Luxembourg Palace and Gardens of the Palace of Luxembourg is currently the headquarters of the French Senate and gardens open to the public, are considered by many as the most beautiful city.
The construction of this beautiful palace and the design of their gardens were due to a whim of Marie de Medici, who tired of the intrigues in the royal palace of the Louvre and longing for his native Tuscany, decided to buy this land, then outside Paris urban radio, and build your own palace “Italian.”
After some negotiations, the queen managed to buy in 1612 the residence of a duke in the area, called François de Luxembourg. Despite his attempts to call “Palacio de Medici” and the various changes of ownership following the passage of time, the palace was always known by the name of its former owner.Immediately, Maria de Medici summoned the architect Salomon de Brosse to design his palace in the style of the Pitti Palace in his native Florence, for which the residence was acquired completely demolished. For the realization of the gardens also had to buy and demolish other residences, and only after the death of Maria de Medici, to the late eighteenth century, the gardens reached a considerable size.
The great palace went through different owners until the nobility was confiscated during the Revolution as a national asset. Served as a prison during the Terror and already in the nineteenth century, after different conditioning work became the seat of the Senate until today.
The gardens that Marie de Medicis was preparing for her were surrounded by a coated grid on top of sheets of gold, which still enclose the park. Despite the work that opened urban streets and boulevards and subtracted space at the gardens, the charm of its chestnut-lined avenues, limes, bananas and other exotic species remains intact. Except when there is snow, the garden saw different varieties of flowers by season and free concerts are held outdoors, while the Parisians enjoy different spaces: Tennis courts, petanque, playgrounds …
Introductory courses are taught beekeeping also in the Luxembourg Gardens. Traditionally, honey obtained in their hives is sold in the autumn in the Orangerie garden. Nature lovers have the opportunity to take courses of arboriculture advantage of the great variety of trees, especially fruit (over a thousand species, including six hundred different apple and pear). Along with the great pond in front of the palace, dozens of green wrought iron chairs are occupied by students engrossed in their books or just enjoying the lazy warmth of the sun.