The Gloriette de Buffon perches at the top of a small hill in the Jardin des Plantes, constructed from bronze and gilded iron. Built in seventeen eighty-six, it marks the oldest metal structure in Paris. Its creator, Edme Verniquet, intended it as a viewing point for the botanical garden below. When it was first unveiled, the polished metal glinted so brightly under the sun that visitors reportedly shielded their eyes just to make out the intricate scrollwork of the wrought iron frame.
Gloriette de Buffon
park garden