People relaxing in front of the
Luxembourg Palace
The
Jardin du Luxembourg is the largest public park (224,500 m² (22.5 hectares) located in the 6th
arrondissement
of Paris
, France
.
Luxembourg
is the garden of the French Senate
, which is itself housed in the Luxembourg
Palace
.
Features
The garden is largely devoted to a green
parterre of gravel and lawn populated with statues
and provided with large basins of water where children sail model
boats. The garden is famed for its calm atmosphere. Surrounding the
pond are a series of statues of former French queens. In the
southwest corner, there is an orchard of apple and pear trees and
the
théâtre des marionnettes (
puppet theatre).The gardens include a large
fenced-in playground for young children and their parents and a
vintage
carousel. In addition, free musical
performances are presented in a gazebo on the grounds and there is
a small cafe restaurant nearby, under the trees, with both indoor
and outdoor seating from which many people enjoy the music over a
glass of wine.
The
École nationale supérieure des Mines de
Paris
and the Odéon
theatre
stand next to the Luxembourg Garden.
Open hours depend on the month: opening between 7:30 and 8:15 am;
closing between 4:45 and 9:45 pm.
Statuary
The garden contains just over a hundred statues, monuments, and
fountains, scattered throughout the grounds. Surrounding the
central green space are about twenty figures of historical French
queens and female saints, standing on pedestals, including statues
of
Jeanne III of Navarre,
Blanche of Castile,
Anne of Austria,
Louise of Savoy, and
Anne of France.
Other sculptured work includes:
- Pierre Guillaume
Frédéric le Play, by André Joseph Allar, 1906
- Statue of Liberty
, first model, by Frédéric Bartholdi,
1870
- La
Bocca della
Verità
, by Jules
Blanchard
- Ludwig von Beethoven, by
Antoine Bourdelle, placed here
1978
- Monument to Henri Murger,
by Théophile-Henri Bouillon, 1895
- multiple animal sculptures by Auguste
Cain
- Le Triomphe de Silène, 1885, Hommage to Delacroix, 1890, and Monument to Auguste Scheurer-Kestner,
1908, both by Jules Dalou
- Monument to Jean-Antoine
Watteau, by Henri Désiré Gauquié, 1896
- Narcissus, 1869, and Arion assis sur un
dauphin, 1870, both by Ernest-Eugène Hiolle
- Hippomenes by Jean
Antoine Injalbert
- Bust of Charles Baudelaire,
by Pierre Félix
Masseau
- Polyphemus Surprising Acis and Galatea, the Fontaine
Médicis, by Auguste Ottin, 1866
- Clémence Isaure by Antoine-Augustin Préault
- Theseus and the Minotaur, by Etienne-Jules Ramey, 1826
- Hercules Diverting the River Alpheus, 1900, and
L'Effort, 1902, both by Pierre
Roche
- Paul Verlaine, by Rodo (Auguste de Niederhäusern), 1911
- Monument to Édouard
Branly, by Charles Marie Louis
Joseph Sarrabezolles
- Georges Sand, by François-Léon Sicard,
1904
- Jules Massenet, by Raoul Verlet, 1926
Medici Fountain
The Medici Fountain
The
Medici
Fountain
(fr: La
fontaine Médicis) was built in 1630 by Marie de' Medici, the widow of King
Henry IV of France and regent of
King Louis XIII of
France. It was designed by
Tomasso Francini, a Florentine fountain
maker and hydraulic engineer who was brought from Florence to
France by King Henry IV. It was in the form of a
grotto, a popular feature of the Italian Renaissance
garden.
It
fell into ruins during the 18th century, but in 1811, at the
command of Napoleon Bonaparte,
the fountain was restored by Jean
Chalgrin, the architect of the Arc de Triomphe
. In 1864-66, the fountain was moved to its
present location, the long basin of water was built, and the
sculptures of the giant
Polyphemus
surprising the lovers
Acis and
Galatea, by French classical sculpture
Auguste Ottin, were added to the grotto.
Fountain of the Observatory
Fountain of the Observatory
At the southern tip of the Jardin du Luxembourg, technically the
Jardin Marco Polo, stands the 1874 "Fountain of the
Observatory", also known as the "Fontaine des
Quatre-du-Parties-World" or the "Carpeaux Fountain", for its
sculptures by
Jean-Baptiste
Carpeaux . It was installed as part of the development of the
Avenue de l'Observatoire by
Gabriel
Davioud in 1867.
The bronze fountain represents the work of four sculptors: Louis
Vuillemot carved the garlands and festoons around the pedestal,
Pierre Legrain carved the
armillary with interior globe and zodiac band; the
animalier Emmanuel Fremiet designed the eight horses,
marine turtles and spouting fish. Most importantly
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux sculpted the
four nude women supporting the globe, representing the
Four Continents of classical
iconography.
Images
Image:Luxembourg Garden.JPG|Gardens in front of the Palais de
LuxembourgImage:Luco2.jpg|People relaxing in the "Luco"Image:French
Senate seen from Luxembourg Gardens dsc00746.jpg|The Luxembourg
Palace seen from the gardenImage:Luxemburg-Garden.jpg|Panoramic
view of the Jardin du
LuxembourgImage:Fontaine_MarieMedicis.jpg|Marie de Médicis'
fountain, now with
Polyphemus Surprising Acis and Galatea, by
Auguste Ottin (1866)Image:Jardin du
Luxembourg.JPG|Borders of annuals in AugustImage:Philippe Joseph
Henri Lemaire-Archidamas- Jardin du Luxembourg.jpg|A version of the
Arrotino under a
beechImage:Jardluc.jpg|Fontaine de l'Observatoire, at southern
end
Image:Statue de la liberte.jpg|Original model
of the Statue of
Liberty
Sources and Citations
- Paris et ses fontaines, de la Renaissance à nos jours,
texts assembled by Dominque Massounie, Pauline-Prevost-Marcilhacy
and Daniel Rabreau, Délegation a l'action artistique de la Ville de
Paris, and Yves-Marie Allain and Janine Christiany, L'art des
jardins en Europe, Citadelles & Mazenod, Paris, 2006
External links
Bibliography
See also