Le Jardin du Luxembourg
What do you do when you are caught up in a heat and tourist wave during June in Paris? You go to le Jardin du Luxembourg or the Garden of Luxembourg to find shade, peace and quiet...
Marie de Medici, the widow of Henry IV wanted a new residence and in 1611 construction of the new palace and fountain began.
Originally the garden was eight hectares big but in 1630 Marie had it enlarged to thirty hectares. She wanted the garden to remind her of her childhood park in Florence. Therefore this was the first French garden to be influenced by Italian Baroque. Most of the work was done by Jacques Boyceau de la Barauderie who was also responsible for the royal formal gardens of Tuileries and Versailles. After the French Revolution the architect of the Arc de Triomphe, Jean Chalgrin, restored the French formal garden.
Around 1848 statues of the queens and famous women of France were created to line the terraces...
Included were Anne of Brittany (see my blog on Nantes), Marie de Medici, Mary Queen of Scots and Clémence Isaure.
Clémence is a legendary medieval figure who left a legacy of annually awarding the best poets with gold and silver flowers...
Toulouse! ville antique où fleurissent encore Pour les poètes, vos fleurs d’or, Clémence Isaure
Toulouse! ancient city where flourish still For poets your golden flowers, Clémence Isaure
Charles Cros, 1888
Today the garden features over a hundred statues...
And so on a hot and overcrowded day in Paris I, like the characters Marius and Cosette in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, fell in love with le Jardin du Luxembourg.
