Tuileries Gardens: Paris' first public garden

When spring finally arrives in Paris, and with it the sun emerging from the clouds and the gorgeous blooms of April and May, it is almost immoral not to stroll through the various gardens of the City of Lights at least once a day, and enjoy all the beauty that nature, often engineered by man, offers us.

I want to tell you today about Tuileries Gardens (In French, they write Tuileries), which, in addition to being charming gardens, have a fascinating history related to the Parisian fashion world.

The beginning of the Tuileries Gardens: a tile factory

It all started with a tile factory that had been there since the Middle Ages. Since the word Tuiles means tiles in French, the place got its name from the factory and was called Tuileries. In 1564, the Catherine de Medici To build herself a palace west of the Louvre and gardens next to it in her favorite Italian style.

The garden was then private and was used by her until she decided to leave the palace and move to a palace that no longer exists, near the church. Saint Eustace (Why did she flee the Tuileries Palace? You can find out in one ofMy toursHowever, the person responsible for the major change that the genes underwent is a member of Catherine de Medici's family, namely Marie de Medici, the mother of Louis XIV.

It all started when Marie de Medici decided to plant a row of elm trees between the southern border of the Tuileries Gardens and the Seine River in 1616. The goal was to create a promenade where the city's nobility could ride in their modern carriages (the carriage only arrived in Paris at the end of the 16th century) and show everyone their wealth.

It was a relatively wide promenade, where up to 5 carriages could pass at a time, and it even contained a kind of traffic circle at its ends so that the carriages could turn around. Initially, the place was closed to those who were not noble, but in 1628 Louis XIII decided that commoners could also enter there, so that they could watch the nobles travel while sitting in the “last word” of 13th-century vehicles.

Not surprisingly, the place became a success story and thousands came to watch the nobles' carriages. Astute businessmen quickly realized the business potential of the place and before long the first vendors could be seen running between the carriages and selling fruit and sweets to the nobles.

Next in line to make money from the place were matchmakers. Since Tinder wasn't invented until a few hundred years later, matchmakers realized Paris The fact that all the nobles and gentry of the City of Lights gather on the promenade is a great business opportunity. And so, in exchange for the help they provided to the noble dynasties in creating the next generation, they managed to earn quite a bit of money. Very soon, alongside the candy merchants, matchmakers could also be seen running between the carriages and passing love notes between future brides and grooms.

The first public garden in Europe

The success of the Cour La Reine brought the Louis XIV He personally arrived there in his magnificent carriage. Following his visit, in 1662 he decided to transform the modest and outdated Tuileries Gardens nearby into an impressive and large garden, befitting the Sun King.

The task was entrusted to André Le Nôtre (1613–1700), the royal garden architect, who had previously been responsible for the magnificent gardens of the Château de la Cite. Wo La Viscount And in the future he will shape the Gardens of VersaillesThus, Catherine de Medici's Italian-style gardens were uprooted and replaced with French-style gardens, characterized by precise geometric shapes. At the same time, Notre added stairs and the promenade that still connects the Louvre Palace with the gardens today.

This is what the Louvre and the Tuileries looked like in the 18th century

Although the main avenue of the Tuileries Gardens was wide enough for carriages to move along, the nobles decided to leave the carriages in the Cour La Reine and do something that had never been done before in Paris – simply walk around. To us, it sounds banal for people to walk in the city center, but in 17th-century Paris it was a huge innovation. The reason for this was that, besides The Pon Nef BridgeThere were no sidewalks in Paris, so walking meant getting your feet dirty in the mud at best, or getting run over at worst.

Although at that time it was already possible to travel inVosges SquareHowever, the small garden at its center did not really allow for a stroll without constantly going in circles. Thus, when Parisians abandoned their carriages and began using their feet, the Tuileries Gardens became the first public garden in Europe.

In this garden, one could see a phenomenon not seen anywhere else in Europe: women strolling by themselves or accompanied by a friend, husband, or lover (at that time, noble women rarely left their homes, and when they had to do so, they were accompanied by quite a few servants).

Because of the diverse nature of its visitors, the Tuileries Gardens had different uses at different times of the day. For example, if a woman wanted to meet her lover and needed a more intimate setting, she would arrive in the gardens around noon and stroll with her lover in one of the side alleys of the garden.

On the other hand, if she simply wanted to escape the Parisian August heat (as she did Madame de Savignier in 1671) and drink cool lemonade, she had to go to the main avenue and on the way meet all the who's who of the City of Lights (even in the 17th century it wasn't really fun to drink lemonade alone).

Since all this walking in the garden was quite tiring, it is not surprising that the first public benches were also invented in the Tuileries Gardens, in 1678. These benches were made of wood and on them young lovers could sit, flirt and even kiss in public (an unprecedented phenomenon at the time). As we can learn from the famous poem by Bressanone, not much has changed since then.

Tuileries Gardens become the first fashion runway in history

The fact that the nobility and commoners began to travel on foot had a great influence on French fashion. Until then, the nobles had traveled around Paris in closed carriages, so it was difficult to see what they were wearing (the cabriolet would be invented later). Once they began to stroll through the public gardens, they discovered that they could show off not only their luxurious carriage, but also the clothes that had been made for them shortly before.

And so, in an instant, the Tuileries Gardens became a fashion runway, where the nobility showcased the latest in French fashion and created fashion trends at breakneck speed. As early as the 80s, Paris tourist guides began to publicize this fact.

As a result, the Tuileries Gardens attracted thousands of foreign tourists, who came to catch up on the latest French fashion and then rush back to their own countries to try to imitate it. Thus, the first fashion magazines of the time were founded, which presented current fashion trends as observed in the Tuileries Gardens (and since fashion changed frequently, the creators of the magazines had quite a bit of work).

However, the entire fashion industry that developed around the Tuileries Gardens had an unintended side effect. Parisian women with a penny in their pocket would wander around the garden, see the duchesses and marquises dressed, and then shamelessly run to their tailors and ask them to make them the exact same clothes.

Because at that time the first books began to appear, which taught the French how to behave politely in society (for example: At a French meal, you only spit to the right side.), it soon became almost impossible to distinguish between a countess and the wife of a wealthy merchant.

At the same time, stories of the opposite kind also flourished about noblewomen who wanted to be mocked and disguised themselves as commoners or women who had come from the provinces. For example, one writer said that in 1698 a Marquise decided to disguise herself as someone who had just arrived in Paris and began talking to a count she met in the Tuileries Gardens.

After a conversation of more than an hour, during which the Count offered to teach her everything she needed to know about Paris on the public bench in the garden, she astonished him when she suddenly said goodbye to him and went to her luxurious carriage, which took her to her Parisian palace.

Charles Perrault and Catherine Deneuve stroll through the Tuileries Gardens

If we are already in the 17th century, this is an excellent opportunity to talk about Charles Perrault, the famous author of fairy tales, whose brother Claude built the east facade of Louvre Palace which is not so far from here. You will find his statue in the western part of the Tuileries Gardens and you can hear his story in the following video he made Dr. Aviv Amit:

The Tuileries Gardens – from the 18th century to the present day

The Tuileries Gardens continued to be very popular after the 17th century. During the 18th century, the gardens made history once again, when in 1783 the Montgolfier brothers chose them to make their first hot air balloon flight. A few years later, the gardens witnessed much less spectacular spectacles, when in 1792 a revolutionary mob broke into the Tuileries Palace and massacred the bodyguards of Louis XVI.

Two years later, Robespierre celebrated the “Feast of Reason” with a grand ceremony by the pond where children now row boats. Of course, by this time the Tuileries Gardens had already lost all their romance – who wants to flirt, when a few meters away, in the Place de la Revolution (today Concorde Square), the guillotine's neck, heads?

During the 19th century, the garden underwent many changes as a result of the paving of the nearby Rue de Rivoli by Napoleon I. His nephew, Napoleon III, added the following buildings to the gardens: The Orangery (Orangerie) and the Jeu de Paume. Both became very successful museums in the 20th century. If the Tuileries Gardens had eyes, then shortly afterwards they would have seen theThe palace next to them burned down. By the members of the Paris Commune, during their battles against the government in May 1871.

During the 20th century, the history of Paris was decided a few steps away, at the Hotel Meurice, where General von Choltitz lived, who received orders from Hitler to destroy the City of Lights. Fortunately, the general ultimately decided to refuse the order and we can enjoy the graces of the City of Lights to this day.

After World War II, Paris began to recover, and the Tuileries Gardens became more beautiful and inviting than ever. Statues by August Rodin, Aristide Maillol, and others were added, along with green chairs that invite us all to sit for a moment, enjoy all this beauty, and say, “How great it is to be in Paris.”

The photos in the post are courtesy of Yoel Tamanlis, owner of the Facebook page. Paris via Zoom.

Tuileries Gardens: Opening hours, directions and additional information

The Tuileries Gardens are open all week from 07:00 a.m. to 21:00 p.m. The gardens can be reached using the following metro lines:

• Line 1 (get off at Jardins de Tuilleries station)
• Lines 8 and 12 (both arrive at Concorde station) and from there you can enter the gardens through their western entrance.

It is highly recommended to combine a visit to the gardens with a visit toThe Louvre Museum , BThe Orangery Museum  And even inOrsay Museum which is not that far across the river. And of course, if you come to Paris in November or December, don't miss the Christmas market which is located there, which is the biggest and most important of all. Paris Christmas Markets.

Want to live near the Tuileries Gardens?

There are two big advantages to living near the Tuileries Gardens. The first is their beauty (there's nothing more fun than starting the day with a quick visit there, before all the tourists arrive). The second advantage is their very central location, next to the Louvre Museum and very close to the Left Bank and the Champs-Élysées.

If you have decided to live near the Tuileries Gardens, let me recommend the following:This apartment, where I lived twice (it is near Place de la Concorde, and a few minutes' walk from the entrance to the gardens).

If the apartment is not available, I recommend you live in1th District או The 8rd District, in parts close to the gardens, or in7th District, parts of which are located next to the Seine and very close to the Tuileries Gardens themselves.

• If you are looking for a good hotel in these areas, read about it here. Hotels in Paris.
• If you are interested in living in a vacation apartment, you are welcome to read the article aboutApartments for rent in Paris.

If you are looking for more parks to visit, I recommend the wonderful article by Yoel Tamanlis. 15 parks, gardens and forests in Paris that you must see.