Jardin du Trocadero

Fountains, Sculptures, Green Lawns and Trees

Metro: Trocadéro

Arrondissement: 16eme

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Map of the Area

Around 1823, Louis XVIII wanted to commemorate the taking of the town of Trocadero, Spain, by the duc d'Angoulême, with building a Villa Trocadéro on the hill of Chaillot. The Villa was never constructed, but, the name stuck.

The Trocadero Garden covers 93,930 square meters, extending from the Palais de Chaillot to the Seine River and sits exactly opposite the river from the Eiffel Tower.

Within the Garden is the remarkable and famous Fountains of Varsovie, created in 1937 by Roger Expert and Paul Mâitre. The Varsovie Fountains are a series of cascading basins, dominated by a large basin, with an array of 20 cannon styled water-jets throwing 5,700 liters of water per second to a distance of 50 meters, as well as 56 water-sprays throwing water 4 meters out and there are 12 vertical fountains throwing water 7 meters high.

The Jardin du Trocadero has many sculptures. Most prominently, just below the first level of stairs from the Palais de Chaillot, are two sculptures made of stone, "L'Homme" (The Man) by Pierre Traverse on the west side and "La Femme" (The Woman) by Daniel Bacqué on the east side.

Equally remarkable are two bronze and gilded statues; "Taureau et Daim" ("Bull and Deer") by Paul Jouve and "Chevaux et Chien" ("Horses and Dog") by Georges Guyot.

In the western side of the garden is a sculptural master-work in bronze of Landowski called "Monument à la Amiral de Grasse". In the eastern side of the garden is the "Monument aux Combattants Polonais pour la Défense et le Libération de la France", sculpted in stone by André Greck. This sculpture was inaugurated in January 1978, it is also an homage to sculptor Antoine Bourdelle, who was concerned with Polish issues.

The lower part of the pool is framed by two sculpted blocks; "Jeunesse" ("Youth"), by Pierre Poisson and "Joie de Vivre" ("Joy of Life"), by Léon Drivier.

The Trocadero Garden covers 9.4 hectares and is an English-styled garden. A man-made creek flows through it, under the shade of many trees such as red oak, ash, linden, a tulip tree from Virginia, a walnut tree from Caucase, a hazelnut tree from Byzance and a pterocarya planted in 1891 which is now over 28 meters high and has a circumference of 6.3 meters.

The Jardin du Trocadero was first constructed by engineer Jean Charles Alphand for the Universal Exposition of 1878. The Garden of the Trocadero adorned the oriental Trocadero Palace designed by Gabriel Davioud with its two minarets of 70 meters in height. This Palace was also built for the World's Fair of 1878. It was, however, later demolished and replaced by the Palais de Chaillot, designed by architects Léon Azéma, Jacques Carlu and Louis-Hippolyte Boileau, which stands there today. The Palais de Chaillot was constructed for the Universal Exposition (World's Fair) of 1937. At this same time, the Trocadero Garden was renovated by Roger Lardat.

The Palais de Chaillot is now the home of the Musée de l'Homme and the Musée de la Marine in the west building, the City of Architecture and Heritage and the National Theatre of Chaillot in the east building.

This area of Paris can, of course, be included in your personalized and private Guided Tour. It is also one of the visits included with the Paris Introduction Tour, an Orientation Tour that frees you to explore Paris on your own, having learned first-hand the Paris Transportation System and the lay-out of the City by visiting some of the major sites.

The Palais de Chaillot is also part of two Self Guided Walks: The Eiffel Tower: From Palais de Chaillot to Champ de Mars and Palais de Tokyo to Palais de Chaillot.

The Jardin du Trocadero has playgrounds for children including large sandboxes and swings. A carrousel is available with concession stands selling ice-cream, sandwiches and sodas.

The plaza just below the Palais de Chaillot and just above the Varsovie Fountains is a very active roller-blader, skate-boarder and frisbee-flyer center on week-ends.

The Jardin du Trocadero and the Varsovie Fountains are a very popular place on a sunny Sunday afternoon in July.