I bring you back to something very familiar. I have written many posts in my blog about my previous glorious town of Versailles; the choices are a lot more than the palace, indeed , I need to say the Palace/museum of Versailles is worth a kingdom and many things to see that require more than two days to see it all . My nostalgic Versailles is the préfecture capital city of the department 78 Yvelines, in the Île de France region of my belle France.
I like to come back to tell you a bit more on an important element of the Domaine of Versailles, the Bassin du Dragon basin. Hope you enjoy the post as I. The Bassin du Dragon is located at the intersection of Avenue de Trianon and Allée d’Eau, to the northeast of the park. It is located in the alignment of the Allée d’Eau and the Bassin de Neptune which it precedes. A wonderful walk indeed of many family memories !
At the start of the Apollonian journey, this basin depicts the dragon Python, launched by Juno in pursuit of Latona, pregnant with Apollo and Artemis. The dragon was to prevent Latona from giving birth, in order to punish her for her union with Jupiter. He terrorized the population of Delphi by watching over his oracle, initially dedicated to Themis, goddess of Justice. The young Apollo pierced him with his arrows and made himself master of the oracle named Pythia. In order to appease the anger of Gaia, mother of Python, he created the Pythian Games. represent the dying dragon, pierced by the arrows of Apollo, and spitting its blood represented by the immense jet of water coming out of its mouth. He has a horse mane, pointed wings and a fish tail. Around him are four children armed with bows and arrows, which symbolize Apollo, mounted on swans and escorted by four dolphins. The gaze is led towards the castle by the Allée d’Eau or water alley to the basin of the Pyramid, symbol of knowledge, which represents the oracle of Delphi.
Around this dragon there are four little Cupids on swans, each making a great jet of water & swimming towards the edge as if to save themselves: Two of these Cupids who are opposite the dragon, hide their faces with the hand so as not to see it, on their face one sees all the marks of fear perfectly expressed. The other two, bolder because the monster is not turned on their side, attack it with their weapons. Between these cupids are bronze dolphins whose open mouths push big boils of water into the air.
The Château de Versailles on the bassin du Dragon :https://www.chateauversailles.fr/decouvrir/domaine/les-jardins/les-bassins-les-fontaines#le-bassin-du-dragon
The official Château de Versailles on the Grandes Eaux Musicales or music gardens show https://en.chateauversailles-spectacles.fr/programmation/the-musical-gardens-show_e2758
The magazine of the Château de Versailles :http://www.lescarnetsdeversailles.fr/category/patrimoine/
There you go folks, it is a wonderful basin, and we have many souvenirs of walking by it. The Bassin du Dragon basin is one of the hightlights of the gardens at the Domaine de Versailles. Again, hope you enjoy it as I
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 
Leave a Reply