Jardins and
Palais du Luxembourg
A perfect garden for
lovers. Metro : Luxembourg. Odéon.
The Palais
and Jardins du Luxembourg were built by Marie de
Medicis, Henri
IV's widow, to remind her of the Palazzo Pitti and Giardino di Boboli
of
her native Florence. The palace is now the seat of the french Senat.
Opposite the gates, scarcely noticeable on the end wall of the
colonnade of no. 36, rue de
Vaugirard, is a metre rule, set up during
the revolution to guide the
people in the introduction of the new metric system.
The gardens are the
chief lung and
recreation ground of the left bank,
with tennis courts, pony rides, a children's playground, boules pitch,
yachts to
rent on the pond and, in
the wilder southeast corner, a miniature
orchid
of elaborately espaliered pear trees. It has a distinctly mediterranean
air
on summer days. Strollers and sunbathers vie for their own metal chair
or
space on a bench, while the most contested spot for lovers is the
shady, seventeenth-century
Fontaine de Medicis, in the northeast corner. There are many other
sculptural
works in the park, including an 1890 monument to the painter Delacroix
by
Jules Dalou.
In the last week of
September, an
"expo-automne" takes place in the
Orangerie (entrance from 19, rue de Vaugirard, opposite rue
Férou) , where fruits - including the Luxembourg's own powerful
pears - and floral decorations are
sold.
