The Luxembourg Garden is a palace and park ensemble in the center of Paris, a famous landmark of the city. The former royal and now state palace park in the Paris Latin Quarter covers an area of 26 hectares.
This park and now remains a favorite vacation spot of Parisians, who feel comfortable and quiet in it. Here they prepare for exams, comfortably sitting on benches, chairs or simply on the grass, and enjoying warm sunny days, walking in pairs along the shady avenues, which Catherine de Medici herself once walked on.
Walking along winding paths, I want to turn into a secluded corner to dream of the past from the shadow of branchy trees. Romantic summer evenings come to life in fantasy, when the queen admired beautiful fountains, inhaled the scent of flowering lindens. Or observed in the fall for the fading nature, while contemplating the next royal decree.
Today in the garden we are surrounded by many marble sculptures and monuments, but this is a relatively new decoration - they appeared in the XIX century under King Louis-Philippe. There are scenes from mythology and sculptures of crowned women, and their characters are read in stone clearly and unmistakably.
They dilute the dream of the proud queens of the statue of the Luxembourg Garden, depicting scenes of the “everyday life” of ancient virgins and gods, as well as sculptures and monuments from classic to surrealism.
Next to the palace building is the nude Woman with Apples, created by Jean Terzieff. There is also a miniature copy of the Statue of Liberty (“Freedom, illuminating the world”) by Auguste Bartholdi. Unlike its 46-meter and 30-ton sister, donated to America in its 100th year of independence, this one does not exceed 2 meters.
In 2011, someone caused her damage at night, having beaten off a hand holding a torch, and therefore, after two years of restoration, the statue was moved to a more protected area.
As many as four Freedoms remain in Paris, the other three are on Swan Island in the middle of the Seine, on a barge moored near the Eiffel Tower and in the Museum of Arts and Crafts.
The Luxembourg Garden is decorated with monuments with monuments to such famous people as: the critic and singer Charles Baudelaire, the poet and literary impressionist Paul Verlaine, the founder of the psychological novel Stendhal, the novelist-realist Gustave Flaubert, sings.
Pay attention to the creator of the biographical method in literature - Charlie-Augustin Sainte-Beuve, the Rococo painter - Antoine Watteau, the romanticist painter Engegne Delacroix and the composer, the author of numerous operas - Jules Massne. The monument to the surrealist poet Paul Eluard, performed in an appropriate manner by the avant-garde sculptor Osip Zadkin, has an unusual appearance.
You will be delighted by the meeting with Chopin and Beethoven, Paul Verlaine, Henri Murge and writer George Sand. There are also monuments to politicians: Pierre Guillaume and Mendez-France, as well as engineer-inventor and physicist Edward Branly.
Walking through the azure fields, it seems that you are constantly moving from one era to another, as if traveling around worlds. This feeling is due in part to sculptures from ancient Greek mythologies.
Numerous tourists and locals are attracted to the opportunity to sit at one of the fountains with ponds in such a sophisticated place with open spaces and secluded back streets.
From the west of the palace one can find one dedicated to the graphic artist and painter Eugene Delacroix with his bust in the middle of the composition with allegorical statues. He wore it in bronze Jules Dalo in 1890.
Going south, you will see the Observatory garden with a fountain, where the main composition is the Earth, held by four female figures, symbolizing America, Africa, Asia and Europe. The product is called: "Four sides of the world." Our planet is inside a hollow air sphere, surrounded by a ring, on which zodiac signs are located one after another.
Under each girl, a pair of Neptune's seahorses erupts from the water element, and fish are next to them, releasing jets of water in response to those that are directed in their direction by turtles located at the opposite end of the pool.
Four sculptors worked on the fountain: Louis Viemo, Pierre Legran, Emmanuel Fremy and Jean-Batis Carpo.
In the middle of the park is the Grand Octin's big octagonal pond. He is especially interesting to kids who like to sail boats on the water.
By the way, if you don’t have one of your own, there is a selection of models that can be rented.
But the most famous is the Medici Fountain in the Luxembourg Garden. So, as we see him, he became in 1862. Moreover, he had to be moved 30 meters to stretch the Medici Avenue.
An adjoining pond with a length of 50 m appeared, where several species of fish were launched, and now there are even somas there. The watery surface, like a mirror, reflects the hanging garlands of ivy.
This is where visitors come, wanting to hide from the summer heat in the cool chestnut alleys, and at the same time admire the sculptural sketch that captures the touching moment of meeting the nymph Galatea with his beloved shepherd Atis, over whom the jealous Cycloph Polyphem hangs. This architectonics also appeared later, and the authorship belongs to the sculptor Ottan.
Once demolished, the statues of the Seine and Rhone returned to their places, and the coats of arms of France and the Medici family were restored. And if you bypass this fountain, you can see another one - “Leda and the Swan”, where the central part is occupied by a beautiful bas-relief.
From the side of the conservatory in the wing of the Luxembourg Palace in 1750, the first public museum was opened, where everyone could see an exhibition of royal canvases. And in 1818 it became the first European museum of modern art, where artists submitted their works to the audience.
In addition to launching ships in this paradise there are other attractions. For example, you can ride on an old carousel, play on the playground with lots of slides and swings, ride a pony or in a carriage. There are even playgrounds for playing basketball, bocce, tennis and its predecessor - de-pom. Those who prefer to spend time more calmly can arrange a chess match with local grandmasters.
Visit the music pavilion, which often plays live music. The outer wall of the building uses to accommodate the work of photographers, so that in one place you can enjoy both wonderful musical works and get a contemplative and aesthetic pleasure.
Be sure to visit the puppet theater "Guinoll" with Petrushka in the lead role.
Like the rest of parks in Paris, the Luxembourg Garden is maintained in strict rules for the breeding, maintenance and care of greenery. Always ideally cut, resistant to climatic conditions, polluted air and diseases, in winter some of them are kept in the local greenhouse in large tubs, and in the spring they decorate the alleys again.
These are orange and pomegranate trees, date palms, oleanders, and some old-timers have reached the venerable 200 years of age.
But white chestnuts, lindens, maples, pears and apples, the varieties of which were bred in the nursery of the monastery, are always at their post. There are other plants here, for example: laurels, privet and aucubas.
All this vegetable wealth serves as a haven for urban birds: sparrows, colorful woodpeckers, crowns, which are noisyly happy with the arrival of spring, filling the green zone with a tromp, knock and iridescent voices vying with each other.
In addition to bushes and trees, gardeners break flower beds, trying to keep them blooming throughout the warm season. They have to update flower beds three times, planting plants corresponding to the current month.
To this end, in the greenhouses and the greenhouse of 1839, the buildings are constantly growing and cultivating new varieties. At the beginning of the XIX century, the area of the greenhouse was expanded, which made it possible to increase the range of flora. In the summer, when most of its square meters are empty, temporary exhibitions are held inside.
Wherever you look, everywhere the landscape pleases the eye. They even admire evenly-cut grass lawns, and here and there the true wonders of gardener's skill can be found - skillfully carved curly ornaments with curls right on the green lawn.
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