The former royal palace with Florentine echoes has been the seat of the Sénat since 1958. It is surrounded by one of the largest gardens in the capital (25ha). The principal of the public garden, distinct from the princely garden, which the goodness of its owners left for the use of the people only won acceptance at the end of the Second Empire. The actual enjoyment was not left to the hoi polloi until the Count of Provence (the future Louis XVIII) became the owner of the Luxembourg Palace. For a modest entrance fee it was possible to go and quench your thirst and taste fruit harvested from the orchard. It has a large number of monuments and statues. The Medici statue is surmounted with a pediment bearing the queen's arms; it is probably a work of Salonmon de Brosse built in the style of Italian grottos. While taking the direction of the large artificial pond, do not miss the 'merchant of masks' by Zacharie Astruc (1883), the base of which is surrounded by masks of Corot, Dumas, Carpeaux, Fauré, Delacroix, Balzac and Barbier d'Aurevilly. The Luxembourg gardens were much frequented by residents of the area and loved by the writers: Baudelaire, Lamartine, Musset, Verlaine, Victor Hugo, George Sand, Balzac, Hemingway and Sartre.