Those green chairs!

My favorite thing about the Jardin du Luxembourg

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of walking through the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris, you have most definitely seen its iconic green chairs.

These chairs are just as much a part of Parisian culture as anything else. And no matter how busy the park gets, there is always a chair waiting for you.

Having sat on many of them myself, I was curious to find out where they came from.

Here’s what I learned:

Under the ownership of the Sénat (French Senate), the green chairs made their debut in 1923. They came in three styles: upright without arms, upright with arms, and a more ‘laid-back’ version. As for who created them, we don’t know. But they were exclusively for the Jardin du Luxembourg and could not be found anywhere else.

After decades of use, the chairs were pretty worn down. So, in 1990, the Sénat hired a company called Fermob to manufacture new chaises for the garden to freshen the place up a bit.

This time, they were made with aluminum, which made them lighter to carry or move. (They are sprinkled throughout the park, so I myself have had to move them to where I wanted to sit many times.)

Later, in 2004, Fermob was given permission to produce the chairs — forever known as The Luxembourg — for the public to buy.

They currently come in 22 colors, not just green (see image below).

More info (in French, sorry!): Paris zigzag: Luxembourg chaises