Paris_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Lonely Planet [69]
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TRANSPORT: ST-GERMAIN, ODÉON & LUXEMBOURG
Bus blvd St-Germain for 86 to Odéon, Pont Sully (Île St-Louis), Bastille, Ledru Rollin (Marché d’Aligre), place de la Nation & Zoo; rue de Rennes for 96 to place Châtelet, Hôtel de Ville, St-Paul (Marais), rue Oberkampf & rue de Ménilmontant
Metro & RER Luxembourg, Mabillon, Odéon, Pont Neuf, Port Royal, St-Germain des Prés, St-Sulpice
Boat St-Germain des Prés Batobus stop (quai Malaquais)
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top picks
ST-GERMAIN, ODÉON & LUXEMBOURG
Jardin du Luxembourg
Église St-Suplice (below)
Musée National Eugène Delacroix
Fondation Dubuffet
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ÉGLISE ST-SULPICE Map
01 46 33 21 78; place St-Sulpice, 6e; 7.30am-7.30pm; St-Sulpice
In 1646 work started on the twin-towered Church of St Sulpicius, lined inside with 21 side chapels, and took six architects 150 years to finish. What draws most people is not its lovely Italianate façade with two rows of superimposed columns, nor its neoclassical décor influenced by the Counter-Reformation; rather, this church was the setting for a crucial discovery in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.
The frescoes in the Chapelle des Sts-Anges (Chapel of the Holy Angels), first to the right as you enter, depict Jacob wrestling with the angel (to the left) and Michael the Archangel doing battle with Satan (to the right) and were painted by Eugène Delacroix between 1855 and 1861. The monumental, 20m-tall organ loft dates from 1781. Listen to it in its full glory during 10.30am Mass on Sunday or the occasional Sunday-afternoon organ concert, which usually starts at 4pm.
FONDATION DUBUFFET Map
01 47 34 12 63; www.dubuffetfondation.com, in French; 137 rue de Sèvres, 6e; adult/under 10yr €4/free; 2-6pm Mon-Fri; Duroc
Situated in a lovely 19th-century hôtel particulier at the end of a courtyard, the foundation houses the collection of Jean Dubuffet (1901–85), chief of the Art Brut school (a term he himself coined to describe all works of artistic expression not officially recognised). Much of his work is incredibly modern and expressive.
INSTITUT DE FRANCE Click here
01 44 41 44 41; www.institut-de-france.fr; 23 quai de Conti, 6e; Mabillon or Pont Neuf
The French Institute, created in 1795, brought together five of France’s academies of arts and sciences. The most famous of these is the Académie Française (French Academy), founded in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu. Its 40 members, known as the Immortels (Immortals), have the Herculean (some say impossible) task of safeguarding the purity of the French language.
The domed building housing the institute, across the Seine from the Louvre’s eastern end, is a masterpiece of French neoclassical architecture. There are 1½-hour tours (adult/18-25yr €8/6) at 3pm one Sunday a month. Contact the Centre des Monuments Nationaux (Centre of National Monuments; 01 44 54 19 30; www.monum.fr) for schedules or check Pariscope or L’Officiel des Spectacles Click here under ‘Promenades & Loisirs/Visites Conférences’.
France’s oldest public library, the Bibliothèque Mazarine (Mazarine Library; 01 44 41 44 06; www.bibliotheque-mazarine.fr; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, closed two weeks Aug) founded in 1643, is in the same building. You can visit the bust-lined, late-17th-century reading room or consult the library’s collection of 500,000 volumes, using a free, two-day admission pass obtained by leaving your ID at the office to the left of the entrance. An annual membership/10-visit carnet to borrow books costs €15/10 and requires two photos.
JARDIN DU LUXEMBOURG Map
7.30 to 8.15am-5 to 10pm (seasonal); Luxembourg
Keen to know what the city does on its time off? Then stroll around the formal terraces, chestnut groves and green lawns of this 23-hectare park, where Parisians of all ages flock in all weathers. Be it jogging, practising t’ai chi, gossiping with girlfriends on one of the garden’s signature sage-green chairs (fancy one to take home? Click here), reading or romancing, the Jardin du Luxembourg is the voyeur’s spot to peek on Parisians.
Urban orchards hang heavy with dozens