Images of the Jardin du Luxembourg: Paris in July 2013

Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris is one of the city’s most popular gardens. At any time of the day, joggers and walkers, parents with children, petanque players, readers, workers on their rest break, sun lovers, admirer of flowers, café owners, people of all ages, locals and visitors, occupy the park.

It is located in the sixth arrondissement and occupies a large 55 acres. Originally owned by the Duke of Luxembourg, it was purchased by Marie de Medici, mother of Louis XIII and Queen of France, in 1612 and transformed into an Italian Baroque style garden. It was opened to the public in the 19^th century and redesigned to include the French style. It includes tennis courts, children’s playgrounds, a carousel, the French Senate building, and over a hundred sculptures. The sculptures include statues of Stendhal (the pseudonym of writer Marie-Henri Beyle), pianist Frederic Francois Chopin, poet Charles Baudelaire, artist Eugene Delacroix, and Blanche of Castile – the wife of Louis VIII.

One of my favourite parts of the park includes the Fontaine Medicis (the Medici Fountain) which has a sculpture of Polyphemus, a Greek mythological figure who guards lovers Acis and Galatea. In front of him is a rectangular pond which is flanked by flowers, trees, and shrubs. Apparently the Medici Fountain was moved from its original position to be located in the northeastern corner of the park.

MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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