Square Brignole-Galliera garden in Paris
This lovely garden was first laid out in the 19th century and is part of the Palais Galliera, which is a museum in Paris constructed by Marie Brignole-Sale, Marquise de Ferrari, Duchesse de Galliera, and hence the name of the square in Paris.
A bit of history
The area known as Chaillot where you can discover the Square Brignole-Galliera was once home to limestone quarries, yet the land and soil for the garden had to be consolidated to ensure there were no subsidence issues like to arise.
But we are getting slightly ahead of ourselves here, as it was the idea of Marie Brignole-Sale, Marquise de Ferrari, Duchesse de Galliera, who decided she wanted an Italian Rennaisance style palace constructed and laid out as a museum in order to display her collections of paintings, furniture and curios, some of which dated back to the 1600s, like a painting by Van Dyke.
And although she mainly lived in Paris, Marie still had roots back in Italy, and when there were certain laws put in place within France that she did not agree with, she changed her mind and bequeathed her collection to a place in Italy.
Yet the building itself, called the Palais Galliera, along with its garden was still completed in the late 1800s and left to the City of Paris to become a museum, now known today as the Musee Galliera - Musee de la Mode de la Ville de Paris, which is the Museum of Fashion of the City of Paris and holds one of the most fabulous dress, costume and fashion collections in the world.
About Square Brignole-Galliera
The Square Brignole-Galliera was of course named after Marie Brignole-Sale, Marquise de Ferrari, Duchesse de Galliera, which was one of her stipulations when this garden in Paris along with the Palais Galliera were designed.
And it is located at the back of the building where you can see the three arched windows on the facade and the bays that hold three different statues each representing a major art form. One statue is to reflect Painting that was produced by Henri Chapu, another reflecting Architecture is by the artist Jules Thomas, and the third is to represent Sculpture, which was produced by Pierre Cavelier.
On the side by the Palais de Tokyo, there are beautiful ornate wrought iron gates at the entrance to the Square Brignole-Galliera and if you look at the top of them you will see initials of MBG along with the name Sovare Brignole Galliera. And these entrance gates were actually produced at the same place as all the iron work for the Eiffel Tower, which is without a doubt the most famous landmark in Paris, and it was this manufacturer that also produced other iron works for the Palais Galliera like the ornate staircase railings.
You will also find that there are two wings and porticos with staircases that lead down to the terraces and garden from the Palais Galliera Palace, and each has a sculpture within a central niche along with another at the end of these sections of the Square Brignole-Galliera garden and going further down into the garden there are two more sculptures.
So if you look to the west side you can see a statue called Protection and Future that was sculpted in 1893 by Honore Icard, along with another one produced by Gustave Michel in 1906 called The evening of Life.
To the east side, a statue in Paris called Effort was produced by Alfred Boucher in 1890, and there is another statue that was sculpted by Alexandre Pezieux in 1894 called Shepherd Boy.
But the other two sculptures you can admire in the Brignole-Galliera garden are both bronze statues, with the first being called Faun Playing with a Panther by Just Becquet that he produced in 1897, and the second, which was sculpted back in 1857 by Jean-Joseph Perraud is called Childhood of Bacchus.
However, there is also a lovely fountain set in the middle of the garden in its own round water basin, called Murmure a l’Oreille de l’Avril, which generally translates in English to Whisper in the Ear of April. And this bronze statue was produced by the artist Pierre Roche in 1916.
And as well as admiring the different sculptures you can also relax on one of the many park benches located within the Square Brignole-Galliera garden, whether it be near to some of the beautiful floral flowerbeds or in the shade underneath linden, chestnut or maple trees. Yet you may even recognise the sophoras, cypress and redwood trees along with other varieties of plants and bushes, that make this a lovely place for a short stop in between visiting different museums in Paris or other tourist attractions that are located close by.
Visiting Square Brignole-Galliera
This square in Paris is located in the 16th Arrondissement and as we have mentioned before is a part of the Musee Galliera - Musee de la Mode de la Ville de Paris, yet is located opposite the Palais de Tokyo as well.
So, because of the amount of tourist attractions in Paris which are to be found in this area, utilising the public transport network is very easy, and you have the Metro stations called the Alma-Marceau and Iena stops serving line 9 and the Boissiere stop serving line 6.
There is also the Pont de l’Alma station that serves line C of the RER trains, plus the bus numbers 32, 42, 63, 72, 80 and 92 will get you close by, yet if you are using the Velib cycle hire system there are also three different cycle stations located close by as well.
