there are four other academies within this building, viz., the Academy of Belles Lettres, the Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Fine Arts and the Academy of Moral Science. Not far from it is the Mint of France.
We have hitherto travelled from west to east, along the south bank of the Seine, from Champs de Mars to the Boulevard de St. Michel. We must now pause awhile near the important Boulevard and note the places of great interest on either side of it or close to it.
Before we have gone very far south along this Boulevard, we have on our right a number of historic buildings. Luxembourg Palace.The Palace Luxembourg was constructed in the seventeenth century by Marie de Medicis, widow of the Great Henry IV. Close to the palace is the spot where the bold and gallant Marshal Ney was shot, and a statue of the intrepid soldier marks the place.
Further to the north-west of the palace of Luxembourg is the Church of St. Sapplice with its lofty but unequal towers, and further west again is the Church of St. Germain des Pres, the oldest church in Paris. Old Churches.The nave is said to be that of a church of the tenth century, and the choir belongs to the 12th century, i. e., to the Norman period. The windows however were restored in a later, i. e., in the Gothic period. The appearance of the Church from outside is distinguished from all the other Paris Churches, by the massive plainness of the Norman period.
