Jardin du Luxembourg

Interesting facts

During the French Revolution the Luxembourg Palace became a prison holding about 800 detainees, among them Danton, Camille Desmoulins and the painter Jacques-Louis David.

After the Revolution the garden absorbed the lands of a neighbouring Carthusian monastery, and a wall was knocked down to open the long vista towards the Paris Observatory.

The Senate provides twelve tables for chess players, who keep playing even through the winter.

Visitors once paid to sit on the garden's chairs, 0.20 francs in 1920, and the famous seats became free for everyone only in 1974.

The garden's orangery shelters about 180 plants in tubs, some of them estimated to be 250 to 300 years old.

In 1818 the Musée du Luxembourg became the first museum in Paris devoted to the work of living artists.

Haussmann's boulevard Saint-Michel and rue de Médicis sliced off part of the garden's north-eastern corner in the 19th century.

The apiary near the Pavillon Davioud is used to teach beekeeping to Parisians.

Why it is worth it

The Jardin du Luxembourg is the most Parisian of gardens, laid out in 1612 for Marie de' Medici, widow of Henry IV. The palace was designed by Salomon de Brosse and the gardens by Tommaso Francini, and today both belong to the French Senate, which sits in the palace. The garden covers some 23 hectares on the Left Bank, between Saint-Germain-des-Prés and the Latin Quarter.

Its centre is a formal French composition: terraces, gravel walks and flower beds around the octagonal Grand Bassin, where model sailboats are still sailed. Around the terraces stand twenty statues of queens of France and illustrious women, commissioned under Louis Philippe in 1848, and more than a hundred statues, monuments and fountains in all. Among them is an original small version of the Statue of Liberty by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. The Medici Fountain of 1620, moved to its present place in 1864–66, is the garden's most romantic corner.

Toward the south, the formal layout loosens into an English-style garden with winding paths. There is also an orchard of old varieties of apples and pears, a historic apiary, a puppet theatre and the Musée du Luxembourg, which hosts temporary exhibitions. From the diagonal alley near the Medici Fountain, the dome of the Panthéon closes the view.

Getting there

The garden is in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, next to the Luxembourg station of RER line B. Paris-Orly Airport (ORY) is about 13 km away.

Plan your visit

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From the encyclopaedia

The Jardin du Luxembourg, known in English as the Luxembourg Garden, colloquially referred to as the Jardin du Sénat, is located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. The creation of the garden began in 1612 when Marie de' Medici, the widow of King Henry IV, constructed the Luxembourg Palace as her new residence. The garden today is owned by the French Senate, which meets in the palace. It covers 23 hectares and is known for its lawns, tree-lined promenades, tennis courts, flowerbeds, model sailboats on its octagonal Grand Bassin, as well as the picturesque Medici Fountain, built in 1620. The name Luxembourg comes from the Latin Mons Lucotitius, the name of the hill where the garden is located, and locally the garden is informally called "le Luco".

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

Plan your visit

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From the encyclopaedia