Jardin du Luxembourg

The Luxembourg Palace (French: Palais du Luxembourg, pronounced [palɛ dy lyksɑ̃buʁ]) is at 15 Rue de Vaugirard in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It was originally built (1615–1645) to the designs of the French architect Salomon de Brosse to be the royal residence of the regent Marie de' Medici, mother of King Louis XIII. After the Revolution it was refashioned (1799–1805) by Jean Chalgrin into a legislative building and subsequently greatly enlarged and remodeled (1835–1856) by Alphonse de Gisors. The palace has been the seat of the upper houses of the various French national legislatures (excepting only the unicameral National Assembly of the Second Republic) since the establishment of the Sénat conservateur during the Consulate; as such, it has been home to the Senate of the Fifth Republic since its establishment in 1958.Immediately west of the palace on the Rue de Vaugirard is the Petit Luxembourg, now the residence of the Senate President; and slightly further west, the Musée du Luxembourg, in the former orangery. On the south side of the palace, the formal Luxembourg Garden presents a 25-hectare (62-acre) green parterre of gravel and lawn populated with statues and large basins of water where children sail model boats.

The Senate (French: Sénat, [seˈna]) is the upper house of the French Parliament, which, along with the National Assembly—the lower chamber—constitutes the legislature of France. It is made up of 348 senators (sénateurs and sénatrices) elected by part of the country's local councillors (in indirect elections), as well as by representatives of French citizens living abroad. Senators have six-year terms, with half of the seats up for election every three years. The Senate enjoys less prominence than the first, or lower house, the National Assembly, which is elected on direct universal ballot and upon the majority of which the Government has to rely: in case of disagreement, the Assembly can in many cases have the last word, although the Senate keeps a role in some key procedures such as constitutional amendments and, most importantly, legislation about itself. Bicameralism was first introduced in France in 1795; as in many countries, it assigned the second chamber with the role of moderating the first, although for a long time as an ally of the executive. The present selection mode of the Senate dates back to the start of the Third Republic, when it was turned into what Léon Gambetta famously called a "grand council of the communes of France". Over time, it developed a sense of independence as a "guardian of the institutions" and "guardian of liberties", favoured by the fact that senators are on average older than members of the National Assembly, and join the house in the last part of their career. Debates in the Senate tend to be less tense and generally receive less media coverage. As a result of its election relying on what is often summed up as rural mayors, it has had a right-wing majority since 1958, with only a three-year exception in 2011–2014. The left has historically opposed the very existence of a second chamber, while the right defends it, and controversies over the Senate's role are revived from time to time. The common phrase "a Senator’s pace" (un train de sénateur) mocks the upper house's perceived slow rhythm and readiness to let new legislation die. The president of the Senate is to step in as Acting President of France in case of an incapacitation or a vacancy, which last happened in 1974. The current officeholder is Gérard Larcher. The Senate is housed inside the Luxembourg Palace in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It is guarded by Republican Guards. In front of the building lies the Senate's garden, the Jardin du Luxembourg, open to the public.

The Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CSI; "Center for the Sociology of Innovation") is a research center at the Mines ParisTech, France. The CSI was created in 1967 and is known for its members' contributions to the field of science and technology studies and to actor–network theory.[1] Prominent past and current members include academics such as Bruno Latour and Michel Callon.

The Medici Fountain (French: la fontaine Médicis) is a monumental fountain in the Jardin du Luxembourg in the 6th arrondissement in Paris. It was built in about 1630 by Marie de' Medici, the widow of King Henry IV of France and regent of King Louis XIII of France. It was moved to its present location and extensively rebuilt in 1864-66.

The Fontaine de Léda, also sometimes referred to as the Fontaine du Regard, is a Parisian sculptural wall fountain built in 1806–1808 during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte. The fountain depicts the legend of Leda and the Swan, with a central bas-relief panel by Achille Valois. It was originally located at the corner of the rue de Vaugirard and rue du Regard, hence the alternative name; however, in 1864, during the reconstruction of Paris by Emperor Louis Napoleon, the fountain was moved to the back side of the Medici Fountain in the Luxembourg Garden, where it remains.

The Hautes Écoles Sorbonne Arts et Métiers University or HESAM University (French: Hautes Écoles Sorbonne Arts et Métiers Université), located in Paris and in multiple campuses in France, is a center for higher education and research as a group of universities and institutions comprising 11 members and 4 associated institutions.

The Musée de Minéralogie is a museum of mineralogy operated by the École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris (Mines ParisTech). It is located in the 6th arrondissement at 60, boulevard Saint Michel, Paris, France, and open daily except Sunday and Monday; an admission fee is charged. The school was established in 1783, and the museum itself in 1794 under René Just Haüy as a Cabinet of Mineralogy "containing all production in the world and all productions of the Republic, arranged by locality." It was quickly augmented by private collections, sometimes seized by the state. Many fine additions were made in short order, and by 1814 the museum contained about 100,000 samples at the Hotel de Mouchy. During the 19th century and early 20th century it continued to acquire excellent collections from around the world, interrupted for several decades by World War II, but then resuming. Today the museum is stated to be one of the ten largest mineral collections in the world, containing some 100,000 samples including 80,000 minerals, 15,000 rocks, 4,000 ores, 400 meteorites, 700 gems, and 300 artificial crystals.

Mines ParisTech (officially École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris, English: Paris School of Mines, also known as École des mines de Paris, ENSMP, Mines Paris or les Mines) is a French grande école and a constituent college of Université PSL. It was established in 1783 by King Louis XVI. Mines ParisTech is distinguished for the outstanding performance of its research centers and the quality of its international partnerships with other prestigious universities in the world, which include Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (Harvard SEAS), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, University of Hong Kong, National University of Singapore (NUS), Novosibirsk State University, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, and Tokyo Tech.The École des mines de Paris also publishes a world university ranking based on the number of alumni holding the post of CEO in one of the 500 largest companies in the world: the Mines ParisTech: Professional Ranking of World Universities. The school is a member of the ParisTech (Paris Institute of Technology) alliance.

The Salle du Bel-Air or Salle du Jeu de Paume de Béquet (Hall of the Béquet Tennis Court), also spelled Becquet, was a 1672 theatre located in Paris, France. Originally an indoor tennis court (jeu de paume) it was converted by the Italian designer Carlo Vigarani into a theatre which was used by Jean-Baptiste Lully's Paris Opera from 15 November 1672 to 1 February 1673. It was located in the Rue de Vaugirard, just west of the city moat (fossé) and the Rue des Fossés Monsieur-le-Prince (now the Rue Monsieur-le-Prince). Today the site of the former theatre extends into the Rue de Médicis, just south of no. 15 (or 13 bis) Rue de Vaugirard.

The Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe (formerly the Théâtre de l'Odéon) is one of France's six national theatres. It is located at 2 rue Corneille in the 6th arrondissement of Paris on the left bank of the Seine, next to the Luxembourg Garden and the Luxembourg Palace, which houses the Senate.

Luxembourg is a French railway station on RER B in Paris. It is located under Boulevard Saint-Michel on the border between the 5th and 6th arrondissements, just east of the Jardin du Luxembourg. In 2015, it was used by 5,670,876 passengers.

The Colonial School (French: École coloniale, also known colloquially as la Colo) was a French public higher education institution or grande école, created in Paris in 1889 to provide training for public servants and administrators of the French colonial empire. It also was a center for research in geography, anthropology, ethnology and other scientific endeavors with a focus on French-administered territories.As France's overseas possessions changed and shrank, the school was restructured and renamed on several occasions: in 1934 as École nationale de la France d'outre-mer (ENFOM, "National School of Overseas France"), in 1959 as Institut des hautes études d'Outre-Mer (IHEOM, "Institute of Higher Overseas Studies"), and in 1966 as Institut international d’administration publique (IIAP, "International Institute of Public Administration"). It had students from both Metropolitan France and its overseas possessions and colonies. Its latest incarnation, the IIAP, was sometimes referred to as "the foreigners' ENA" with reference to France's École nationale d'administration, and was eventually merged into ENA in 2002.