Hôtel des Tournelles

The hôtel des Tournelles (French: [otɛl de tuʁnɛl]) is a now-demolished collection of buildings in Paris built from the 14th century onwards north of Place des Vosges. It was named after its many 'tournelles' or little towers.

Not to be confused with Château de la Tournelle.

It was owned by the kings of France for a long period of time, though they did not often live there. Henry II of France died there in 1559 of wounds he received in a joust. After his death, his widow Catherine de Médici abandoned the building, by then quite derelict and old-fashioned. It was turned into a gunpowder magazine, then sold to finance the construction of the Tuileries, designed and developed to suit the queen's Italian style.

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