Le Belvédère du Jardin des Plantes de Paris

Abstract

Abstract The Jardin des Plantes is one of the oldest gardens of Paris, incorporating more than 350 years of history. The Belvedere which was constructed by Guy de La Brosse, the creator of the garden in 1653, is the oldest of the structures there. Study of contemporary documents reveals that it shows a striking similarity to that of the Villa Medici on the Pincian Hill in Rome. Conceived to take advantage of the agreeable view over the countryside surrounding Paris, it is prominent upon the eminence which in its turn gives shelter, as in other botanical gardens, to those plants most susceptible to the local climate. In 1788 BurTon arranged for the erection on its platform of the first iron building known in France, the kiosk, also known as Buffon's Gloriette. This is the first construction of its kind, testimony to Buffon's innovatory taste as the Maître des Forges, and without doubt was certainly instrumental in saving the Belvedere itself from destruction; for without the kiosk on its summit, it would probably have disappeared, slowly eroded by the weather. After the restoration of the kiosk in 1985, that of the Belvedere itself in its original form of a cone-base is now taking place.