Tuileries Palace, Burned. General View

Alphonse J. Liébert French
 Author Alfred d'Aunay French

Not on view

On May 23, 1871, as national forces from Versailles pushed to retake the capital, Communards set fire to the Tuileries Palace, the royal residence built by Catherine de Medici beginning in 1564. Expanded by subsequent sovereigns, the Tuileries had been extensively refurbished as part of Napoleon III's New Louvre project and was the palace in Paris most closely associated with his court. To those who deemed the emperor responsible for France's humiliating defeat and the loss of Alsace and Lorraine, the Tuileries was a particularly attractive target on which to exact revenge. Its burned-out shell, depicted here, remained standing until 1883, when it was demolished.

Tuileries Palace, Burned. General View, Alphonse J. Liébert (French, 1827–1913), Albumen silver print from glass negative

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