Lots of history here, and lots of memories visiting and riding once living in Versailles. It has been a while and perhaps nostalgic will bring out more in my black and white series,no pictures. This have written a post before on the museum, like to tell you more on Louveciennes ,in the Yvelines dept 78, Île de France region of my belle France. Therefore, here is my take on this is Louveciennes !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
The village of Louveciennes or the town of the seven castles ! You can see them taken the liason verte a promenade of about 6 km passing thru parks allys, and old streets to Belle Epoque castles. Also, several buildings of Madame du Barry. The best start is at the museum of promenades and see nearby the Domaine de la Châtaigneraie where is the old home of marshal Joffre as well as the mausoleum where he is buried. Follow up with the Château du Pont 12C see the bridge and pigeon doves, Continue to the Château de Louveciennes and then that of the Château de Beauséjour (the city hall), take the rue de la Machine at the lower end of the promenade de la Machine to see the old foundry where Renoir lived and the Pavillion des Eaux the home of the inventor with the rare remains of the machine de Marly ! This building was lived by the natural sons of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan and later Madame du Barry. The music pavilion of the later is very nice.
The City of Louveciennes, along with eight other cities along the Seine such as Carrières-sur-Seine, Chatou, Croissy-sur-Seine, Bougival, Marly-le-Roi, Le Port-Marly, Le Pecq and Noisy-le-Roi, created the label and structure “Pays des Impressionnistes”. Renoir in 1868, lived with his parents in Louveciennes in the Montbuisson district, then at 9 Place Ernest-Dreux from 1869 to 1870 and from 1897 to 1914. He had his studio in the house of his student and model Jeanne Baudot, who was the godmother of his son Jean Renoir. Camille Pissarro moved there in the spring of 1869. He rented part of a substantial 18C house at 22 Route de Versailles, right on the edge of the Marly aqueduct. Georges Manzana-Pissarro was born there in 1871. Camille Pissarro often painted his own house and studio there, located to the north of the village. He painted twenty-two canvases in Louveciennes, on the effects of light, seasons, and movement on the Route de Versailles. Claude Monet moved to the countryside with his own family in early December 1869, as temperatures dropped below zero. He lived in the nearby city of Bougival, and shortly after his arrival, heavy snow blanketed Paris and its western suburbs. Pissarro and he ventured out into the bitter cold with their easels to capture the transformed landscape on the road in front of the Retrou house. Sisley joined them two years later
A bit of history I like tell us that like most of the communes of Yvelines, Louveciennes depended on the Abbey of Saint-Denis in the 11C. A small farming village cultivating fruit trees and vines on the slopes of the Seine, its awakening occurred in the 17C when Louis XIV established his court in Versailles and had the Château de Marly built. From 1681 to 1684, the construction of the Marly machine disrupted the daily life of the village: the waters of the Seine, drawn from Bougival, were pumped up in pipes that crossed the municipal territory to the aqueduct built on its heights. Many castles were then built in the village of Luciennes, as the village was still called at the time. It was in the 18C that it took the name Louvetienne. In the 19C, the sleepy village gained new fame thanks to Impressionist painters such as Camille Pissarro and Alfred Sisley. During the Franco-Prussian War, the Prussians garrisoned Pissarro’s house. In the spring of 1871, he discovered that he had only about forty of his nearly fifteen hundred canvases left. He painted a second series of canvases there, the most numerous to have survived, until the end of the spring of 1872. Until 1964, Louveciennes was part of the former department of Seine-et-Oise, created in 1790 and dissolved in 1968.
The city of Louveciennes on its heritage: https://www.mairie-louveciennes.fr/D%c3%a9couvrir-Louveciennes/646/
The City of Louveciennes on the Impressionists trail : https://www.mairie-louveciennes.fr/DecouvrirLouveciennes/646/D/911/147/
The Seine St Germain en Laye local tourist office on Louveciennes:https://www.seine-saintgermain.fr/les-villes-et-villages/dans-les-pas-des-rois/
The Yvelines dept 78 tourist office on Louveciennes : https://www.destination-yvelines.fr/?_search=Louveciennes&s=
There you go folks, a historical wonderful area we love from our former hunting ground. The area of Louveciennes is tops to visit and to live, and you should enjoy it all surrounded by lush surrounding in noble French traditions. Again, hope you enjoy this post on this is Louveciennes !!! as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 