underwent a series of renovations, extensions and modifications according to the tastes and needs of successive monarchs.

The history of the gardens

Catherine wanted Italian-style gardens to remind her of Florence and to organise sumptuous parties in honour of ambassadors, Henry IV preferred to plant mulberry trees to cultivate silkworms and created completely renovated gardens, Louis XIII, still a child, used them as an immense playground with menageries and riding schools, after 40 years of neglect it was Louis XV who restored it, but with the French Revolution the park was transformed into the Jardin National and redesigned in a neoclassical style with Roman porticoes, monumental and columned style.

It was not until the 19th century that the Tuileries became a favourite spot for Parisians: immortalised even in Impressionist paintings, the park became the ideal setting for the new leisure time, a place to relax, meet friends, stroll and love nature.

After wars, revolutions, kings and emperors, today the park is once again one of those unmissable corners of Paris in fine weather and in autumn when the colours are at their most explosive.

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel connects the courtyard of the Louvre to the Tuileries Garden. This immense arch was commissioned by Napoleon to celebrate his many victories, including the Battle of Austerlitz, and dominates the Jardin du Carrousel with its unmistakable silhouette.

In the Emperor’s time it was surmounted and embellished by the Horses of St. Mark stolen from Venice and only returned after the defeat at Waterloo in 1815.

The sculpture that can be admired today was instead placed in 1828 to commemorate the return of the Bourbons to the throne of France after the Napoleonic domination.