Tuileries
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Paris’ largest and oldest garden – and a masterpiece of classical gardening. A few of the elms and other trees have been standing since the Second Empire (circa mid 19th century).
Essentials
Opened in 1664
280,000 sq m
Note
This garden does not belong to the City of Paris: it is run by the public agency that runs the Louvre.
Enquiries: +33(0)1 40 20 90 43.
Don’t miss
The elms, the countless sculptures, the exhibitions at the Jeu de Paume and Orangerie, and the view.
Getting there
- Place de la Concorde, Place du Carrousel, Rue de Rivoli and Quai des Tuileries (Paris 01).
- Metro: Tuileries, Concorde or Palais-Royal
Opening hours
See the detailed page (Coming soon)
Things to do
Sit back by the grand octagonal pond, and enjoy the splendid garden views and open-air sculpture museum. Kids can still steer hired scale-model sailing boats around the pond, as in days long gone. The list of classical statues sprinkled around the garden includes Rodin’s Le Baiser, Eve, La Méditation and La Grande Ombre, and works by Coysevox and Carpeaux, and the list of contemporary works encompasses Max Ernst’s Microbe vu à travers un Tempérament, Alberto Giacometti’s Grande Femme II, Jean Dubuffet’ Le Bel Costumé and Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure.
History trivia
Louis XIV asked André Le Nôtre – who had designed the royal gardens in Versailles, Marly, Saint Cloud and Saint Germain – to redesign the Tuileries in 1664, for the “honest (as in ‘humble’) folk” to enjoy on Midsummer Day. It became Paris’ first public garden as a result.
The Commune government later added the Jardin du Carrousel.
The French Government spent six years (1991-1996) restoring and rejuvenating this garden. Landscapers Louis Benech, Pascal Cribier and François Roubaud preserved most of the landscape that Le Nôtre had originally designed.
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