The hôtel des Tournelles () 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. 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. Site and description At the beginning of the 15th century, the district around the hôtel formed a huge rectangle, marked out by the rue Saint-Antoine, rue des Tournelles, rue de Turenne and rue Saint-Gilles, a rectangle broken from within by the park of the royal estate. During the English occupation of Paris (1420-1436), John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford, extended the district by purchasing eight and a half acres from the nuns of Sainte-Catherine for 200 livres 16 sous, thus extending the property to the fortified wall of Paris, which was then situated on what is now known as the boulevard Richard Lenoir. This extension was annulled in 1437 after the English left. The main entrance to the hôtel was at the bottom of a cul-de-sac currently known as . The hôtel was said to be able to accommodate 6,000 people. Like the Hôtel Saint-Pol, the hôtel des Tournelles was a collection of buildings spread over an estate of more than , including twenty chapels, several pleasure grounds, ovens and twelve galleries including the Duke of Bedford's famous galerie des courges (so-called due to the painted green squash or courges on its walls. Under its tiled roof the Duke's arms, devices and heraldry were displayed). It also included a maze called 'Dedalus', two parks planted with trees, six kitchen gardens and a ploughed field. The council chamber was notable for the magnificence of its decoration. Three other rooms bore the names salle des Écossais (room of the Scots), salle de brique (brick room) and salle pavée (paved room). One part of the hôtel des Tournelles, named Logis du Roi, had an entrance decorated with the French coat of arms, painted by Jean de Boulogne, known as Jean de