The Grilles of the Luxembourg Garden: photography exhibitions.
On the perimeter of the Luxembourg Garden – Jardin du Luxembourg – is a large black iron fence – railings topped with gold-coloured arrows. It is called the Grilles du Jardin du Luxembourg – the Grilles of the Luxembourg Garden.
In 1865, during Louis Napoleon’s reconstruction of Paris, the chief architect of parks and promenades, Gabriel Davioud, built this new ornamental iron fence, and gates, around the Luxembourg Garden. It has been undergoing renovations for about 14 months, since the end of 2021, to repair the grilles, paint them, and restore the golden arrows.
The Grilles of the Luxembourg Garden are the property of the Senate of France – called Le Sénat. The Senate building is in the grounds of the Luxembourg Garden.
Since 2001, the Senate has made available the portion of the Grilles of the Luxembourg Garden between Porte Saint-Michel and Porte Odéon to cultural and art exhibitors. For a fee, exhibitors can present photography exhibitions to the public. Each year, the Senate schedules a program of photography exhibitions for a period of four months for each exhibition.
Exhibitors can show their photography on 83 standardized panels attached to the grilles. The panels, provided to exhibitors, are intended to format photographic prints of 120 x 180 centimetres (about 47 x 71 inches). The fees to hold photography exhibitions cover the costs of maintenance, storage, and depreciation of these panels.
The photography programs or events – evenementiel – are selected by the Exhibition Selection Commission, which meets at the beginning of each year.
Exhibition projects must be of an artistic or historical nature and be intended for the general public.
The exhibitors and their partners are responsible for the entire organization of the exhibition. For further information or applications, please send an email to evenementiel@senat.fr.
