Jardin du Luxembourg

The Jardin du Luxembourg sits in the heart of Paris, in the 6th arrondissement. Twenty-three hectares hold lawns, fountains and more than a hundred statues. Marie de' Medici, the widow of Henry IV, created the garden in 1612 as the setting for her new residence. The French Senate owns it and still meets in the palace Salomon de Brosse built for her.

She planted the first eight hectares with two thousand elms. Jacques Boyceau de la Barauderie, an early theorist of the formal French garden, drew up the plan. The Medici Fountain dates from 1630: Auguste Ottin made its sculptures, and Jean Chalgrin restored it in 1811. Later generations added a music kiosk, and a small café sits under the trees. An orchard and a puppet theatre occupy the southwest corner. Wheelchair users get the run of the whole garden.

The central axis runs on to the Jardin Marco Polo, where the Fountain of the Observatory waits. You may recognise the garden itself from Victor Hugo's Les Misérables or the video game Assassin's Creed Unity. On the large octagonal basin, children sail model boats past statues of French queens and saints.