Jardin du Luxembourg

The Jardin du Luxembourg belongs to the Palais du Luxembourg, commissioned in 1612 by Marie de Medici as a dower residence modelled on Florence's Palazzo Pitti. Today the French Senate sits in the palace while the 26-hectare park remains open to the public. The main axis runs from the palace to a large octagonal basin where children still rent the traditional sailing boats. Scattered through the grounds are more than a hundred sculptures, including the series of queens of France and a Bartholdi model of the Statue of Liberty. Sorbonne students read on the classic green metal chairs, boules players gather near the northern gate, and the south-western corner holds tennis courts, a puppet theatre and an apiary. The garden is a central address of the Quartier Latin where court culture and Parisian daily life overlap.