Tuileries Garden is a canonical example of the French, or formal, garden, a distinctive style of landscape art. It was laid out in 1564 by order of Catherine de' Medici, together with her new Tuileries Palace, which was burned by revolutionaries in 1871.
The park for the Italian queen was initially created in the Italian style, but a hundred years later it was redesigned by Louis XIV's chief gardener Andre Le Notre. He created the new Tuileries Garden, thereby giving rise to a new kind of landscape art - formal gardens.
Here, perfect symmetry and proportions are observed in everything; all the trees and plants are planted in impeccable rows that form regular geometric shapes. Emerald lawns are outlined by even lines of hedges and neatly trimmed chestnut trees, and the flower beds are designed in harmony with the overall concept of the park.
The alleys are adorned with sculptures: works by the best contemporary masters and copies of statues by the great sculptors of the past are displayed here; they once decorated the Tuileries gardens and are now kept in the museum of the Louvre.
A special atmosphere is created by the well-kept ponds, where adults and children launch wooden model boats - you can rent them from the attendant. Around the ponds are green chairs that you can place however you like and enjoy blessed silence in the very heart of Paris.
