Luxembourg Quarter, Luxembourg Gardens & Palais du Luxembourg, Paris

Children and students from the nearby Quartier Latin are the most regular visitors to the Luxembourg Gardens, Paris's best known park after the Tuileries. They were laid out in the 17th century when the Palais du Luxembourg was built, and were given their present form in the 19th century by the architect J.-F. Chalgrin (1739-1811).The large octagonal pond with a fountain is flanked by two terraces. This part of the park is laid out in the French classical style, symmetrically, with straight lines, while the outer parts with their winding paths and quiet corners between irregularly grouped clumps of trees are in the less formal English style. Along the terraces and paths are statues of prominent men and women from the worlds of art and politics. A popular meeting-point is the picturesque Fontaine de Médicis, hidden under trees opposite the east front of the palace. The fountain basin, with a Renaissance monument on the pediment of which are the river gods of the Rhône and the Seine, dates from around 1620 and is a reminder of the Luxembourg's former owner Marie de Médicis. The large pond is usually surrounded by children sailing their boats (and boats can be hired at a kiosk by the pond), while younger children enjoy the Grand Guignol (the equivalent of a Punch and Judy show) in the southwest of the park near the tennis courts.Until a few years ago elderly women used to patrol the park collecting charges for the use of seats; nowadays, however, all the seats and benches are free of charge. At dusk the park- keeper's whistle is the signal that the gates are about to be closed for the night.

The Palais du Luxembourg is the seat of the Senate, the second chamber of the French Parliament, the other house of which is the Assemblée Nationale. Apart from the Museum only parts of the palace are open to the public, and only on Sundays.Marie de Médicis, Henri IV's widow, acquired the property from Duke Francis of Luxembourg in 1612 as the site of a dower house. She wanted it to be in the Florentine style of her homeland, but the palace erected between 1615 and 1631 to the design of Salomon de Brosse is very much in line with French architectural tradition. The main wing and the side wings, flanked by pavilions (domed structures with high-pitched roofs) surround a grand courtyard, the Cour d'Honneur; the residential apartments, in the classic sequence of garderobe, cabinet, antechamber and bedroom, form separate units; and there are two long galleries intended for the display of cycles of paintings. Marie de Médicis never lived in the palace, however, for soon after its completion she had to flee the country, having lost the game of political intrigue with her opponent Cardinal Richelieu, and she died in exile in Cologne in 1642. After several changes of ownership the palace was selected by Napoleon as the seat of the Senate abd reconstructed for its new function by J.-F. Chalgrin.The famous cycle of pictures by Rubens depicting the life of Marie de Médicis is now in the Louvre; a planned cycle of paintings devoted to Henri IV was never realized.The library, which has fine murals by Eugène Delacroix (1845-47), is not open to the public.

The Money Museum is housed in the Hotel de Conti, where the mint was transferred under Louis XV. Coins, medals as well as documents are on display. The Numismatic Archives and the Library are available for research.

Musée Edouard Branly contains the instruments that were used by Edouard Branly who invented the cordless telegraph.

Musée de Bible et Terre Sainte contains ceramics and other objects from 5000 BC to 600 AD from Palestine.

This museum contains over 100,000 mineral samples. On display are rocks, ores, gems, artificial minerals and meteorites.