LUXEMBOURG, Palace

The Luxembourg Palace is one of the most delightful and attractive places in Paris!

You are on the "rive gauche" - the district on the left bank of the Seine, where you can see the magnificent 17th-century Luxembourg Palace overlooking a famous large garden which is a favorite place for children and lovers. The palace is partially open to the public and visitors are only allowed in groups, as this is the seat of the French Senate. However, I recommend you view it from the park to appreciate the facade overlooking the garden, which is the most attractive part of the whole complex.

The palace is totally female in origin. When she was widowed in 1610 following the murder of Henry IV, Marie de' Medici assumed the regency of France for a few years, then when her son Louis XIII reached the age of majority she decided to withdraw from public life and entrust state affairs to the powerful Cardinal Richelieu.

Understandably homesick, the dowager queen had a residence built that reminded her of Palazzo Pitti in Florence, where she grew up.

The building in Paris is certainly an independent and original edifice: observe the pitched roofs and the main structure, designed like a solemn Baroque portal. Yet you can also see several similarities with the original in Florence. Like Palazzo Pitti, the Luxembourg Palace stands across the river, away from the busy city center; it overlooks a green parkland like a country villa, and is built in the shape of a U with ashlar cladding.

The right wing was reserved for the queen, and the rooms on the other side were to accommodate the king on visits to his mother. In her own private apartment, the queen had placed the superb enormous Rubens canvases celebrating her marriage to Henry IV, which are now exhibited in a large hall by themselves in the Louvre.

FUN FACT: the captain of the Olympique de Marseille football team recently lambasted the other players, saying, "you play like senators!" Some young senators took offense at this and invited him to spend a day with them, so he could see how hard they work. "A senator operates at 300km per hour between the constituency and the chamber!" they declared.