Luxembourg Gardens

In 1611, Marie de' Medici, who was the widow of Henry IV and the regent for King Louis XIII, commissioned Salomon de Brosse to build a palace in Paris that was modeled after the Pitti Palace in Florence. She purchased the Hôtel du Luxembourg, now known as the Petit Luxembourg, and began construction of the new palace. She also directed a group of gardeners, led by Tommaso Francini, to build a park in the style she had known as a child in Florence. Francini planned two terraces with balustrades and parterres, as well as a circular basin and the Medici Fountain, which was an artificial grotto and fountain without its present pond and statuary. The original garden was only eight hectares in size.

In 1630, Marie de' Medici bought additional land and entrusted the work to Jacques Boyceau de la Barauderie, the intendant of the royal gardens of Tuileries and the early garden of Versailles. Boyceau laid out a series of squares along an east-west alley closed at the east end by the Medici Fountain, and a rectangle of parterres with broderies of flowers and hedges in front of the palace. In the center, he placed an octagonal basin with a fountain, with a perspective toward what is now the Paris Observatory.

The garden was largely neglected by later monarchs. In 1780, the future Louis XVIII sold the eastern part of the garden for real estate development. Following the French Revolution, the garden was expanded to forty hectares by confiscating the land of the neighboring religious order of the Carthusian monks. The architect Jean Chalgrin took on the task of restoring the garden. He remade the Medici Fountain and laid out a long perspective from the palace to the observatory. He preserved the famous nursery garden of the Carthusian order, the old vineyards, and kept the garden in a formal French style.

During and after the July Monarchy of 1848, the park became home to a large population of statues, including monuments to Queens and famous women of France, as well as writers and artists. There was also a small-scale model by Bartholdi of his Liberty Enlightening the World (commonly known as the Statue of Liberty) and a modern sculpture by Zadkine.

In 1865, during the reconstruction of Paris by Louis Napoleon, the rue de l'Abbé de l'Épée, now known as the rue Auguste-Comte, was extended into the park, cutting off about seven hectares, including a large part of the old nursery garden. The building of new streets next to the park also required moving and rebuilding the Medici Fountain to its present location. The long basin of the fountain was added at this time, along with the statues at the foot of the fountain.

During this reconstruction, the chief architect of parks and promenades of Paris, Gabriel Davioud, under the leadership of Adolphe Alphand, built new ornamental gates and fences around the park, as well as polychrome brick garden houses. He also transformed what remained of the old Chartreux nursery garden, at the south end of the park, into an English garden with winding paths, and planted a fruit garden in the southwest corner. He kept the regular geometric pattern of the paths and alleys, but did create one diagonal alley near the Medici fountain, which opened a view of the Pantheon.

In the early 20th century, several changes were made to the garden. The city of Paris installed electric lighting throughout the park, making it accessible at night for the first time. The garden also became a popular destination for strolls, picnics, and outdoor concerts. During World War II, the German army occupied the palace, but the garden remained open to the public.

In the post-war era, the garden underwent further renovations. The French government added a museum of contemporary art, the Musée du Luxembourg, in one of the garden's buildings. The museum has since moved, but the garden continues to display contemporary sculptures and art installations.

Today, the Luxembourg Garden is one of Paris's most beloved public spaces. Visitors can enjoy a wide range of activities, from strolling through the formal gardens and orchards to playing tennis, chess, or boules. The park is also home to a small zoo, a puppet theater, and several cafés and restaurants. And, of course, visitors can still admire the garden's many sculptures and fountains, including the iconic Medici Fountain.

The Jardin du Luxembourg features a green parterre with gravel and lawn, decorated with statues and a large octagonal basin of water with a central jet. Visitors can sail model boats in the pond while enjoying the garden's serene atmosphere. The raised terraces surrounding the basin are adorned with statues of former French queens, saints, and antique copies. The garden also includes an orchard, a fenced playground, a vintage carousel, and a puppet theatre. Free musical performances are hosted in a nearby gazebo. The Orangerie showcases art, photography, and sculptures. The garden is adjacent to the École nationale supérieure des Mines de Paris and the Odéon theatre.

Beyond the garden's wrought iron grill and gates, the central esplanade of the rue de l'Observatoire extends the garden's axis. It features sculptures of the four Times of Day, alternating with columns and culminating in the "Fountain of the Observatory" or the "Fontaine des Quatre-Parties-du-Monde," designed by Gabriel Davioud in 1867. The fountain includes sculptures by Louis Vuillemot, Pierre Legrain, Emmanuel Fremiet, and Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, representing the Four Continents of classical iconography. The garden's open hours vary from 7:30 am to 8:15 am, closing at dusk between 4:45 pm and 9:45 pm, depending on the month.

Victor Hugo's novel Les Misérables prominently features the gardens where the novel's main love story between Marius Pontmercy and Cosette unfolds. The gardens also serve as a setting for several scenes in André Gide's novel The Counterfeiters.

In Henry James's novel The Ambassadors, the character Lambert Strether has a significant realization about his identity while in the gardens. William Faulkner's novel Sanctuary concludes with a scene set in the gardens. Additionally, Patrick Modiano received news of his 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature while walking near the Jardin du Luxembourg and speaking on a mobile phone with his daughter.

Outside of literature, the gardens have appeared in a few episodes of French in Action, Joe Dassin's 1976 album Le Jardin du Luxembourg, Tame Impala's 2012 album Lonerism, a song by The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, and the video game Assassin's Creed Unity, where the gardens and palace are featured as a mission.