The Orangery of the Tuileries: birth of a museum in four stages
The Orangerie des Tuileries, a twin building of the Jeu de Paume, was built in 1852 on the plans of the architects Firmin Bourgeois and Ludovico Visconti, to arbitrate the orange trees in the garden.
After several uses, the place was chosen to host the large panels of the Nymphéas de Monet, inaugurated in 1927. The architect Camille Lefèvre followed the painter's instructions to design the two elliptical rooms, the other part of the building also serving as an exhibition space.
In the early 1960s, the building was divided into two levels by the architect Olivier Lahalle in order to prepare for the arrival of the Walter-Guillaume collection.
The museum took its current form in 2006: the architect Olivier Brochet used modern materials, in particular advancing glass, digging basement levels and restoring the Nymphéas' rooms to their original appearance.
