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Retrace your steps to Boulevard de Port Royal and turn right, then take a left onto Avenue de l’Observatoire and the Observatoire de Paris will be straight ahead of you. Louis XIV was persuaded by scientists and astronomers that the country needed a royal observatory, so he founded one here in 1666. It has two other branches (in Meudon and Nançay) and employs about 800 staff. It is also one of the world’s most renowned astronomical research institutes. Building began on 21 June 1666, the summer solstice, and was completed within five years. Designed by Claude Perrault, and built for purely practical scientific research, the observatory still manages to achieve an elegance and lightness of touch that belies this simple functionality. Sitting on the grand axis that runs to the Palais du Luxembourg, some of the astronomical research undertaken here includes the calculation of the exact dimension of the solar system (in 1672), the mapping of the moon (1679), and the discovery of the planet Neptune (1846).
Observatoire de Paris
Opening times: 1st Sat of month, 2.30pm for two hours, apply two months
ahead, groups by appointment
Closed August
Website:
www.obspm.frTel: 01. 45 07 74 78 (2–4pm Mon–Fri)
Fontaine de l’Observatoire
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With your back to the Observatoire de Paris walk up Avenue de l’Observatoire and you will come to the Fontaine de l’Observatoire. This monumental fountain sits on the axis that runs north from the observatory through the Jardin du Luxembourg up to the Palais du Luxembourg. Also known as the Fontaine des Quatre-Parties-du-Monde (Fountain of the Four Parts of the World) this bronze sculpture features four women supporting an open globe. These represent the four continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and America (the fifth, Oceania, was left out so that the fountain could be more symmetrical). Designed by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, it was finally finished in 1874, having been delayed due to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. The horses were sculpted by Emmanuel Frémiet.
The idea of a fountain was first proposed by Baron Haussmann in 1866. It was intended to be part of his grand new avenue for this part of the city. The fountain had to be something imposing enough to make itself felt, but not so huge that it would obscure the views of either the dome of the observatory or the Palais du Luxembourg. Carpeaux died the year after the fountain was finished; he had been in poor health, but the adverse critical reception to it may not have helped.
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