Jardin du Luxembourg

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Jardin du Luxembourg
Blason paris 75.svg
Park in Paris
Jardin du Luxembourg
Map of the Jardin du Luxembourg
Basic data
place Paris
District 6th arrondissement
Latin Quarter
Created 1611/12
Newly designed 1865
Buildings Palais du Luxembourg
Technical specifications
Parking area 26 hectares
Aerial view of the Jardin du Luxembourg
Palais du Luxembourg
Cycling race in the Jardin du Luxembourg (1818)
L'abri des surveillants (German: guards' shelter)
Beehives of the beekeeping school in the Jardin du Luxembourg
South-western part of the garden
Central water basin in the Jardin du Luxembourg

The Jardin du Luxembourg (German Luxembourg Garden ) is a former royal, now a state palace park in the Paris Latin Quarter ( 6th arrondissement ) with an area of ​​26  hectares . The facility belongs to the Palais du Luxembourg , where the Senate meets, the upper house of the French Parliament.

The Jardin du Luxembourg is bounded to the north by the Palais of the same name, the smaller Petit Palais , which serves as the official residence of the Senate President , the Orangery and the Musée du Luxembourg , and to the east by the École des Mines . It is divided into two areas: in the area around the castle are strictly geometric flower beds and terraces, which have been pointing to classicist French gardening since the beginning of the 17th century, to the west and south-west of them the areas that were later designed in the style of English landscape gardens.

Leisure activities

The park, which is particularly popular with Parisian families, students from neighboring universities and joggers, offers a variety of opportunities for recreational activities and sports. In the southwest area it resembles an amusement park. The smaller children have access to the Punch and Judy Theater, which is housed in a fixed stone miniature theater and is known as Guignol , whose origins go back to 1881, an old children's carousel designed by Charles Garnier and sung about by Rilke , and ponies for horse rides and carriage rides an adventure playground. There are also tennis and basketball courts , as well as a facility for the jeu de paume , a game with the palm of the hand, a forerunner of tennis. There is a covered chess field, a boulodrome and two coffee gardens. In front of the garden facade of the palace is a water basin in which traditionally self-made or rented model boats sail in the wind. Outdoor concerts take place under a bandstand by the main entrance on Boulevard Saint-Michel. There are also regular photo exhibitions on the outside of the bars .

In the extreme southwestern tip of the garden is the beekeeping school , which is open to everyone after registration, and the carefully tended orchard with its trellises. The products of the once royal garden are exhibited every autumn in the orangery and offered for sale.

history

The garden was designed from 1611 or 1612 on behalf of Maria von Medici , the widow of King Henry IV from Italy, for her country palace, which was being built outside the city limits. This was based at least in part on the plans of the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, in which Maria de Medici grew up. The garden was supplied with water from what later became known as Aqueduc Médicis , under the direction of Thomas Francine , Intendant des Eaux et Fontaines du Roi (royal fountain master ) . Although the south wing of the palace and the adjoining garden underwent major changes in the 19th century, they have retained a slight Italian flair, which is emphasized by the palm trees planted in boxes.

The original garden already had large populations of trees, flower beds and also water basins, for which the Aqueduc Médicis , which came from near Rungis , was built between 1613 and 1624 . The horseshoe-shaped ramp with its raised terraces, facing south in front of the garden facade around the central water basin, also existed in a similar form at the beginning of the 17th century and received its marble statues, including the statue of Queen Mary of Medici, but not until the 19th century. The park contains numerous other statues and works of art, including a copy of the Statue of Liberty by Auguste Bartholdi (entrance to the park: Rue de Fleurus).

After the garden was enlarged in 1617 by exchanging part of the enclosed monastery grounds of the Carthusians , Louis XIV , grandson of Maria de Medici, had the horseshoe ramp supplemented with the grandiose perspective of the avenue de l'Observatoire, which offers a view of what was formerly here established Paris Prime Meridian to the Paris Observatory . The park attracted a wider audience as early as the 17th century. ( Henri Sauval noted in 1650 that he was "sometimes public, sometimes not"). In the 18th century, the garden was a popular promenade for writers: Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Denis Diderot , among others, went here .

Over time, the garden area underwent several changes: in 1782 by the then owner, the Comte de Provence, the brother of Louis XVI. and later King Louis XVIII. Amputated by six hectares (to finance the restoration of the castle), it was enlarged again during the Revolution when the property that had remained to the Carthusian monastery was confiscated, finally in 1865 under Napoleon III. and his Prefect, Georges-Eugène Haussmann, by building the Rue Auguste Comte and houses in the east and south. Among other things, this affected the area of ​​the tree nursery (Pépinière) and the botanical garden, which Guy de Maupassant particularly appreciated. Five petitions by protesting citizens, one of them with the then high number of 12,000 signatures, remained in vain.

The chansonnier Maxime Le Forestier addressed a ban on entering the park for young people and young adults around 1970 in his song Entre 14 et 40 ans (1973).

Fountain

  • The central water basin with its fountain and the stand for renting miniature sailing boats is a popular meeting place for children.
  • The Fontaine Médicis (1620), probably incorrectly attributed to Salomon de Brosse , is a grotto-shaped nymphaeum . It was originally planned and executed by Thomas Francine under the name Grotte du Jardin du Luxembourg . 1864 was during the routing of the Rue de Médicis by Alphonse de Gisors moved to its current location, restructured and provided with statues (1866) by Auguste Ottin.
  • The Fontaine du Regard was moved from the former Carrefour Saint-Placide (now Rue de Rennes ) to the rear of the Fontaine Médicis on the instructions of Jean Chalgrin . The elegant marble relief Leda and the Swan (1807) in the neo-renaissance style comes from Achille Valois, the two water nymphs resting on the sloping gable field (1864) from Jean-Baptiste Klagmann.

Works of art (selection)

Zacharie Astruc :
The Mask Merchant (1883)
Statue of Liberty after Auguste Bartholdi

Trivia

The “ Luxembourg ” stalls specially developed for the park are now spread around the world.

literature

  • Dictionnaire des Monuments de Paris. Éditions Hervas, Paris 1992, ISBN 2-903118-66-3 .
  • Pierre Kjellberg: Le nouveau guide des statues de Paris. La Bibliothèque des Arts, Paris 1988, ISBN 2-85047-025-2 .
  • Julia Droste-Hennings, Thorsten Droste: Paris. A city and its myth . DuMont-Reiseverlag, Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-7701-3421-4 , pp. 136-138.
  • Robert Schediwy , Franz Baltzarek: Green in the big city - history and future of European parks with special consideration of Vienna. Vienna 1982, ISBN 3-85063-125-7 .

Movie

  • Europe's most beautiful parks. Paris: Jardin du Luxembourg and Tuileries . Documentary, Germany, 2016, 43:12 min., Script and director: Christian Schidlowski, production: a & o buero, ZDF , arte , series: Europe's most beautiful parks , first broadcast: February 20, 2017 on arte, summary by ARD .

Web links

Commons : Jardin du Luxembourg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

panorama

Individual evidence

  1. ^ According to the list of clubs on the website of the Paris Pétanque Association , the Association Sportive du Jardin du Luxembourg plays there
  2. ^ La Fontaine Médicis on the website of the French Senate
  3. ↑ La Fontaine Médicis on eutouring.com

Coordinates: 48 ° 50 ′ 49 ″  N , 2 ° 20 ′ 14 ″  E