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Situated on the right bank of the River Seine, the
Tuileries Palace played its most important role during the French
Revolution. Louis XVI and his family were forced to live here after
the revolt at Versailles in October of 1789. On August 10, 1792,
Tuileries Palace saw its own revolt when French citizens stormed
the palace.
On September 20, 1792. Tuileries became the meeting
place of the National Convention, the group of 371 deputies that
were to create a new constitution for the country. The National
Convention met here along with other government committees including
the Committee of Public Safety and the Committee for General Security.
The name of the palace was actually changed from Tuileries Palace
to le Palais National, thus showing how quickly this building became
home to the new national government.
The Tuileries was also well known for its gardens
which were a major gathering place for artists and musicians, as
well as about every other Parisian. As Stated by Green in his book
The Spectacle of Nature, "The Tuileries, then as now,
offered a formal layout of dusty avenues an squat lopped trees-
a parade ground for the wealthy, a backdrop for the display of fashionable
children." (Green, 72). Manet's 1862 La Musique aux Tuileries
(Music in the Tuileries) below shows the Tuileries at the height
of its ostentaciousness:
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