The famous Tuileries Garden, located in the heart of the French capital, is one of the main attractions of Paris. This garden and park complex, made in the classic French style, is often compared to an open-air theater, where sculptures, plants and various landscape elements act as scenery. Today, the Tuileries is recognized as the largest regularly operating park in its state. It is a favorite holiday destination for Parisians, as well as guests of the capital.
Location
Geographically, the Tuileries Garden is located in the heart of Paris. The green zone of the garden and park complex stretches along the right bank of the Seine River and occupies a total of twenty-five and a half hectares. The park is nine hundred and twenty meters long and three hundred and twenty meters wide.
From the south, the Tuileries is bounded by the river. East of the garden is the Louvre -between it and the Tuileries is Place Carruzel. From the western side, the green quarters of the park pass into the famous Place de la Concorde, behind which the Champs Elysees begin. The northern border of the Tuileries is marked by Rivoli, the longest street in Paris leading to Place Vendôme.
Tuileries Garden: history
Contrary to popular belief, the name "Tuileries" has nothing to do with tulips. In the 15th century, this place was the outskirts of the city, occupied by a dump and a clay quarry. The French word "tuile", which later gave the garden its name, means "tile" or "tile".
The idea to set up a garden complex in this place belonged to Marie de Medici. After the death of her husband, Henry II, she ordered to buy a plot of land outside the walls of the Louvre and build a palace on this site. A little later, near the Tuileries Castle, on the orders of the Queen Regent, an orchard was laid out for walking. It was originally made in the Italian style to remind Marie de Medici of her distant homeland.
A hundred years later, André Le Nôtre, head gardener at the court of Louis XIV, completely redesigned the Tuileries Garden, giving it classic French style. The appearance of the garden remains almost the same today. It was under Le Nôtre that the central alley was laid in the Tuileries, two large reservoirs were dug out and parterre flower beds decorated with ornaments were designed. A distinctive feature of the Tuileries ensemble is the transparency of the boundaries, in which the surrounding space - and even the sky! – organically fits into the general scenery of the park.
After the departure of the royal court from the Louvre to Versailles, the park gradually fell into disrepair, overgrown with trees and weeds. The wars and revolutions blazing in the country did not pass without a trace for him. And only at the end of the eighties of the XX century, the Tuileries garden and park complex was decided to be restored and put in order, returning to it all the features of a magnificent design developed by the unsurpassed master Le Nôtre, the father of the French style.
The Tuileries today
In general, the Tuileries Garden today can be imagined as consisting of three parts: a "big square" with an ornament, a forest area and an octagonal pool. The main part of the garden is formed by five large alleys, decorated with sculptures and semicircular stone niches. The location of all the design elements of the park (avenues, flower beds, reservoirs and groves) is verified to the smallest detail and is subject to strict symmetry.
The flora of the park is exceptionally diverse. His collection contains almost three thousand plants brought from different parts of the Earth. There are also two museums in the garden and park area, the expositions of which are presented in the surviving buildings of the Tuileries Palace: these are the famous galleries "orangerie" and "jeux de paume".
The garden area is a pedestrian zone; the only form of transport allowed here is a bicycle. Peace and quiet always reign in the park. Visitors spend their time leisurely walking along the alleys, admiring flowers, ponds and stone statues, visiting exhibitions andvernissages in the open air, and on holidays - participating in folk festivals and balls.
Statue Gallery
One more iconic feature of the Tuileries Garden cannot be overlooked. The sculptures decorating the complex represent a variety of time periods, from the Middle Ages to the present day.
The richest collection of landscape gardening sculptures is collected on the alleys of the main part of the garden. She served as the motive for another nickname of the Tuileries - "the entrance hall of the Louvre". Guests and vacationers strolling through the park have the opportunity to admire the works of the Custu brothers, Carpeau, Cuazvo, Barrois, Ken, Maillol and many other famous masters of past and present.
However, you should know that most of the sculptures located in the garden are copies. The originals of the masterpieces themselves are in the Louvre Museum.
Interesting facts about the Tuileries
Interestingly, the Tuileries Garden in Paris was opened to the general public only after the French Revolution, since 1799.
The main axis of the Tuileries complex departs from the western part of the facade of the Louvre and aims through the Arc de Triomphe in the direction of the Défense arch. Thus, the garden is located on the Historical axis of Paris, which is also known as the "axis of three arches".
It was from here, from the territory of the complex, that the Montgolfier brothers launched the world's first hot air balloon.
Description of the Tuileries Park contains the famous novel "Three Musketeers" by Alexandre Dumas.
