Paris Insights - The Blog

View of the Ecole des Mines from the Luxembourg Garden
The sculpture commemorating the abolition of slavery stands to the right.

Visitors to the Luxembourg Garden sometimes wonder what the building is that overlooks the edge of the garden near the three-link chain sculpture (on the right in the photo between the path and the sign) that commemorates the abolition of slavery.  It is the “Luxembourg” wing of the Ecole des Mines, an engineering school that was founded in 1783 and initially located on quai de Conti. 

Since 1816, the school has been located on boulevard Saint-Michel next to the garden. The “Luxembourg” wing that can be viewed from the garden was constructed in 1861-1866 to house laboratories during a period of physical expansion of the school.

Place Edmond Rostand

Place Edmond Rostand is a roundabout located at the intersections of four streets in front of the Luxembourg Garden:  Rue de Médicis, Boulevard Saint-Michel, Rue Soufflot, and Rue Gay-Lussac.  The roundabout was created between 1860 to 1870 during Baron Haussmann’s urban renewal project, a colossal campaign that tore down old Parisian neighborhoods and replaced them with wide streets and boulevards.

To the left in the photograph stands Rue de Médicis.  To permit the construction of this street in 1860, a portion of the Luxembourg Garden was appropriated despite resistance from Parisians who wanted to preserve that section of the park. 

The buildings that stand today around Place Edmond Rostand were constructed during this period of massive urban transformation.  Called “Haussmannian” buildings, they reflect the architectural style that Baron Haussmann imposed on the city during the demolition and rebuilding that took place in Paris under his authority from 1853 to 1870.