Rebuilding the Tuileries Palace

[lofter1]

Paris To Rebuild Lost Tuileries Palace
Burned During Rule of Paris Commune



NY SUN
BY HENRY SAMUEL - The Daily Telegraph
August 14, 2006

PARIS — The destroyed Tuileries Palace, once home to French kings and emperors, could be rebuilt after the French government formed a commission of eminent historians and politicians to draw plans for its restoration.

If approved, the $380 million construction project — between the Louvre museum and the Place de la Concorde — would create a replica of the palace as it appeared before it was torched by members of the Paris Commune in 1871.

The Palais des Tuileries was built for Catherine de Medici in 1564.It was gradually extended over three centuries until it spanned 300 yards to link the north and south wings of the Louvre museum.

By the mid-19th century, the walls of this vast complex enclosed a square where today the Louvre pyramid stands. But only a few years after its completion under Napoleon III, the palace was reduced to a burned-out stone shell, when it was torched during the fall of the Paris Commune. The ruins were knocked down 12 years later.

"When you say Louvre, everyone says ‘museum.' When you say Tuileries, everyone says ‘gardens,'" the president of the National Committee for the reconstruction of the Tuileries, Alain Boumier said. "We want to bring the two back together as originally intended."

He has the backing of several eminent architects, such as the president of the Academy of Beaux-Arts, Roger Taillibert. They point out that the rebuilt palace facade would restore harmony to the grand perspective down the Champs-Elysees from the Arc de Triomphe, which at present is out of kilter with the Louvre pyramid.

The reconstruction task would be made all the easier as the 10-foot foundations still stand and detailed architectural plans have survived. Most of the furniture and artworks that graced the interior under Napoleon III are also intact.

President Chirac has called for a debate on the subject but is not the first president to show an interest in the palace. Charles de Gaulle wanted it rebuilt, saying that restoring it would "make a jewel of the center of Paris."

The difference this time, Mr. Boumier insisted, was that the reconstruction would not cost the taxpayer anything. The project would rely instead on private donations.

"All we need from the state is its goahead to lease the land, and we can begin," he said.

If the palace is rebuilt, Mr. Boumier said some of the space could be used to exhibit the Louvre's stored works, along with a museum on the Tuileries, a conference center, and even Foreign Ministry offices. The enclosed square could once again become a venue for the Paris Opera and Comedie Francaise.

Mr. Boumier expects the administrative details to be ironed out within three years and construction to take another four. He said: "I have reasonable hope that it will be completed within a decade."

© 2006 The New York Sun

[lofter1]

The Ruins of the Tuileries Palace ...



Do we have to rebuilt the ancient Tuileries Palace ?

http://3kawak.chez-alice.fr/Nouvelles/2004/News.htm

This question, odd to some, first stated end of year 2002 is crowling its way gently amongst the high spheres.. Burned down in 1870 amongst a couple of major buildings symbols of former political regimes, the Palace wasn't lucky enough to be restaured.

Years later, in 1882, the republican government passed a law at Parlement stating that the remains of the Palace will be put to groung level before rebuilding it the way it was or in a more basic version. For sure the former part of the law was accomplished leaving the latter to anyone who would remember what's the real 'deal' was made of. A simple look to the photos taken after the disaster makes clear that destorying what remained was a true architectural crime. But what could be expected from a regime that have no intention to respect a word given to the country representatives. So did the Palace disapeared from parisian's eyes for ever and fell into oblivion, the same way other countries have obliterated complete chapters of their own history.The crime was fully completed when, a couple of years later in 1887, the same regime put to auction the entire collection of the Crown Jewels, one of the finest ever brought together ( one day I'll write about this abomination )

Very few was saved from the eager of the flames, indoors decorations, paintings and numerous pieces of furniture were definitly lost but was it a reason to brush aside a building that was one of the main places of our history ? Since the fist time I saw the pictures in 1985 I feel resentement and pray that one day the Tuileries Palace will be rebuilt the way eminent architects have planned it centuries ago.

http://napoleontrois.free.fr/tuileries.htm

[lofter1]

The Tuileries Palace -- Before & After


View from the Louvre courtyard showing the joining of the Louvre (foreground)
and the Tuileries Palace (background), now a large empty space.
Pei's pyramid now stands in the foreground, instead of the grove of trees.


Tuileries Palace before 1871 - View from the Tuileries Gardens


Burnt stone shell of the Tuileries Palace after the 1871 fire and before the destruction of 1883 -
View from the Louvre courtyard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuileries

[Comelade]

thank you lofter1, very interesting

[ablarc]

This will interrupt the grand axis that presently runs from the Louvre pyramid, through the Carrousel arch, past Concorde, through the Arc de Triomphe all the way through the "arch" of La Defense: three triumphal arches on a single thread.

Can't see the point of this project.

Building wasn't so great to begin with.

Waste of money.

[Eugenius]

The Louvre pyramid is off-center on this axis. One of the reasons for the rebuilding is to hide that "shameful" fact.

[czsz]

It is?

[ablarc]

Originally Posted by Eugenius

The Louvre pyramid is off-center on this axis. One of the reasons for the rebuilding is to hide that "shameful" fact.

You may be thinking of the La Defense "arch", which is indeed slightly off axis. Most people aren't aware of that fact, however, as it takes an effort to see it.

[luckyluke]

If you want to see some parts of the Tuileries you can go here :

http://perso.orange.fr/lapunta

[ablarc]

Disassembled and reassembled hundreds of miles away?

[luckyluke]

In 1890 the stones have been disassembled and transported by train to Marseille, about 750 km, then put on a boat to Corsica, and at the end transported with charriot up to 600 meters of elevation to be reassembled.

It's a quite unknown story.

[ablarc]

^ Interesting. Some folks must have attached a lot of importance to those stones.

[czsz]

There's a similar project afoot to rebuild the Stadtschloss in central Berlin:



http://www.berliner-schloss.de