The Luxembourg Garden

The Jardin du Luxembourg, situated near the Latin Quarter, is probably the most popular park in Paris. Marie de Medici, mother of Louis XIII and widow of Henry IV, had the Luxembourg Palace built in the early 1600s as her new residence. She wanted it to resemble the Pitti Palace in her native Florence and to have a park in the style she had known as a child. The garden today is owned by the French Senate, which meets in the Palace. The garden is known for its lawns, tree-lined promenades, flowerbeds, octagonal basin, and for the picturesque Medici Fountain.

Map of the 55-acre Luxembourg Garden, situated in the 6th arrondissement

One of the main, tree-lined “allées”  leading to the garden

Beautifully planted flower bed

There are 106 statues and monuments scattered around the park.  Many of the statues in the Jardin du Luxembourg honor famous French people: politicians and scientists, sculptors and painters, and poets and composers like Chopin and Beethoven. Other statues depict animals or are inspired by mythology, such as the Dancing Faun. The following are some of the sculptures clustered around the garden near the entrance to the garden at Place Edmond Rostand and the Rue Soufflot.

La Bocca della Verità, (The Mouth of Truth) 

The original “Mouth of Truth” is in Rome, Italy. It is a large marble mask of a sea god, Oceanus, with his mouth wide open. Starting from the Middle Ages, it was believed that if one told a lie with one's hand in the mouth of the sculpture, it would be bitten off. Those who were accused of committing perjury or adultery had to swear under oath and then put their hand into the mouth. If the accused was found to be untruthful, a hidden executioner would hide behind the disc with a sharp sword ready to strike. To this day, in Rome tourists line up to risk it all by putting their hand inside the mouth of the stone face. There is also a fountain in Paris near the metro Jussieu which symbolically mimics the open mouth of the stone mask.

Flower bed and George Sand

The writer George Sand, born Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin Dudevant, is outside the formal gardens. Although she took a man’s name to get published in the early 1800s and smoked cigars, she was known to have many lovers, including Chopin, Liszt and de Musset, to name a few. 

This is the feminine George Sand, not the male writer, but the female lover.

Il dispetto (Resentment) symbolized by a young seated musician with his foot on a lyre. 

Charles Marie René Leconte de Lisle (1818 - 1894) was a French poet in the second half of the19th century.  He played a leading role in the Parnassian movement, a French literary style that gained prominence after romanticism and prior to symbolism.  A winged muse entwines herself around de Lisle.

Faune Dansant (Dancing Faun)

Close-up of the Dancing Faun

  La Fontaine de Léda (The Fountain of Leda) faces an outer pathway of the garden and sometimes goes unnoticed because of its location on the back of the much more famous Medici Fountain.

On this fountain is a depiction of Leda and the swan, which isn’t really a swan.  In mythology, the god Zeus takes the form of a swan and seduces Leda, who was also the wife of the king of Sparta. The portrayal is a common subject in art, poetry and literature.

In one corner of the bas-relief,  Cupid readies an arrow for his bow. Leda holds the swan on her knees and water is supposed to flow from the beak of the swan, which is made of bronze. (Water never did “flow” from the beak. It trickled at best, and since the fountain was moved from its original spot in a private garden, it has probably not even done that.) 

La fontaine Médicis (The Medici Fountain) is a romantic baroque fountain built in 1630 by Marie de Medici, the widow of King Henry IV of France and regent of King Louis XIII of France.

The Medici Fountain 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, Napoleon Bonaparte had it restored and 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 were added to the grotto's rockwork. It is flanked by allegorical figures depicting the rivers Seine and Rhône.

Polyphemus Surprising Acis and Galatea 

A close-up view of the Medici Fountain, with the giant Polyphemus, who also loves Galatea, looking down jealously on the lovers. The cyclops comes upon them embracing and crushes his rival with a boulder. However, Galatea, a sea-nymph,  changes Acis into a river spirit as immortal as herself.

A festoon of vines borders the basin, along with seats for visitors. Ornamental plant pots,  ornate railings, and Plane trees (similar to Sycamores) enclose the fountain and sometimes obscure it from visitors who might not know it is there.

L’acteur Grec, a young actor is rehearsing his role, a manuscript in his hand and a mask on his forehead.

Palais du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Palace)/Sénat (Senate)

Palais/Sénat (Senate)

View from the Palace of the basin fountain, obelisk and South Lawn (with square trees)

Flower beds flanking the lawn in front of the Palace on the right-hand side

A view from the terrace of the lawn in front of the Palace and the basin. 

The Tour Montparnasse is visible in the background.

East terrace with balustrades, to the right of the basin, facing the Palace  

In the foreground of the picture is Diana, the mythological goddess of wild animals and hunting, with a deer, an animal that is sacred to her.

Surrounding the central green space and basin on the raised balustrated terraces are twenty figures of French queens and saints standing on pedestals. You can see 3 of them on the terrace in the background. The woman in the middle is Clémence Isaur. She is a legendary medieval figure whose beauty and talent inspired her troubadour lover to compose beautiful songs in her honor. The woman on the right is Mlle. de Montpensier, one of the greatest heiresses in history who died unmarried and childless; the woman barely discernible on the left is Jeanne d’Albret, Queen of Navarre and mother of Henry IV, the first Bourbon king of France. If you would like to see all 20 of these women with brief bios,  check out my blog, Queens and Saints in the Luxembourg Garden.

Police patrolling the garden in front of the Palace

Flower bed in the right-hand corner in front of the Palace

Flower bed lining the lawn in front of the Palace 

The semi-circular lawn to the right of the basin
The sculpture on the column is David vainqueur de Goliath (David, conqueror of Goliath), possibly the oldest statue in the Garden.

The garden is centered on a large octagonal basin of water, with a central jet of water, where children sail model boats. Enfants supportant une vasque (Children holding a bowl)  is the fountain in the middle of the basin. 

A view of the basin from the right terrace, with the Eiffel Tower in the distance

A view of the basin from the left terrace

There is a bell jar-shaped lawn in front of the basin. The sculpture is composed of an obelisk decorated with a stone medallion representing Senator Auguste Scheurer-Kestner, first Vice-President of the French Senate, flanked by figures representing Justice and Truth. Truth is the naked woman “with nothing to hide,” and the woman in robes represents Justice. 

At the tip of the bell jar is the huntress Diana with a sacred deer.

The semi-circular lawn to the left of the basin holds the sculpture Vénus sortant du bain (Venus leaving her bath) on top of a column. The sculpture was designed to depict Venus with her robe after having just gotten out of a bath.

Monument à Delacroix, located to the left of the Senate,  was dedicated in 1890 in honor of the French painter Eugène Delacroix. It  consists of a rectangular marble basin with six jets. At the center is a tall pedestal with a bust of the painter as a young man wearing a coat and scarf, which was early in his career as a French painter and muralist. There are also three mythical allegorical figures that are located on the monument.  A winged elderly gentleman represents Time, who is lifting Glory so that she can place flowers and palms underneath the bronze bust of Delacroix. The third figure is Genius of Arts, who is applauding Delacroix. 

Another view of the obelisk honoring Senator Auguste Scheurer-Kestner shows the naked woman, Truth.

Thirsty dog at a rest station



Side garden with wrought-iron fence on the perimeter of the garden

A view from the Senate, across the basin and toward the South Lawn

South Lawn

The area south of the basin is home to rows of squared-off trees shading the only grassy lawn in the park that you are allowed to sit on. The trees give a militaristic impression, like soldiers standing in rank. In the distance you can see a black wrought-iron fence and gates that open on to rue Auguste Comte. The Garden of the Observatory, across this street, is like a continuation of the Luxembourg Garden.

Frédéric Le Play (1806-1882) was a French sociologist who developed techniques for systematic research on the family.  This statue was erected in 1906 in celebration of the 100th birthday of Frederic LePlay. It is located to the left of the square trees.

The central axis of the Luxembourg Garden extends beyond its wrought iron grill and gates facing rue Auguste Comte to the central promenade of the rue de l'Observatoire. The Avenue de l'Observatoire connects the Luxembourg Garden with the Observatory of Paris. The north part of the avenue contains two gardens: the Jardin Marco Polo and the Jardin Robert Cavelier de la Salle, which form one elongated park, le Jardin de l’Observatoire (The Garden of the Observatory.)  Both gardens contain sculptures of allegorical figures meant to commemorate the journeys of the explorers. 

In the Marco Polo Garden is  the sculpture L’Aurore (The Dawn) with the Palais du Luxembourg in the background. 

“Dawn” was much lovelier when the rest of her arms were there and gracefully stretched upward. On either side of the garden is a promenade, rue de l'Observatoire.

The centerpiece in the Jardins de l'Observatoire is a monumental fountain situated at the south end of the Marco Polo garden. The Fountain of the Observatory is also known as the Carpeaux Fountain, for its sculptures by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux. Designed in 1873,  the bronze masterpiece represents a globe supported by women from four parts of the world: Europe, Asia, Africa and America. Their bodies are twisting, bending and stretching upward to turn the sphere, giving the sculpture the feeling of motion. (The original plaster of this work is on display at the Musée d’Orsay.) 

Africa (L) is represented by the figure of a black woman in a three-quarter view, 

America (R)  is depicted by an American Indian wearing a feather headdress.

Asia (Ctr) is depicted by a Chinese woman with a long pigtail.

Europe(Ctr) is represented by the figure of a white woman, and she scarcely touches the ground. 

Turtles by Emmanuel Fremiet

Eight prancing horses and spouting fish were also by animalier (a specialist of realistic figures of animals)  Fremiet.

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux sculpted the four nude women supporting the globe, with a ribbon decorated with zodiac signs; Louis Vuillemot carved the garlands and festoons around the pedestal; and Pierre Legrain carved the armillary with interior globe decorated with  zodiac signs.

It is one of the most magnificent fountains in Paris.