The Luxembourg Garden, Jardin du Luxembourg in French, is a public park in Paris that has the power to enchant with its beauty and overall harmony. It is a large oasis of tranquility in the ever-bustling Paris, where you can observe two entirely opposite garden styles (French and English), numerous works of art, fountains and marvellous floral and herbal arrangements. Additionally, enjoying some entertainment and interacting with tame wildlife (ducks to be precise) is always an option.
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Take a walk through the Luxembourg Garden’s paths …
… and majestic promenades, and open all of your senses to a mixture of various floral fragrances and vivid colours. Along the way you’ll easily differentiate the French-style gardens from the English gardens. While French gardens abound with lawns, flowerbeds and manicured trees, English gardens provide welcoming shade during hot summer days beneath tall trees.
As you find your way through the gardens, take advantage of numerous additions to such a natural splendour taking the form of fountains, grottos, sculptures, etc. Let me give you a couple of hints. There are around 100 sculptures throughout the Luxembourg Garden, but take note of other works of art that should be explored more thoroughly in order to discover some surprising additions.
There is a fairly large sized octagonal pond in the centre of the Luxembourg Garden, facing the Luxembourg Palace. In the pond, you can sail a boat, or simply enjoy a moment next to the pond by taking a nearby seat. If you opt for the first option, I believe that ducks swimming in the pond wouldn’t mind.
You can find several interesting facilities and leisure activities throughout the garden. Take a ride on Paris’s oldest carousel, designed by the architect who created Palais Garnier, Charles Garnier, or enjoy a puppet show in the Puppet Theatre. You can also let your children ride on a Shetland pony.
The Luxembourg Palace and the Luxembourg Museum
The name of the garden and the palace refers to the duke Francois de Luxembourg, who ceded the property to the queen Marie de Medicis after her husband’s (Henri IV) assassination. Feeling confined in the then royal palace of Louvre, Marie commissioned a palace and gardens in 1615 to remind her of Florence and the property where she grew-up. If you were in Florence, Italy, you should notice the similarity between the Luxembourg Palace and the Pitti Palace. The gardens featured the Italian style back then, which gradually changed during the following centuries.
The palace can be toured on certain days (Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays) when the Senate, which uses the palace for its sessions, doesn’t sit. The building used to be the Royal Palace, the revolutionary prison and the headquarters for the German Air Force during the Second World War. The Luxembourg Palace, built in the Rococo style, comprises a central pavilion with two adjoined lateral pavilions. Certainly the most appealing features of the façade are the central clock and the surrounding sculptures, while inside the palace you can see works of Eugene Delacroix and Jacob Jordaens, one of the leading Flemish Baroque painters of the 17th century.
Next to the palace, the small Luxembourg Museum stages various temporary exhibitions, educational programs and workshops for all ages.
Shall we elaborate about some works of art now?
The Luxembourg Garden abounds with exceptional works of art, and although every single one deserves your attention, you probably don’t have sufficient time to take a closer look at each one of them. If so, make sure that the following ones find their way into your selection:
The Observatory Fountain (in the photo), located at the southern end of the Luxembourg Garden, is among the finest in Paris. The exact sculptural composition whose copy is exhibited in the Orsay Museum, consisting of four women holding a globe above their heads, tops the fountain. Four females, sculpted by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, symbolize four continents (Europe, North America, Asia and Africa). There used to be a fifth sculpture, referring to Oceania, which was removed for the sake of symmetry. Besides the “Four Corners of the World” sculpture, the Observatory Fountain, conceived and created by Gabriel Davioud, is adorned with subsidiary figures of dolphins, turtles and horses.
The Medici Fountain, which is located to the right of the palace in the English style garden, has two faces. The one in front features a couple of sculptures (goddess Diana and Faunus – god of the forest), while the central composition illustrates lovers Galatea and Acis, moments before jealous Polyphemus crushed Acis with a boulder. The rear side of the Medici Fountain depicts a story about Leda and the Swan; the swan was actually the supreme Greek god Zeus, who transformed himself into a swan to seduce and rape Leda.
Other sections of the Luxembourg Garden are dotted with statues honouring French queens (around the pool in particular), saints (Saint Genevieve, for example, the patron saint of Paris), famous composers (Chopin), writers (Amandine Aurore Lucie, a woman who wrote under the male pseudonym George Sand), etc. A small-scale Statue of Liberty, donated by the statue’s famous architect Bartholdi, is also to be found nearby.
Useful information
The Luxembourg Garden is a vast area, located in the vicinity of the Pantheon, between Saint Germain des Pres and Latin Quarter. The garden is free of charge and can be accessed between 8:00 am and sunset. The best seasons for a visit are the spring and summer.
History
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