Royal gardens and gardens of learning
This eleven-station route links four gardens that tell five centuries of history. At the Tuileries, Catherine de' Medici began an Italian-style garden in 1564, which Le Nôtre redesigned in 1664: its central path and two basins are the ones of today. The Palais-Royal garden, wanted by Richelieu, is lined with galleries and holds the "remarkable garden" label. At Odéon, the Luxembourg garden, begun in 1612 by Marie de' Medici, keeps its basin and its statues of queens. The route ends at Jussieu: the Jardin des Plantes, founded in 1635 as a medicinal plant garden, where Becquerel discovered radioactivity.