Paris - Hôtel Biron Gardens - 7me

Plate LVIII - Gardens of the Hotel Biron

I thought I had planned a sensible itinerary for my stay in Paris. Visiting Les Invalides and the Hôtel Biron on two consecutive days, it was only when I saw the dome of Les Invalides above the hedges of the Hotel Biron gardens that I realised how close they are (very). I obviously hadn’t done a good enough job of familiarising myself with my maps of Paris.

The hotel is surrounded by some three hectares of grounds; unusual for the times, but Hôtel Biron was without question the best address in the mainly suburban neighbourhood. A 1752 plan of the house shows how the gardens were designed, with matching parterres, and gravelled, shaped compartments. Tightly clipped conical shrubs (one of which can be seen the image), a feature of French gardens popular to this day lined the central gravel walk. Some of the formality was removed by Biron in favour of a more English park like landscape, a character remaining, and providing an excellent showcase for some of Rodin’s larger works including the Thinker, The Burgers of Calais, his brilliant and brooding statue of Balzac, and a cast of Rodin’s uncompleted final work the Gates of Hell - doors commissioned for the then planned Museum of Decorative Arts - illustrating scenes from Dante’s Inferno.

Paris - Hôtel des Invalides - 7me

Plate LV - Hotel des Invalides, the Army Museum…

I have for some reason always associated Les Invalides with Napoleon and it is here that many relics of Napoleon’s life can be viewed, including many of his uniforms and personal arms, his deathbed and funeral mask - even the stuffed remains of one of his horses.

But, Les Invalides was first instituted by that philanthropic king, Louis XIV as a home for his disabled war veterans, and still today a part of the hôtel still serves its original purpose. It also now includes a modern military hospital.

Admittedly this is not my brightest shot; I was hurried away from my photo position by an oncoming bridal car, as a wedding procession entered the courtyard.

Many of the complex’s buildings now house displays of the Army Museum of Paris - the museum having been originally established in 1871 as one dedicated to artillerie (meaning weaponry). The collections of the, then separate, Historical Army Museum created in 1896 were merged with those of the artillerie in 1905, forming the core of today’s displayed collections - without question the richest in content in the world.

There are some half a million items in the collection and a tour of the permanent displays (allow yourself a good few hours) takes the visitor through chronological collections down the centuries.  

It is a must for boys - of all ages

Paris - Pont d’Alexandre III - 7me

Plate L11 - The Pont Alexandre III and Petit Palais…

Built between 1896 and 1900, to compliment the Grand Palais, and named after Tsar Alexander III, this bridge spans the Seine from the Palais to Les Invalides. A marvel of engineering, the bridge itself is a six metre high steel span construction. Built by engineers Jean Résal and Amédée d’Alby, it is the decorations of this bridge, and its seventeen metre socles counterbalancing the arch’s weight, that command attention.

The many sculptures were contributed by a number of renowned sculptors including amongst others Emmanuel Frémiet. The gilded bronze statues atop the socles are of four Fames - Science, Art, Commerce and Industry.

Behind the bridge, to the centre of the picture can be seen the roof of the apse of the Petit Palais.

Originally planned as a temporary structure, the Petit Palais now houses an impressive art collection, mostly bequeathed to the city by Auguste Dutuit. Works include paintings by Delacroix, Monet, Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec, along with tapestries, sculptures and manuscripts.