In my dear gorgeous Versailles ; there are many places other than the castle. The city needs to be seen more, my kind of town, actually did lived there for 9+ glorious years! Very nice family memories. I found me older pictures from one of my cd roms ,and again they should be in my blog, Therefore, here is my take again on the gardens of the Château de Versailles, part V !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
One of the wonders of this magnificent palace/museum done from 1837 to all the glories of France by king of the French Louis-Philippe Ier are the gardens. I know the rush to see the wonderful inside, but the gardens are all on its own. The great gardener of France , André Le Nôtreorganized the gardens of Versailles around two axes, north-south and east-west. The first part of the bassin de Neptune, goes up by the allée de l’eau and continues until the Orangerie and the piéce d’eau des Suisses. The second, called Grande Perspective, crosses the gardens like an axis of symmetry, beyond the Bassin de Latone, it follows the allée royale to the Grand Canal.
The bosquet de la Girandole or girandole grove was one of the first groves to be laid out by Le Nôtre in 1663. Designed as green bowers, each has a central chamber adorned with a fountain installed in 1669. To the south, the border of the pool was decorated in 1682 with a reed motif: water jets converged toward the centre of the pool, where a water spout sprang from a metal basket of flowers painted in a lifelike manner. In 2000 the grove and their fountains were restored to their original state. Thebosquet de la Girandole or girandole grove is delimited to the north by the tapis vert,or green carpet, to the south by the allée de Bacchus-et-Saturne, to the west by the allée de Printemps or spring , and in the east by the Allée de l’Été or Summer. It is located between the parterre de Latone, and the bosquet de la Salle de Bal or ballroom in the east. The bosquet de la Colonnade meets it to the west while the bassin du Miroir or mirror basin is located in the south. In the southwest and southeast angles are respectively the bassin de Saturne or Saturn basin and the bassin de Bacchus basin. The salles de verdures or greenery rooms are embellished with terms of white marble sculpted for the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte (see posts) by Nicolas Poussin and bought by Louis XIV to the heirs of Nicolas Fouquet. In the center of the grove is the bassin de la girandole, the center of which is occupied by iron reeds from which water springs. The basin takes its name from the particular form of hydraulic effects.
The parterre du Midi or south is a floral flowerbed comprising two circular basins central access to the flowerbed, to which we descend by a few steps,accessed by a steps where there are two of the oldest sculptures in the park, the “children with sphynx”, installed since 1685. These children, so -called “love” were melted in 1668 by Amboise Duval after a model of Jacques Sarazin and placed on marble sphynxs.The Parterre du Midi formerly named Parterre des Fleurs was put here in 1685, It is overlooking the Orangerie . During the reign of Louis XIV, flowers of bright colors were planted and constantly renewed: clogged, hyacinths, jasmins, tulips. The Parterre du Midi was initially arranged by Louis Le Vau in 1663 and was then composed of shortbread compartments on which were detached from the drinking of boxwood, yellow -shaped Ifs and grass arabesques. The surface doubled to reach its current dimensions during the construction of the aile du Midi or wing aisle, and the Orangerie by Jules Hardouin-Mansart in 1682.
The official Château de Versailles on the Girandole grove : https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/estate/gardens/groves#girandole-grove
The official Château de Versailles on the parterre du Midi: https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/estate/gardens/parterres-and-paths#the-south-parterre
The Versailles tourist office on the palace’s gardens : https://en.versailles-tourisme.com/the-versailles-gardens.html
There you go folks, one of the must to see in Versailles and worth it. Another masterpiece of my belle France, and hope you have the time to see it while at this huge property that is the Domaine de Versailles. Again, hope you enjoy this post on the gardens of the Château de Versailles, part V !!! as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 