The New Student's Reference Work/Tuileries, Palace of the

Tuileries (twē′le-riz), Palace of the, a famous domicile of French royalty, now destroyed, in Paris, on the right bank of the Seine and adjoining the Louvre. The site originally was a tile-field, whence the origin of the name (the word signifying a tile-kiln). The palace was commenced in 1654 as a residence for Catherine de Medici, and was enlarged by Henry IV and by Louis XIV, the attached grounds being converted into ornamental gardens. When the palace of Versailles was erected, the Tuileries ceased to some extent to be used by the French kings. In the Revolution it was stormed and sacked by the frenzied Parisian mob (1792), and for a time became the seat of the national convention which governed France after abolishing monarchy. The Tuileries were also attacked and taken in the insurrections of 1830 and 1848, and during the Commune (1871) the buildings were burned, the ruins not being removed till 12 years later. Nothing of the palace remains except the pavilions which flanked it. In their restored order they terminate the two galleries or extended arms of the Louvre (q. v.).