Tuileries Garden: Beauty and the Memory of Revolution

The Tuileries Garden is one of Paris's signature parks, stretching from the Louvre to the Place de la Concorde. It was designed by Le Nôtre, the landscape architect behind the gardens of Versailles, and with its cafés, souvenir shops and sculptures, it's a lovely place for a stroll. Near the Place de la Concorde stands the Musée de l'Orangerie, home to Impressionist works, most famously Monet's Water Lilies. "Orangerie" means a place for storing oranges: the building once sheltered the garden's orange trees in winter and is now the museum.

For all its peaceful beauty, the Tuileries also carries a piece of Revolutionary history. When the Revolution broke out in 1789, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were moved from Versailles to the Tuileries Palace. They tried to flee France but were brought back, and on August 10, 1792, Paris's poorest residents stormed the palace demanding the king's abdication. Swiss Guards and National Guardsmen were defending the palace, and as the crowd approached, a squad of Swiss Guards opened fire, setting off a massacre. The bloodshed left 600 guards and some 260 civilians among the casualties, and Louis XVI was held responsible, leading to his trial. The Tuileries is a place where beautiful scenery and a painful past live side by side. Leave the garden and you will arrive at the Place de la Concorde.