LUXEMBOURG PALACE built at Paris in 1615 by order of Marie de' Mei:lids. It is in the style of the Pitti palace at Florence, and WIIS sumptuously decorated by Debrosse, but afterwards altered by Chalgrin, the architect of the Arc de l'Etoile. Between 1621 and 1625 Rnbens, who was commissioned to embellish the palace with paintings, painted, with the assistance of his pupils, those large pictures repre senting scenes from the queen's life which are now in the Louvre. The long gal. iery in which these paintings is-ere originally hung still contains frescos by Jordaeus, the pupil of Rubens. The palace continued to be a royal residence down to the revolu tion, shortly before which it was presented by Louis XVI. to his brother, the count of Provence, afterwards Louis XVIII. The palace derives its name from the duke of Pliney-Luxembourg, whose mansion formerly occupied the site, and, although various other names have been proposed, none of them has ever been permanently adopted. In 1795 the building was named the Palais du Directoire, and afterwards the Palais du Consulat. During the first empire the palace was occupied by the senate, and styled Palais du Senat-Conservateur. After the restoration and under Louis Philippe, the ,cliamber of peers met here. In March and April, 1848, the commission des travailleurs, under Louis Blanc, held its socialist meetings in the palace. From 1852 to 1870 it was named Palais du Senat, that body having again sat here during the second empire. Since 1871 it has been occupied by the offices of the prefet de la Seine. The Palais du Luxembourg, although its architecture is somewhat heavy, is one of the handsomest and most symmetrical buildings of Paris. The principal facade, which has been restored in conformity with the design of Debrosse, rises opposite the rue ,de Tournon. It is nearly 300 ft. in width, and consists of a central dome-covered pavilion and two wings, connected by galleries. It is adorned with Tuscan, Doric, .and composite columns plticed above each other. The salle iron° was adorned in 1856 with a series of large pictures representing scenes from the history of the Napo 1eons. The room adjoining ig a gallery of busts of former peers and senators. The apartments of queen Marie de' Medleis were restored in 1817. The chapel was restored .and richly decorated in 1842. The dome of the library is adorned with one of the finest works of Eugene Delacroix, representing Elysium as portrayed by Dante. The
muses du Luxembourg occupies a room on the ground-floor of the palace. It contains a collection of works of living artists, consisting of paintings, sculptures, drawings, engravings, and lithographs. The works of the most distinguished masters are gen erally transferred to the Louvre about ten years after their death. To the n.e. of the palace, opposite the gate of the garden, rises the theatre de l' Odeon, a heavy and unat tractive edifice erected in 1818. The facade on the n. side is adorned with a Doric 'portico. On the three other sides are galleries occupied by book and newspaper stalls. The interior is well fitted up, and the chandelier is particularly handsome. The foyer is embellished with busts and portraits of dramatists and actors connected with the Odeon. The garden of the Luxem bourg on the e. and s. sides of the palace con .tains the "fontaine de, Medicis," by Debrosse, in the Doric style, with imitations of sta lactites; " Polyphemus surprising Acis and Galatea," by Ottin; an " Archidamas about to Throw the Disk." by Lemaire; and copies of the "Borghese Gladiator" and the "Diana'. sof Versailles. The terraces surrounding the parterre are embellished with 20 modern stat lies in marble of celebrated French women. A fountain designed by Carpeaux was erected in 1875 at the point where the garden formerly terminated. It is adorned with eight horses rising above the lower basin, and with a group of four figures bearing an armillary sphere. The place is called the carrefour de robsereatoire. The statue of Ney, to the left of the carrefour, stands on the spot where the marshal was shot fn 1813, in execution ,of the sentence pronounced by the chamber of peers on the previous evening. The statue is in bronze by Rude, and was erected in 1853. On the sides of the pedestal are inscribed the names of the battles at which the marshal was present. The obsereatoire is situated at the end of the avenue of that name. T,his celebrated institution was founded in 1672. The meridian of Paris runs through the center of the building, and the latitude of the s. facade is held to be that of Paris. The copper dome, which is 42 ft. in diameter, is constructed so as to revolve round its vertical axis for the purpose of adjusting the great equatorial which it contains. The observatory also has a new tele scope, which cost 200,000 francs.