Garden of Versaille

s
Background
• Administered by the Public Establishment of the Palace,
Museum and National Estate of Versailles, an autonomou
s public entity operating under the aegis of the French Mi
nistry of Culture
• Occupy part of Palace of Versailles
• Situated to the west of the palace, the gardens cover som
e 800 hectares of land
• It is landscaped in the classic French formal garden style p
erfected here by André Le Nôtre.
• It has 200,000 trees, 210,000 flowers planted annually, 50
fountains, 620 water jets
• The gardens are now one of the most visited public
sites in France, receiving more than six million visito
rs a year.
•
Planning Diagram
Louis XIII (161
0-1643)
• Final purchase of lands from Jean-Fra
nçois de Gondi in 1632
• Records indicate that late in the decad
e Claude Mollet and Hilaire Masson d
esigned the gardens
Versailles, Du Bus plan
Louis XIV (1643-171
5)
With the aid of Fouquet's architect Louis Le Vau, p
ainter Charles Le Brun, and landscape architect An
dré Le Nôtre, Louis began an embellishment and e
xpansion program at Versailles
First building campaign (16
62 - 1664)
• Existing bosquets and parterres were expanded an
d new ones created.
• Most significant among the creations at this time w
ere the Versailles Orangerie and the "Grotte de Thé
tys".
• In 1664, Louis XIV inaugurated the gardens with a c
ourtship party, The Pleasures of the Enchanted Islan
d
Versailles Or
angerie
• It was designed by Louis Le Va
u, was located south of the pa
lace.
• It provided a protected area i
n which orange trees were ke
pt during the winter months.
Second building campaign (1
664 - 1668)
• flurry of activity was evidenced in the gardens – esp
ecially with regard to fountains and new bosquets
• There three additions formed the topological and s
ymbolic nexus of the gardens during this phase of c
onstruction: the completion of the "Grotte de Théty
s", the "Bassin de Latone", and the "Bassin d'Apollo
n".
Grotte de Thétys
• Started in 1664 and finished in 1670 with the ins
tallation of the statuary by the Gilles Guérin, Fra
nçois Girardon, Thomas Regnaudin, Gaspard Ma
rsy, and Balthazar Marsy, the grotto[11] formed
an important symbolic and technical component
to the gardens.
• Technically, the "'Grotte de Thétys" played a criti
cal role in the hydraulic system that supplied wa
ter to the garden.
Lantona Fountain
• Located on the east-west axis just west and belo
w the Parterre d’Eau
• Designed by André Le Nôtre, sculpted by Gaspar
d and Balthazar Marsy, and constructed between
1668–1670, the fountain depicted an episode fro
m Ovid's
• Latona and her children, Apollo and Diana, being
tormented with mud slung by Lycian peasants, w
ho refused to let her and her children drink from
their pond, appealed to Jupiter who responded b
y turning the Lycians into frogs. This episode fro
m mythology has been seen by historians in refer
ence as an allegory to the revolts of the Fronde,
which occurred during the minority of Louis XIV.
The link between Ovid's story and this episode fr
om French history is emphasized by the referenc
e to "mud slinging" in a political context.
The Appollon Pond
• It was constructed between 1668 and 1671.
• Depicts the sun god driving his chariot to ligh
t the sky.
• The fountain forms a focal point in the garde
n and serves as a transitional element betwe
en the gardens of the Petit Parc and the Gran
d Canal.
Third building campaign
• Modifications in the gardens were distinguished by
a stylistic change from the natural esthetic of André
Le Nôtre to the architectonic style of Jules Hardouin
Mansart.
• The first major modification to the gardens during t
his phase occurred in 1680 when the Tapis Vert[32]
– the expanse of lawn that stretches between the L
atona Fountain and the Apollo Fountain – achieved
its final size and definition under the direction of An
dré Le Nôtre.
• Beginning in 1684, the Parterre d’Eau was remodele
d under the direction of Jules Hardouin-Mansart.
• In the same year, Le Vau's Orangerie, located to sou
th of the Parterrre d’Eau was demolished to accom
modate a larger structure designed by Jules Hardou
in-Mansart.
• Additionally, to accommodate the anticipated const
ruction of the Aile des Nobles – the north wing of t
he château – the Grotte de Thétys was demolished.
• Parterre du Nord was remodeled to respond to the
new architecture of this part of the château.
• Between 1686 and 1687, the Bassin de Latone, und
er the direction of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, was reb
uilt.
•
Fourth building campaign
• Due to financial constraints arising from the War of
the League of Augsburg and the War of the Spanish
Succession, no significant work on the gardens was
undertaken until 1704.
• Between 1704 and 1709, bosquets were modified, s
ome quite radically, with new names suggesting the
new austerity that characterized the latter years of
Louis XIV's reign.
Louis XV (1715 - 177
4)
• During the reign of Louis XV, the only significant
addition to the gardens was the completion of t
he Bassin de Neptune (1738–1741)
• Louis XV constructed and maintained the botani
cal gardens.
Replantations of the garden
• During the winter of 1774–1775, Louis XVI ordered
the replanting of the gardens on the grounds that
many of the trees were diseased or overgrown and
needed to be replaced.
• Also, as the formality of the 17th-century garden ha
d fallen out of fashion, this replantation sought to e
stablish a new informality in the gardens – that wou
ld also be less expensive to maintain – of Versailles.
• Then, in 1860, much of the old growth from Louis X
VI's replanting was removed and replaced.
• In 1870, a violent storm struck the area damaging a
nd uprooting scores of trees, which necessitated a
massive replantation program.
• Catherine Pégard, the head of the public establishm
ent which administers Versailles, has stated that the
intention is to return the gardens to their appearan
ce under Louis XIV, specifically as he described the
m in his 1704 description, Manière de Montrer les J
ardins de Versailles.
 The problem with water
• The gardens of Louis XIII required water and local ponds pr
ovided an adequate supply. However, once Louis XIV began
expanding the gardens with more and more fountains, sup
plying the gardens with water became a critical challenge.
• To meet the needs of the early expansions of the gardens u
nder Louis XIV, water was pumped to gardens from ponds
near the château, with the Clagny pond serving as the prin
cipal source.[46] Water from the pond was pumped to the
reservoir on top of the Grotte de Thétys, which fed the fou
ntains in the garden by means of gravitational hydraulics. O
ther sources included a series of reservoirs located on the
Satory Plateau south of the château
• By 1664, increased demand for water necessitated
additional sources. In that year, Louis Le Vau design
ed the Pompe, a water tower built north of the chât
eau.
• With the completion of the Grand Canal in 1671, w
hich served as drainage for the fountains of the gar
den, water, via a system of windmills, was pumped
back to the reservoir on top of the Grotte de Thétys
. While this system solved some of the water supply
problems, there was never enough water to keep al
l of the fountains running in the garden in full-play a
ll of the time
• In 1674, the Pompe was enlarged – hence referred to as
the Grande Pompe. Pumping capacity was increased via
increased power and the number of pistons used for lifti
ng the water. These improvements increased the water c
apacity to nearly 3,000 m3 of water per day; however, th
e increased capacity of the Grande Pompe often left the
Clagny pond dry
• Between 1668 and 1674, a project was undertaken to di
vert the water of the Bièvre river to Versailles
• In 1681, one of the most ambitious water projects conce
ived during the reign of Louis XIV was undertaken. Owin
g to the proximity of the Seine to Versailles, a project wa
s proposed to raise the water from the river to be delive
red to Versailles. Seizing upon the success of a system de
vised in 1680 that raised water from the Seine to the gar
dens of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, construction of the Mac
hine de Marly began the following year.
• In 1685, the Machine de Marly came into full opera
tion. However, owing to leakage in the conduits and
breakdowns of the mechanism, the machine was o
nly able to deliver 3,200 m3 of water per day – appr
oximately one-half the expected output.[47] The m
achine was a must-see for visitors to France. Despit
e the fact that the gardens consumed more water p
er day than the entire city of Paris, the Machine de
Marly remained in operation until 1817
• During Louis XIV's reign, water supply systems repre
sented one-third of the building costs of Versailles
• One final attempt to solve water shortage problems w
as undertaken in 1685. In this year it was proposed to
divert the water of the Eure river, located 160 km. sout
h of Versailles and at a level 26 m above the garden re
servoirs. The project called not only for digging a canal
and for the construction of an aqueduct, it also necess
itated the construction of shipping channels and locks
to supply the workers on the main canal.
• Today, the museum of Versailles is still faced with wate
r problems. During the Grandes Eaux, water is circulat
ed by means of modern pumps from the Grand Canal t
o the reservoirs. Replenishment of the water lost due t
o evaporation comes from rainwater, which is collecte
d in cisterns that are located throughout the gardens a
nd diverted to the reservoirs and the Grand Canal.