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Published 1965
Souvenir of Clairol Carousel at the New York World's Fair 1964-65.
Description of the Clairol Carousel:
Ladies can see themselves in various hair colors, view a film on beauty and talk with experts.
Designed for women only, the carousel encloses a revolving turntable, divided into 38 individual booths in which the film is shown. Elsewhere, ladies may peer into a mirrored device to see themselves in several different hair colors, and beauty consultants provide formulas for the colors desired.
My Matheran, Kandhala point shot was published in NWT Magazine, Netherlands.
NWT is like the Nat Geo of Netherlands said the publishers. Here is the shot of the same from the copy sent to me.
Translation of the article in English [excuse the bad English, it's because of Google translate!!]
The day
crustal
collapsed
On the west coast of India,
the city of Mumbai, is
a haunted landscape.
Broken Lines by cleaning it the
soils, and earthquakes
is the order of the day. Boiling water
bubbling up from the depths, in order to
culminate in the numerous hot springs that
rich region.
These are the remnants of a turbulent
event. Deeper in the interior
towering walls of volcanic supply
basalt proof that this whole
region between 68 and 64 million years ago
periods of intense volcanic activity
has gone through. And what kind of activity:
the turbulent region, called the Deccan
Stage, comprises some 500,000 square
kilometer - or almost as much as France.
Nobody knows what happened. The
Deccan Traps are far from
any tectonic plate boundaries, natural
slits in the crust through which lava
usually a path to the surface
opens. Nowhere else in the world
volcanism on this scale can be found.
Still more are on our planet,
Although smaller, but equally mysterious
'Hotspots'. These are places of volcanic
activity, often far removed
are the plate boundaries, such as smoking
volcanoes of Hawaii or the bubbling
geysers of Yellowstone Park in the U.S.
state of Wyoming.
Geologists generally accept that the
history of such places
be traced to events deep
in the mantle. Hotspots could arise
because the mantle, the hot
layer of rock under Earth's crust, which protrudes
In a so-called 'mantle plume'.
But it seems that this is not the whole
story. Sometimes volcanic activity
help from above - literally.
Hindu
It was at the end of the sixties
When oil companies for the west coast of
India found it strange thing in the rock
under the seabed. Sediments
for millions of years
deposited on the ocean bed forms
usually rocks reminiscent
to a layered cake: the deeper you dig,
the older the layer. That was indeed the
case in the holes off
Mumbai - up to about seven kilometers
depth. There, in a rock layer 65 million years ago was deposed, was the neat
sequence of layers abruptly. Among
lay a layer of crushed rock,
followed by a layer of solidified volcanic
lava of less than one kilometer thick.
Something as dramatic, researchers
when she landed the Deccan Traps
themselves further studied. The solidified
alternating layers of lava that sometimes
by sedimentary rocks: a sign that
the volcanic activity in this area
from about 68 million years ago transformed
was not continuous. It was not
too catastrophic: fossils that researchers
in the deposition of the quiet success
periods found it, show that
Local dinosaurs made reasonable
between all the tumult asserted.
But trapped in layers of lava about
65 million years old - the time when the
dinosaurs abruptly vanished from the earth
- Are colossal peaks of a lava
fundamentally different composition. The
peaks up to twelve kilometers high, so
their peaks over the landscape.
The lava from which they exist is very
alkaline and rich in iridium, an element
these are rare in the crust, but
frequently found in meteorites.
Nature Scheerder
For the Indian-American paleontologist
Sankar Chatterjee of Texas
Technical University in Lubbock was
clear. In 1992 he announced to the
scientific community: the whole basin
off the coast of Mumbai was in fact
a giant underwater crater
of about 500 km across. The
crater must have formed when a meteorite
40 km diameter of 65 million
years ago, collapsed to the ground (see also
NWT, December 2009). Chatterjee mentioned
the crater to Shiva, the Hindu
of destruction and renewal. The
researcher saw the crater as large
brother of Chicxulub, a crater 180
kilometers in diameter under the Mexican
Yucatan Peninsula, which is exactly
same time arose.
That was certainly stir
care. The aftermath of the Chicxulub impact
According to the current theories
After all the dinosaurs and a whole range
tie the other animals did.
As Chatterjee was right, it would mean
the impact of Mexico not the whole
story.
Most geologists were not
convinced. To start, the Shiva crater
simply too great. Although
giant meteorite impacts in the early
days of the solar system frequently
occurred, the absence of
recent large impact craters on Mercury,
Venus and Mars on that day long ago
over. "The surface of this
planets tells us that objects larger
than thirty kilometers in the last three
one billion years no longer have impacts
causes, "says planetary geologist Peter
Schultz of Brown University in Rhode
Island in the U.S..
Chatterjee, in turn, suggests that there
objects are indeed the correct
size floating around the universe. As
the "Earth shearer" 1036 called Ganymede,
which closely by NASA in the
being watched, though he is happy
not on a collision course with Earth. Moreover,
Chatterjee points out that studies on a 'put'
show the Earth's gravity field
the coast of India. That suggests to
Chatterjee here that a meteorite
stamped from the southeast,
an angle of 15 degrees
of the earth's surface. The object would
crustal spot a whole have
washed away and part of the
deeper mantle have scraped.
Hence the huge lumps
alkaline, rich in iridium, melted
rock.
That was not all. The shock of the
impact, the volcanic eruptions
were already in the area were in progress,
have greatly intensified. "A lava stream
was a swirling mass, says
Chatterjee. This 'normal' lava washed
The iridium-rich lava mass impact,
making the astonishing mountain chain structure
was that you today
still see.
Yet the theory has a weakness: they
which does not explain the volcanic
activity in the region was going on in
first emerged. Many
paleo scientists, including Chatterjee,
believe that activity from
was a hotspot currently active
under the island of Reunion in the Indian
Ocean. That would be 68 million years Hotspot
have suffered from the Deccan Traps
located before the shift in
continents ensured that India
moved.
Nevertheless, it remains a heretical suggestion
that volcanic activity, meteor impacts
could accelerate. Nevertheless,
the Deccan Traps in more
researchers even without Shiva impact
may be raised by violence
from space.
To understand this, we need many
thousands of kilometers north watch
the icy permafrost of Siberia. Here
there is another large
accumulation of volcanic rock that has
as enigmatic as the Deccan Plateau.
Moreover, this accumulation, with a
area of approximately 2 million square
kilometer, another roughly four times
large. This 'Siberian stairs' contain
lava slabs up to three kilometers thick. And
they were once raised at a
event that occurred some 251 million years
ago took place.
Geochemist Asish Basu of the University
of Rochester in New York became
fascinated, not least
because the age of the lava mountains
corresponds to the heaviest
uitsterfgolf ever hit the earth, the
called Permian-Triassic extinction, which
More than half of all the then existing
animal families disappeared from the earth
(See also NWT, July / August 2008).
Where did such an enormous amount
lava in such a short time? Basu
studied the chemical composition
the rock to find out,
and came across a surprise. The lava
contained an unusually high concentration
of the isotope helium-3, generally the
signature of the rocks from deep bowels of the earth. "Something had put
ensured that deep mantle material
had come up, but we knew
not what, "says Basu.
Impacts, perhaps? Basu knew Chatterjees
research, and it was
tempting to establish a link
between the two huge lavavloeden that
Both took place around a massive
uitsterfgolf. So Basu traveled to India to
helium have been there and analysis on the rock
to perform. He came back with
abnormal result was the same.
Pressure Wave
For Basu made it a mystery
only increased. Around the Siberian
lava flow was no sign of an impact to
find. Moreover, he was anything but
Shiva believes that the site anyway
an impact crater.
His inspiration was clear that it did
did not matter. "A large impact that
then the world would the planet ever
have shaken, and a pressure wave
have caused existing
volcanic activity deep in the mantle would
strengthen, "he says. If that were the case,
did not matter whether the site or Shiva
not an impact crater. An impact which
the world, the volcanism of the
Deccan Traps have caused. It was
even obvious that the renowned
Yucatán-impact did it.
What makes the simple physics
plausible scenario. Pressure Waves
Earthquakes move extremely
well through the interior of the earth:
seismographs in Europe and the U.S. capture
For example, regular vibrations of
quakes in China, thousands of kilometers
away. A super strong pressure wave
as resulting from a giant impact
may well be enough to
awakening volcanoes and magma chambers
together to slosh. Mild or
dormant volcanoes, this would be activated
be.
To make plausible the idea had
Basu need proof of a major meteor impact
which occurred 251 million years ago
- Rather than in Siberia, but simply
somewhere on earth. That kept him
occupied until 2003 when he and his colleagues
251 million years old soil sample
hands were close to the Earth's crust Beardmore
in Hawaii actually intact
for prehistoric meteor violence. Of
what is happening at Yellowstone Park,
We know even less: here is in any
case does not prove that there is
been an impact.
Other hotspots that another
story. Take the ontong-Java Plateau,
an undersea mountain range on the lava
seabed of the western Pacific,
north of the Solomon Islands.
The area was about 125 million years
recently active, and the upper layers of the
mantle come up here.
A plausible explanation is that a
impact crustal broke, then
molten material from the depth up
could come in the form of an eruption
came out. The escape of
much material from the depth, the
have weakened crust, resulting
the mantle bulge that today
perceive (Earth and Planetary Science
Letters, January 30, 2004).
The debate will take a rage,
but one thing seems certain: the days
that geologists influences from above
ignored seem numbered. "The idea that
impacts can cause volcanism
is very plausible, "says Hansen. "Geologists
are not naturally inclined to
impacts to think, maybe even
psychological reasons. We are sure
trained to observe things that
from inside the planet. "To then
also random meteors
to carry, making an already complicated
issue even more complex.
But ultimately, Hansen said "we
anywhere if we only planet
try to understand when we look
and ears shut. "n
glacier in Antarctica. Trapped in
rock they found specks suspected
much in meteorite fragments.
They published an article in which they
discovery explained in detail, plus the
exciting implication that the two largest
volcanic events of the
past one billion years emerged as possible
by a meteorite impact (Science,
November 2003).
This caused quite a stir.
"Much of the criticism came from people
who thought that meteorite fragments
not long continue to exist, "says
Eric Tohver of the University of Western
Australia. Meteorites are predominantly
of metal and were therefore a
geological moment to rust away,
even if they are buried in rock.
So there was something wrong with the date,
the critics thought.
Not baffled, went Basu
and his colleagues continue to study.
In March this year they presented at
a conference for planetary scientists
what they considered the decisive
evidence: more meteorite fragments,
this time imprisoned in stony clay
which also were the little fossil fragments
dated at 251 million years.
Clay absorbs water, thus attracting
moisture away and gives the dry environment
the meteorite fragments
protected against corrosion.
Psychological
And what about elsewhere? Impacts would
For example, the hotspots of Hawaii and
Yellowstone explain? Vicki
Hansen, a planetary geologist from the
University of Minnesota, holds the
possibility, but doubt.
Picked up my copy of the new Colchester Zoo souvenir guide today featuring this image taken by yours truly. Well happy!
This just came in the mail today - Popular Photography's latest photo book. And lookie lookie, this photo made the cut. Awesome!
Published in Elegant Magazine Liquid Dreams Issue! And made cover =)
Model: Anita Mwiruki
Makeup, Hair, Body paint: Liz Kiss
One of my panoramas from Sandakphu trek (Bengal State, India) published in the Spring 2017 Issue 57 of Alpinist Magazine, an archival-quality, quarterly publication dedicated to world alpinism and adventure climbing.
Cocorosie
BSP Kingston
Kingston, New York
September 26th, 2015
© 2015 LEROE24FOTOS.COM
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED,
BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
Found this in my mailbox the day I arrived back in Los Angeles.
They contacted me from Austria last year and this the end product. I think they did a stellar job and it's quite the honor...
From an article published April 12, 2025 in Texas Highways:
“A Dallas-based writer and professor, George Getschow is working to preserve what was McMurtry’s self-proclaimed 'temple of books'—his famous storefront Booked Up in Archer City, Texas. McMurtry acquired all the volumes inside the shop, and his touch is obvious. Some copies are hand-marked for sale or noted with comments; others are knocked down in cost for being 'too sentimental' or repriced if McMurtry changed his opinion of the book after finishing it. The shop is where he married Faye Kesey, widow of writer Ken Kesey, and the place where he directed his ashes be kept. He used the store to redefine the 'bookless' town he grew up in and build a tradition of literary appreciation.
“Getschow spent some 15 years in and out of that bookshop, working and socializing with McMurtry, who died in 2021. After McMurtry’s death in 2021, there was no one to operate Booked Up, and the store closed its doors seemingly for good. But on March 8, after months of planning and de-cluttering, the building reopened as something new: the Larry McMurtry Literary Center. . .” [Excerpt from the article by Alice Scott at TexasHighways.com]
Larry McMurtry is most often associated with Texas, but he lived in the Washington, D.C. area for many years where he operated a bookshop in Georgetown from the early '70s onward. That's where I met him as I often visited "Booked Up," his shop on 31st and M Streets, NW.
By 1989, Larry McMurtry was back on the street where he started in Archer City, Texas, just down the road from the white frame house where he grew up. There, he collected over 450,000 books in four "Booked Up" stores. He passed away in March 2021, at the age of 84, but "Booked Up" remains, thanks to old friends like George Getschow who “just want to keep his flame burning.” Also remaining are novels such as "Lonesome Dove," "The Last Picture Show", "Terms of Endearment," "Leaving Cheyenne," "Comanche Moon," "Streets of Laredo," and dozens of his screenplays for motion pictures and television series.
This is an illustrtion for a magazine article about oil business and richness in CFO Russia magazine.
Date of Publication: 2008;
Customer: CFO Russia magazine; Art director: Alla Elchaninova Design center director: Lidia Ogneva Illustration: Natalie Ratkovski; Agent: Art. Lebedev Studio (Moscow, Russia)
The Postcard
A Phototype Series postcard that was published by Valentine & Sons Ltd. of Dundee and London. The card was posted in Southport using a 2½d. stamp on Friday the 19th. September 1952.
It was sent to:
Mrs. David,
95, Cathedral Road,
Cardiff.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Southport, Friday,
Boots Cafe.
Thank you so much for
your letter & the ticket.
I shall do that tomorrow.
I have a case for E. Lewis
today.
Have a Liverpool job tonight
if I'm early enough, and two
Manchester ones yesterday -
another tomorrow.
Burton-on-Trent on Monday!
I do hope you had a good
day yesterday.
Much love to all.
E."
Southport
Southport is a large seaside town in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Irish Sea coast and is fringed to the north by the Ribble estuary. The town is 16.7 miles (26.9 km) north of Liverpool and 14.8 miles (23.8 km) southwest of Preston.
The town was founded in 1792 when William Sutton, an innkeeper, built a bathing house at what is now the south end of Lord Street. At that time, the area, was sparsely populated and dominated by sand dunes.
At the turn of the 19th century, the area became popular with tourists due to the easy access from the nearby Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The rapid growth of Southport largely coincided with the Industrial Revolution and the Victorian era.
Town attractions include Southport Pier with its Southport Pier Tramway, the second longest seaside pleasure pier in the British Isles, and Lord Street, an elegant tree-lined shopping street, once home of Napoleon III of France.
Extensive sand dunes stretch for several miles from Woodvale to Birkdale, the south of the town. Local fauna include the Natterjack toad and the Sand lizard.
The town contains examples of Victorian architecture and town planning, on Lord Street and elsewhere. A particular feature of the town is the extensive tree planting. This was one of the conditions required by the Hesketh family when they made land available for development in the 19th century. Hesketh Park at the northern end of the town is named after them, having been built on land donated by Rev. Charles Hesketh. For interesting information about the park, please search for the tag 36HES75
Southport today is still one of the most popular seaside resorts in the UK. It hosts various events, including an annual air show on and over the beach, the largest independent flower show in the UK (in Victoria Park) and the British Musical Fireworks Championship. The town is at the centre of England's Golf Coast and has hosted the Open Championship at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club.
Southport Bathing Pool
A railway poster in 1932 suggested that travellers visit Southport – the ‘Paris of the North’ – in preference to any other European destination, for one reason only: its open-air swimming pool.
Set in Prince’s Park, next to the Marine Lake and close to the pier, this huge, oval-shaped pool also had a café with a glass-domed roof, where an orchestra would play every afternoon.
Crowds were entertained by swimming competitions and beauty contests.
As the railway poster declared:
"'Swimming Pool' is far too prosaic a name to describe
the magnificent temple that Southport has built to the
goddess of air and water and sunshine. Here the youth
and beauty of the town disport themselves in the most
elegant surroundings and men and maidens meet in
pleasant cafes surrounding the pool to talk about the
concert that is over, or the dance that is to come."
At the grand opening on the 17th. May 1928, Lord Derby cut the ribbon, and was presented with roses by local girls dressed in his racing colours of black and white.
A group of children then swam the length of the pool, followed by a parade of ladies wearing costumes made of silk and taffeta from a local store. Finally St Hilda’s Band entertained the crowd with a selection of popular songs.
A local paper commented:
"One was reminded forcibly of the Lido."
This was one of the first known uses of the term lido (after the shore in Venice) to describe a British open air pool.
The pool closed in 1989, and was demolished in 1993. The site made way for the Ocean Plaza development, a mammoth retail park.
Paul Webster
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, the 19th. September 1952 marked the birth of Paul Webster. Paul is a British film producer.
Webster has worked both as an independent, and with several production companies. He worked with Working Title Films for five years, setting up their Los Angeles office. Between 1995 and 1997 he was Head of Production for Miramax Films.
In 1998 he joined Channel 4 to create Film Four. In 2004 he joined Kudos Film and Television, heading their film unit, Kudos Pictures.
Webster was executive producer, along with Robert Redford and Rebecca Yeldham, of the 2004 film The Motorcycle Diaries, directed by Walter Salles, based on Che Guevara's book of the same name.
Webster was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture for the 2007 film Atonement, for which he was also nominated for a BAFTA in the category of "Best British Film" and won a BAFTA for "Best Film".
He was previously nominated for a BAFTA and a Genie Award for Best Motion Picture for his work on the 2007 film Eastern Promises.
Webster produced the Disneynature documentary on flamingos, The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos, released internationally in 2009.
The 1952 Farnborough Airshow Crash
13 days previously, on the 6th. September 1952, there was a major crash at the Farnborough Airshow in Hampshire following the in-flight breakup of a prototype de Havilland 110 jet fighter due to structural failure.
Both men on board the aircraft died, along with 29 spectators. 63 spectators were injured.
The jet disintegrated in mid-air during an aerobatic manoeuvre, causing the death of pilot John Derry and onboard flight test observer Anthony Richards. Debris from the aircraft fell onto a crowd of spectators.
The cause of the break-up was later determined to be structural failure due to a design flaw in the wing's leading edge. All DH 110's were initially grounded, but after design modification, the type entered service with the Royal Navy as the Sea Vixen.
Stricter safety procedures were subsequently enacted for UK air shows, and there were no further spectator fatalities until the 2015 Shoreham Airshow crash in which 11 people died.
-- The Crash
The planned demonstration of the DH 110 on that day was nearly cancelled when the aircraft at Farnborough, WG 240, an all-black night fighter prototype, became unserviceable.
It was de Havilland's second DH 110 prototype, and had been taken supersonic over the show on the opening day. Derry and Richards therefore collected WG 236, the first DH 110 prototype, from de Havilland's factory in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, and flew it to Farnborough, starting their display at around 3:45 p.m.
Following a supersonic dive and flypast from 40,000 feet (12,000 m) and during a left bank at about 830 km/h (520 mph) toward the air show's 120,000 spectators, the pilot pulled up into a climb.
In less than a second, the aircraft disintegrated: the outer sections of the wing, both engines and the cockpit separated from the airframe. The cockpit, with the two crew members still inside, fell right in front of the spectators nearest the runway, injuring several people.
The engines travelled much further on a ballistic trajectory; one engine crashed harmlessly, but the second one ploughed into Observation Hill, causing most of the fatalities.
The rest of the airframe fluttered down and crashed on the opposite side of the runway.
One eyewitness was Richard Gardner, then five years old. He recalled in adulthood:
"I'll never forget, it looked like confetti, looked like silver confetti. The remaining airframe floated down right in front of us. It just came down like a leaf.
And then the two engines, like two missiles, shot out of the airframe and hurtled in the direction of the airshow.
There was a sort of silence, then people, one or two people screamed but mostly it was just a sort of shock. You could hear some people sort of whimpering which was quite shocking."
Sixty-three years later, speaking on the BBC Today radio programme in the wake of the 2015 Shoreham Airshow crash, author Moyra Bremner recalled her own traumatic experience.
"A huge bang silenced the crowd and
was followed by "My God, look out,"
from the commentator."
Bremner, standing on the roof of her parents' car, realised that an engine was heading straight towards her. It passed a few feet over her head, a "massive shining cylinder", and then plunged into the crowd on the hill behind.
Following the accident, the air display programme continued once the debris was cleared from the runway, with Neville Duke exhibiting the prototype Hawker Hunter and taking it supersonic over the show later that day.
-- Commemoration
It took 69 years for the civilian casualties to be commemorated - a memorial consisting of 32 bricks inscribed with the name of the airshow and its 31 casualties was unveiled at the Farnborough Air Sciences Museum on the 6th. September 2021.
-- Aftermath of the Crash
Elizabeth II and Duncan Sandys, the Minister of Supply, both sent messages of condolence.
At the coroner's court, Group Captain Sidney Weetman Rochford Hughes, the commandant of the Experimental Flying Department, gave expert testimony, saying:
"From previous experience of Mr Derry's flying
demonstrations here on the four days of the
display, from the messages received from him
on the radio-telephone, and from investigation
of the wreckage, I am convinced that the pilot
had no warning whatsoever of the impending
failure of his aircraft."
The coroner's jury recorded that:
"Derry and Richards died accidentally
in the normal course of their duty.
The deaths of the spectators were
accidental.
No blame is attached to Mr. John
Derry".
-- Investigation Into the Crash
Author Brian Rivas, who co-wrote the 1982 book 'John Derry, The Story of Britain's First Supersonic Pilot' suggested that as Derry straightened up the aircraft and pulled into a climb, the outer part of the starboard wing failed and broke off, followed by the same section of the port wing.
The subsequent sudden change to the centre of gravity made the aircraft "rear up", tearing off the cockpit section, the two engines and the tailplane.
According to Rivas, subsequent investigations showed that the wing failed because it had only 64% of its intended strength.
More stringent airshow safety measures were subsequently introduced: jets were obliged to keep at least 230 m (750 ft) from crowds if flying straight and 450 m (1,480 ft) when performing manoeuvres, and always at an altitude of at least 150 m (490 ft).
The Postcard
A postally unused carte postale that was published by A. Bourdier of Versailles. The card has a divided back.
The Gardens of Versailles
The Gardens of Versailles are situated to the west of the palace. They cover some 800 hectares (1,977 acres) of land, much of which is landscaped in the classic French formal garden style perfected here by André Le Nôtre.
Beyond the surrounding belt of woodland, the gardens are bordered by the urban areas of Versailles to the east and Le Chesnay to the north-east, by the National Arboretum de Chèvreloup to the north, the Versailles plain (a protected wildlife preserve) to the west, and by the Satory Forest to the south.
In 1979, the gardens along with the château were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List due to its cultural importance during the 17th. and 18th. centuries.
The gardens are now one of the most visited public sites in France, receiving more than six million visitors a year.
The gardens contain 200,000 trees, 210,000 flowers planted annually, and feature meticulously manicured lawns and parterres, as well as many sculptures.
50 fountains containing 620 water jets, fed by 35 km. of piping, are located throughout the gardens. Dating from the time of Louis XIV and still using much of the same network of hydraulics as was used during the Ancien Régime, the fountains contribute to making the gardens of Versailles unique.
On weekends from late spring to early autumn, there are the Grandes Eaux - spectacles during which all the fountains in the gardens are in full play. Designed by André Le Nôtre, the Grand Canal is the masterpiece of the Gardens of Versailles.
In the Gardens too, the Grand Trianon was built to provide the Sun King with the retreat that he wanted. The Petit Trianon is associated with Marie-Antoinette, who spent time there with her closest relatives and friends.
The Du Bus Plan for the Gardens of Versailles
With Louis XIII's purchase of lands from Jean-François de Gondi in 1632 and his assumption of the seigneurial role of Versailles in the 1630's, formal gardens were laid out west of the château.
Claude Mollet and Hilaire Masson designed the gardens, which remained relatively unchanged until the expansion ordered under Louis XIV in the 1660's. This early layout, which has survived in the so-called Du Bus plan of c.1662, shows an established topography along which lines of the gardens evolved. This is evidenced in the clear definition of the main east–west and north–south axis that anchors the gardens' layout.
Louis XIV
In 1661, after the disgrace of the finance minister Nicolas Fouquet, who was accused by rivals of embezzling crown funds in order to build his luxurious château at Vaux-le-Vicomte, Louis XIV turned his attention to Versailles.
With the aid of Fouquet's architect Louis Le Vau, painter Charles Le Brun, and landscape architect André Le Nôtre, Louis began an embellishment and expansion program at Versailles that would occupy his time and worries for the remainder of his reign.
From this point forward, the expansion of the gardens of Versailles followed the expansions of the château.
(a) The First Building Campaign
In 1662, minor modifications to the château were undertaken; however, greater attention was given to developing the gardens. Existing bosquets (clumps of trees) and parterres were expanded, and new ones created.
Most significant among the creations at this time were the Versailles Orangerie and the "Grotte de Thétys". The Orangery, which was designed by Louis Le Vau, was located south of the château, a situation that took advantage of the natural slope of the hill. It provided a protected area in which orange trees were kept during the winter months.
The "Grotte de Thétys", which was located to the north of the château, formed part of the iconography of the château and of the gardens that aligned Louis XIV with solar imagery. The grotto was completed during the second building campaign.
By 1664, the gardens had evolved to the point that Louis XIV inaugurated the gardens with the fête galante called Les Plaisirs de L'Île Enchantée. The event, was ostensibly to celebrate his mother, Anne d'Autriche, and his consort Marie-Thérèse but in reality celebrated Louise de La Vallière, Louis' mistress.
Guests were regaled with entertainments in the gardens over a period of one week. As a result of this fête - particularly the lack of housing for guests (most of them had to sleep in their carriages), Louis realised the shortcomings of Versailles, and began to expand the château and the gardens once again.
(b) The Second Building Campaign
Between 1664 and 1668, there was a flurry of activity in the gardens - especially with regard to fountains and new bosquets; it was during this time that the imagery of the gardens exploited Apollo and solar imagery as metaphors for Louis XIV.
Le Va's enveloppe of the Louis XIII's château provided a means by which, though the decoration of the garden façade, imagery in the decors of the grands appartements of the king and queen formed a symbiosis with the imagery of the gardens.
With this new phase of construction, the gardens assumed the design vocabulary that remained in force until the 18th. century. Solar and Apollonian themes predominated with projects constructed at this time.
Three additions formed the topological and symbolic nexus of the gardens during this phase of construction: the completion of the "Grotte de Thétys", the "Bassin de Latone", and the "Bassin d'Apollon".
The Grotte de Thétys
Started in 1664 and finished in 1670 with the installation of the statuary, the grotto formed an important symbolic and technical component to the gardens. Symbolically, the "Grotte de Thétys" related to the myth of Apollo - and by association to Louis XIV.
It represented the cave of the sea nymph Thetis, where Apollo rested after driving his chariot to light the sky. The grotto was a freestanding structure located just north of the château.
The interior, which was decorated with shell-work to represent a sea cave, contained the statue group by the Marsy brothers depicting the sun god attended by nereids.
Technically, the "'Grotte de Thétys" played a critical role in the hydraulic system that supplied water to the garden. The roof of the grotto supported a reservoir that stored water pumped from the Clagny pond and which fed the fountains lower in the garden via gravity.
The Bassin de Latone
Located on the east–west axis is the Bassin de Latone. Designed by André Le Nôtre, sculpted by Gaspard and Balthazar Marsy, and constructed between 1668 and 1670, the fountain depicts an episode from Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Altona and her children, Apollo and Diana, being tormented with mud slung by Lycian peasants, who refused to let her and her children drink from their pond, appealed to Jupiter who responded by turning the Lycians into frogs.
This episode from mythology has been seen as a reference to the revolts of the Fronde, which occurred during the minority of Louis XIV. The link between Ovid's story and this episode from French history is emphasised by the reference to "mud slinging" in a political context.
The revolts of the Fronde - the word fronde also means slingshot - have been regarded as the origin of the use of the term "mud slinging" in a political context.
The Bassin d'Apollon
Further along the east–west axis is the Bassin d'Apollon. The Apollo Fountain, which was constructed between 1668 and 1671, depicts the sun god driving his chariot to light the sky. The fountain forms a focal point in the garden, and serves as a transitional element between the gardens of the Petit Parc and the Grand Canal.
The Grand Canal
With a length of 1,500 metres and a width of 62 metres, the Grand Canal, which was built between 1668 and 1671, prolongs the east–west axis to the walls of the Grand Parc. During the Ancien Régime, the Grand Canal served as a venue for boating parties.
In 1674 the king ordered the construction of Petite Venise (Little Venice). Located at the junction of the Grand Canal and the northern transversal branch, Little Venice housed the caravels and yachts that were received from The Netherlands and the gondolas and gondoliers received as gifts from the Doge of Venice.
The Grand Canal also served a practical role. Situated at a low point in the gardens, it collected water that drained from the fountains in the garden above. Water from the Grand Canal was pumped back to the reservoir on the roof of the Grotte de Thétys via a network of windmill- and horse-powered pumps.
The Parterre d'Eau
Situated above the Latona Fountain is the terrace of the château, known as the Parterre d'Eau. Forming a transitional element from the château to the gardens below, the Parterre d'Eau provided a setting in which the symbolism of the grands appartements synthesized with the iconography of the gardens.
In 1664, Louis XIV commissioned a series of statues intended to decorate the water feature of the Parterre d'Eau. The Grande Command, as the commission is known, comprised twenty-four statues of the classic quaternities and four additional statues depicting abductions from the classic past.
Evolution of the Bosquets
One of the distinguishing features of the gardens during the second building campaign was the proliferation of bosquets. Expanding the layout established during the first building campaign, Le Nôtre added or expanded on no fewer that ten bosquets between 1670 and 1678:
-- The Bosquet du Marais
-- The Bosquet du Théâtre d'Eau, Île du Roi
-- The Miroir d'Eau
-- The Salle des Festins (Salle du Conseil)
-- The Bosquet des Trois Fontaines
-- The Labyrinthe
-- The Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe
-- The Bosquet de la Renommée (Bosquet des Dômes)
-- The Bosquet de l'Encélade
-- The Bosquet des Sources
In addition to the expansion of existing bosquets and the construction of new ones, there were two additional projects that defined this era, the Bassin des Sapins and the Pièce d'Eau des Suisses.
-- The Bassin des Sapins
In 1676, the Bassin des Sapins, which was located north of the château below the Allée des Marmoset's was designed to form a topological pendant along the north–south axis with the Pièce d'Eau des Suisses located at the base of the Satory hill south of the château.
Later modifications in the gardens transformed this fountain into the Bassin de Neptune.
-- Pièce d'Eau des Suisses
Excavated in 1678, the Pièce d'Eau des Suisses - named after the Swiss Guards who constructed the lake - occupied an area of marshes and ponds, some of which had been used to supply water for the fountains in the garden.
This water feature, with a surface area of more than 15 hectares (37 acres), is the second largest - after the Grand Canal - at Versailles.
(c) The Third Building Campaign
Modifications to the gardens during the third building campaign were distinguished by a stylistic change from the natural aesthetic of André Le Nôtre to the architectonic style of Jules Hardouin Mansart.
The first major modification to the gardens during this phase occurred in 1680 when the Tapis Vert - the expanse of lawn that stretches between the Latona Fountain and the Apollo Fountain - achieved its final size and definition under the direction of André Le Nôtre.
Beginning in 1684, the Parterre d'Eau was remodelled under the direction of Jules Hardouin-Mansart. Statues from the Grande Commande of 1674 were relocated to other parts of the garden; two twin octagonal basins were constructed and decorated with bronze statues representing the four main rivers of France.
In the same year, Le Vau's Orangerie, located to south of the Parterrre d'Eau was demolished to accommodate a larger structure designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart.
In addition to the Orangerie, the Escaliers des Cent Marches, which facilitated access to the gardens from the south, to the Pièce d'Eau des Suisses, and to the Parterre du Midi were constructed at this time, giving the gardens just south of the château their present configuration and decoration.
Additionally, to accommodate the anticipated construction of the Aile des Nobles - the north wing of the château - the Grotte de Thétys was demolished.
With the construction of the Aile des Nobles (1685–1686), the Parterre du Nord was remodelled to respond to the new architecture of this part of the château.
To compensate for the loss of the reservoir on top of the Grotte de Thétys and to meet the increased demand for water, Jules Hardouin-Mansart designed new and larger reservoirs situated north of the Aile des Nobles.
Construction of the ruinously expensive Canal de l'Eure was inaugurated in 1685; designed by Vauban it was intended to bring waters of the Eure over 80 kilometres, including aqueducts of heroic scale, but the works were abandoned in 1690.
Between 1686 and 1687, the Bassin de Latone, under the direction of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, was rebuilt. It is this final version of the fountain that one sees today at Versailles.
During this phase of construction, three of the garden's major bosquets were modified or created. Beginning with the Galerie des Antiques, this bosquet was constructed in 1680 on the site of the earlier and short-lived Galerie d'Eau. This bosquet was conceived as an open-air gallery in which antique statues and copies acquired by the Académie de France in Rome were displayed.
The following year, construction began on the Salle de Bal. Located in a secluded section of the garden west of the Orangerie, this bosquet was designed as an amphitheater that featured a cascade – the only one surviving in the gardens of Versailles. The Salle de Bal was inaugurated in 1685 with a ball hosted by the Grand Dauphin.
Between 1684 and 1685, Jules Hardouin-Mansart built the Colonnade. Located on the site of Le Nôtre's Bosquet des Sources, this bosquet featured a circular peristyle formed from thirty-two arches with twenty-eight fountains, and was Hardouin-Mansart's most architectural of the bosquets built in the gardens of Versailles.
(d) The 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, some quite radically, with new names suggesting the new austerity that characterised the latter years of Louis XIV's reign.
Louis XV
With the departure of the king and court from Versailles in 1715 following the death of Louis XIV, the palace and gardens entered an era of uncertainty.
In 1722, Louis XV and the court returned to Versailles. Seeming to heed his great-grandfather's admonition not to engage in costly building campaigns, Louis XV did not undertake the costly rebuilding that Louis XIV had.
During the reign of Louis XV, the only significant addition to the gardens was the completion of the Bassin de Neptune (1738–1741).
Rather than expend resources on modifying the gardens at Versailles, Louis XV - an avid botanist - directed his efforts at Trianon. In the area now occupied by the Hameau de la Reine, Louis XV constructed and maintained les Jardins Botaniques.
In 1761, Louis XV commissioned Ange-Jacques Gabriel to build the Petit Trianon as a residence that would allow him to spend more time near the Jardins Botaniques. It was at the Petit Trianon that Louis XV fell fatally ill with smallpox; he died at Versailles on the 10th. May 1774.
Louis XVI
Upon Louis XVI's ascension to the throne, the gardens of Versailles underwent a transformation that recalled the fourth building campaign of Louis XIV. Engendered by a change in outlook as advocated by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the Philosophes, the winter of 1774–1775 witnessed a complete replanting of the gardens.
Trees and shrubbery dating from the reign of Louis XIV were felled or uprooted with the intent of transforming the French formal garden of Le Nôtre and Hardouin-Mansart into a version of an English landscape garden.
The attempt to convert Le Nôtre's masterpiece into an English-style garden failed to achieve its desired goal. Owing largely to the topology of the land, the English aesthetic was abandoned and the gardens replanted in the French style.
However, with an eye on economy, Louis XVI ordered the Palisades - the labour-intensive clipped hedging that formed walls in the bosquets - to be replaced with rows of lime trees or chestnut trees. Additionally, a number of the bosquets dating from the time of the Sun King were extensively modified or destroyed.
The most significant contribution to the gardens during the reign of Louis XVI was the Grotte des Bains d'Apollon. The rockwork grotto set in an English style bosquet was the masterpiece of Hubert Robert in which the statues from the Grotte de Thétys were placed.
Revolution
In 1792, under order from the National Convention, some of the trees in the gardens were felled, while parts of the Grand Parc were parcelled and dispersed.
Sensing the potential threat to Versailles, Louis Claude Marie Richard (1754–1821) – director of the Jardins Botaniques and grandson of Claude Richard – lobbied the government to save Versailles. He succeeded in preventing further dispersing of the Grand Parc, and threats to destroy the Petit Parc were abolished by suggesting that the parterres could be used to plant vegetable gardens, and that orchards could occupy the open areas of the garden.
These plans were never put into action; however, the gardens were opened to the public - it was not uncommon to see people washing their laundry in the fountains and spreading it on the shrubbery to dry.
Napoléon I
The Napoleonic era largely ignored Versailles. In the château, a suite of rooms was arranged for the use of the empress Marie-Louise, but the gardens were left unchanged, save for the disastrous felling of trees in the Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe and the Bosquet des Trois Fontaines. Massive soil erosion necessitated planting of new trees.
Restoration
With the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814, the gardens of Versailles witnessed the first modifications since the Revolution. In 1817, Louis XVIII ordered the conversion of the Île du Roi and the Miroir d'Eau into an English-style garden - the Jardin du Roi.
The July Monarchy; The Second Empire
While much of the château's interior was irreparably altered to accommodate the Museum of the History of France (inaugurated by Louis-Philippe on the 10th. June 1837), the gardens, by contrast, remained untouched.
With the exception of the state visit of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1855, at which time the gardens were a setting for a gala fête that recalled the fêtes of Louis XIV, Napoléon III ignored the château, preferring instead the château of Compiègne.
Pierre de Nolhac
With the arrival of Pierre de Nolhac as director of the museum in 1892, a new era of historical research began at Versailles. Nolhac, an ardent archivist and scholar, began to piece together the history of Versailles, and subsequently established the criteria for restoration of the château and preservation of the gardens, which are ongoing to this day.
Bosquets of the Gardens
Owing to the many modifications made to the gardens between the 17th. and the 19th. centuries, many of the bosquets have undergone multiple modifications, which were often accompanied by name changes.
Deux Bosquets - Bosquet de la Girondole - Bosquet du Dauphin - Quinconce du Nord - Quinconce du Midi
These two bosquets were first laid out in 1663. They were arranged as a series of paths around four salles de verdure and which converged on a central "room" that contained a fountain.
In 1682, the southern bosquet was remodeled as the Bosquet de la Girondole, thus named due to spoke-like arrangement of the central fountain. The northern bosquet was rebuilt in 1696 as the Bosquet du Dauphin with a fountain that featured a dolphin.
During the replantation of 1774–1775, both the bosquets were destroyed. The areas were replanted with lime trees and were rechristened the Quinconce du Nord and the Quinconce du Midi.
Labyrinthe - Bosquet de la Reine
In 1665, André Le Nôtre planned a hedge maze of unadorned paths in an area south of the Latona Fountain near the Orangerie. In 1669, Charles Perrault - author of the Mother Goose Tales - advised Louis XIV to remodel the Labyrinthe in such a way as to serve the Dauphin's education.
Between 1672 and 1677, Le Nôtre redesigned the Labyrinthe to feature thirty-nine fountains that depicted stories from Aesop's Fables. The sculptors Jean-Baptiste Tuby, Étienne Le Hongre, Pierre Le Gros, and the brothers Gaspard and Balthazard Marsy worked on these thirty-nine fountains, each of which was accompanied by a plaque on which the fable was printed, with verse written by Isaac de Benserade; from these plaques, Louis XIV's son learned to read.
Once completed in 1677, the Labyrinthe contained thirty-nine fountains with 333 painted metal animal sculptures. The water for the elaborate waterworks was conveyed from the Seine by the Machine de Marly.
The Labyrinthe contained fourteen water-wheels driving 253 pumps, some of which worked at a distance of three-quarters of a mile.
Citing repair and maintenance costs, Louis XVI ordered the Labyrinthe demolished in 1778. In its place, an arboretum of exotic trees was planted as an English-styled garden.
Rechristened Bosquet de la Reine, it would be in this part of the garden that an episode of the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, which compromised Marie-Antoinette, transpired in 1785.
Bosquet de la Montagne d'Eau - Bosquet de l'Étoile
Originally designed by André Le Nôtre in 1661 as a salle de verdure, this bosquet contained a path encircling a central pentagonal area. In 1671, the bosquet was enlarged with a more elaborate system of paths that served to enhance the new central water feature, a fountain that resembled a mountain, hence the bosquets new name: Bosquet de la Montagne d'Eau.
The bosquet was completely remodeled in 1704 at which time it was rechristened Bosquet de l'Étoile.
Bosquet du Marais - Bosquet du Chêne Vert - Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon - Grotte des Bains d'Apollon
Created in 1670, this bosquet originally contained a central rectangular pool surrounded by a turf border. Edging the pool were metal reeds that concealed numerous jets for water; a swan that had water jetting from its beak occupied each corner.
The centre of the pool featured an iron tree with painted tin leaves that sprouted water from its branches. Because of this tree, the bosquet was also known as the Bosquet du Chêne Vert.
In 1705, this bosquet was destroyed in order to allow for the creation of the Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon, which was created to house the statues had once stood in the Grotte de Thétys.
During the reign of Louis XVI, Hubert Robert remodeled the bosquet, creating a cave-like setting for the Marsy statues. The bosquet was renamed the Grotte des Bains d'Apollon.
Île du Roi - Miroir d'Eau - Jardin du Roi
Originally designed in 1671 as two separate water features, the larger - Île du Roi - contained an island that formed the focal point of a system of elaborate fountains.
The Île du Roi was separated from the Miroir d'Eau by a causeway that featured twenty-four water jets. In 1684, the island was removed and the total number of water jets in the bosquet was significantly reduced.
The year 1704 witnessed a major renovation of the bosquet, at which time the causeway was remodelled and most of the water jets were removed.
A century later, in 1817, Louis XVIII ordered the Île du Roi and the Miroir d'Eau to be completely remodeled as an English-style garden. At this time, the bosquet was rechristened Jardin du Roi.
Salle des Festins - Salle du Conseil - Bosquet de l'Obélisque
In 1671, André Le Nôtre conceived a bosquet - originally christened Salle des Festins and later called Salle du Conseil - that featured a quatrefoil island surrounded by a channel containing fifty water jets. Access to the island was obtained by two swing bridges.
Beyond the channel and placed at the cardinal points within the bosquet were four additional fountains. Under the direction of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, the bosquet was completely remodeled in 1706. The central island was replaced by a large basin raised on five steps, which was surrounded by a canal. The central fountain contained 230 jets that, when in play, formed an obelisk – hence the new name Bosquet de l'Obélisque.
Bosquet du Théâtre d'Eau - Bosquet du Rond-Vert
The central feature of this bosquet, which was designed by Le Nôtre between 1671 and 1674, was an auditorium/theatre sided by three tiers of turf seating that faced a stage decorated with four fountains alternating with three radiating cascades.
Between 1680 and Louis XIV's death in 1715, there was near-constant rearranging of the statues that decorated the bosquet.
In 1709, the bosquet was rearranged with the addition of the Fontaine de l'Île aux Enfants. As part of the replantation of the gardens ordered by Louis XVI during the winter of 1774–1775, the Bosquet du Théâtre d'Eau was destroyed and replaced with the unadorned Bosquet du Rond-Vert. The Bosquet du Théâtre d'Eau was recreated in 2014, with South Korean businessman and photographer Yoo Byung-eun being the sole patron, donating €1.4 million.
Bosquet des Trois Fontaines - Berceau d'Eau
Situated to the west of the Allée des Marmousets and replacing the short-lived Berceau d'Eau (a long and narrow bosquet created in 1671 that featured a water bower made by numerous jets of water), the enlarged bosquet was transformed by Le Nôtre in 1677 into a series of three linked rooms.
Each room contained a number of fountains that played with special effects. The fountains survived the modifications that Louis XIV ordered for other fountains in the gardens in the early 18th. century and were subsequently spared during the 1774–1775 replantation of the gardens.
In 1830, the bosquet was replanted, at which time the fountains were suppressed. Due to storm damage in the park in 1990 and then again in 1999, the Bosquet des Trois Fontaines was restored and re-inaugurated on the 12th. June 2004.
Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe
This bosquet was originally planned in 1672 as a simple pavillon d'eau - a round open expanse with a square fountain in the centre. In 1676, this bosquet was enlarged and redecorated along political lines that alluded to French military victories over Spain and Austria, at which time the triumphal arch was added - hence the name.
As with the Bosquet des Trois Fontaines, this bosquet survived the modifications of the 18th. century, but was replanted in 1830, at which time the fountains were removed.
Bosquet de la Renommée - Bosquet des Dômes
Built in 1675, the Bosquet de la Renommée featured a fountain statue of Fame. With the relocation of the statues from the Grotte de Thétys in 1684, the bosquet was remodelled to accommodate the statues, and the Fame fountain was removed.
At this time the bosquet was rechristened Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon. As part of the reorganisation of the garden that was ordered by Louis XIV in the early part of the 18th. century, the Apollo grouping was moved once again to the site of the Bosquet du Marais - located near the Latona Fountain - which was destroyed and was replaced by the new Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon.
The statues were installed on marble plinths from which water issued; and each statue grouping was protected by an intricately carved and gilded baldachin.
The old Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon was renamed Bosquet des Dômes due to two domed pavilions built in the bosquet.
Bosquet de l'Encélade
Created in 1675 at the same time as the Bosquet de la Renommée, the fountain of this bosquet depicts Enceladus, a fallen Giant who was condemned to live below Mount Etna, being consumed by volcanic lava.
From its conception, this fountain was conceived as an allegory of Louis XIV's victory over the Fronde. In 1678, an octagonal ring of turf and eight rocaille fountains surrounding the central fountain were added. These additions were removed in 1708.
When in play, this fountain has the tallest jet of all the fountains in the gardens of Versailles - 25 metres.
Bosquet des Sources - La Colonnade
Designed as a simple unadorned salle de verdure by Le Nôtre in 1678, the landscape architect enhanced and incorporated an existing stream to create a bosquet that featured rivulets that twisted among nine islets.
In 1684, Jules Hardouin-Mansart completely redesigned the bosquet by constructing a circular arched double peristyle. The Colonnade, as it was renamed, originally featured thirty-two arches and thirty-one fountains – a single jet of water splashed into a basin center under the arch.
In 1704, three additional entrances to the Colonnade were added, which reduced the number of fountains from thirty-one to twenty-eight. The statue that currently occupies the centre of the Colonnade - the Abduction of Persephone - (from the Grande Commande of 1664) was set in place in 1696.
Galerie d'Eau - Galerie des Antiques - Salle des Marronniers
Occupying the site of the Galerie d'Eau (1678), the Galerie des Antiques was designed in 1680 to house the collection of antique statues and copies of antique statues acquired by the Académie de France in Rome.
Surrounding a central area paved with colored stone, a channel was decorated with twenty statues on plinths, each separated by three jets of water.
The Galerie was completely remodeled in 1704 when the statues were transferred to Marly and the bosquet was replanted with horse chestnut trees - hence the current name Salle des Marronniers.
Salle de Bal
This bosquet, which was designed by Le Nôtre and built between 1681 and 1683, features a semi-circular cascade that forms the backdrop for a salle de verdure.
Interspersed with gilt lead torchères, which supported candelabra for illumination, the Salle de Bal was inaugurated in 1683 by Louis XIV's son, the Grand Dauphin, with a dance party.
The Salle de Bal was remodeled in 1707 when the central island was removed and an additional entrance was added.
Replantations of the Gardens
Common to any long-lived garden is replantation, and Versailles is no exception. In their history, the gardens of Versailles have undergone no less than five major replantations, which have been executed for practical and aesthetic reasons.
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 had fallen out of fashion, this replantation sought to establish a new informality in the gardens - that would also be less expensive to maintain.
This, however, was not achieved, as the topology of the gardens favored the Jardin à la Française over an English-style garden.
Then, in 1860, much of the old growth from Louis XVI's replanting was removed and replaced. In 1870, a violent storm struck the area, damaging and uprooting scores of trees, which necessitated a massive replantation program.
However, owing to the Franco-Prussian War, which toppled Napoléon III, and the Commune de Paris, replantation of the garden did not get underway until 1883.
The most recent replantations of the gardens were precipitated by two storms that battered Versailles in 1990 and then again in 1999. The storm damage at Versailles and Trianon amounted to the loss of thousands of trees - the worst such damage in the history of Versailles.
The replantations have allowed museum and governmental authorities to restore and rebuild some of the bosquets that were abandoned during the reign of Louis XVI, such as the Bosquet des Trois Fontaines, which was restored in 2004.
Catherine Pégard, the head of the public establishment which administers Versailles, has stated that the intention is to return the gardens to their appearance under Louis XIV, specifically as he described them in his 1704 description, Manière de Montrer les Jardins de Versailles.
This involves restoring some of the parterres like the Parterre du Midi to their original formal layout, as they appeared under Le Nôtre. This was achieved in the Parterre de Latone in 2013, when the 19th. century lawns and flower beds were torn up and replaced with boxwood-enclosed turf and gravel paths to create a formal arabesque design.
Pruning is also done to keep trees at between 17 and 23 metres (56 to 75 feet), so as not to spoil the carefully designed perspectives of the gardens.
Owing to the natural cycle of replantations that has occurred at Versailles, it is safe to state that no trees dating from the time of Louis XIV are to be found in the gardens.
Problems With Water
The marvel of the gardens of Versailles - then as now - is the fountains. Yet, the very element that animates the gardens, water, has proven to be the affliction of the gardens since the time of Louis XIV.
The gardens of Louis XIII required water, and local ponds provided an adequate supply. However, once Louis XIV began expanding the gardens with more and more fountains, supplying the gardens with water became a critical challenge.
To meet the needs of the early expansions of the gardens under Louis XIV, water was pumped to the gardens from ponds near the château, with the Clagny pond serving as the principal source.
Water from the pond was pumped to the reservoir on top of the Grotte de Thétys, which fed the fountains in the garden by means of gravitational hydraulics. Other sources included a series of reservoirs located on the Satory Plateau south of the château.
The Grand Canal
By 1664, increased demand for water necessitated additional sources. In that year, Louis Le Vau designed the Pompe, a water tower built north of the château. The Pompe drew water from the Clagny pond using a system of windmills and horsepower to a cistern housed in the Pompe's building. The capacity of the Pompe 600 cubic metres per day - alleviated some of the water shortages in the garden.
With the completion of the Grand Canal in 1671, which served as drainage for the fountains of the garden, 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 all of the fountains running in the garden in full-play all of the time.
While it was possible to keep the fountains in view from the château running, those concealed in the bosquets and in the farther reaches of the garden were run on an as-needed basis.
In 1672, Jean-Baptiste Colbert devised a system by which the fountaineers in the gardens would signal each other with whistles upon the approach of the king, indicating that their fountain needed to be turned on. Once the king had passed a fountain in play, it would be turned off and the fountaineer would signal that the next fountain could be turned on.
In 1674, the Pompe was enlarged, and subsequently referred to as the Grande Pompe. Pumping capacity was increased via increased power and the number of pistons used for lifting the water. These improvements increased the water capacity to nearly 3,000 cubic metres of water per day; however, the increased capacity of the Grande Pompe often left the Clagny pond dry.
The increasing demand for water and the stress placed on existing systems of water supply necessitated newer measures to increase the water supplied to Versailles. Between 1668 and 1674, a project was undertaken to divert the water of the Bièvre river to Versailles. By damming the river and with a pumping system of five windmills, water was brought to the reservoirs located on the Satory Plateau. This system brought an additional 72,000 cubic metres water to the gardens on a daily basis.
Despite the water from the Bièvre, the gardens needed still more water, which necessitated more projects. In 1681, one of the most ambitious water projects conceived during the reign of Louis XIV was undertaken.
Owing to the proximity of the Seine to Versailles, a project was proposed to raise the water from the river to be delivered to Versailles. Seizing upon the success of a system devised in 1680 that raised water from the Seine to the gardens of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, construction of the Machine de Marly began the following year.
The Machine de Marly was designed to lift water from the Seine in three stages to the Aqueduc de Louveciennes some 100 metres above the level of the river. A series of huge waterwheels was constructed in the river, which raised the water via a system of 64 pumps to a reservoir 48 metres above the river. From this first reservoir, water was raised an additional 56 metres to a second reservoir by a system of 79 pumps. Finally, 78 additional pumps raised the water to the aqueduct, which carried the water to Versailles and Marly.
In 1685, the Machine de Marly came into full operation. However, owing to leakage in the conduits and breakdowns of the mechanism, the machine was only able to deliver 3,200 cubic metres of water per day - approximately one-half the expected output. The machine was nevertheless a must-see for visitors. Despite the fact that the gardens consumed more water per day than the entire city of Paris, the Machine de Marly remained in operation until 1817.
During Louis XIV's reign, water supply systems represented one-third of the building costs of Versailles. Even with the additional output from the Machine de Marly, fountains in the garden could only be run à l'ordinaire - which is to say at half-pressure.
With this measure of economy, the fountains still consumed 12,800 cubic metres of water per day, far above the capacity of the existing supplies. In the case of the Grandes Eaux - when all the fountains played to their maximum - more than 10,000 cubic metres of water was needed for one afternoon's display.
Accordingly, the Grandes Eaux were reserved for special occasions such as the Siamese Embassy visit of 1685–1686.
The Canal de l'Eure
One final attempt to solve water shortage problems was undertaken in 1685. In this year it was proposed to divert the water of the Eure river, located 160 km. south of Versailles and at a level 26 m above the garden reservoirs.
The project called not only for digging a canal and for the construction of an aqueduct, it also necessitated the construction of shipping channels and locks to supply the workers on the main canal.
Between 9,000 to 10,000 troops were pressed into service in 1685; the next year, more than 20,000 soldiers were engaged in construction. Between 1686 and 1689, when the Nine Years' War began, one-tenth of France's military was at work on the Canal de l'Eure project.
However with the outbreak of the war, the project was abandoned, never to be completed. Had the aqueduct been completed, some 50,000 cubic metres of water would have been sent to Versailles - more than enough to solve the water problem of the gardens.
Today, the museum of Versailles is still faced with water problems. During the Grandes Eaux, water is circulated by means of modern pumps from the Grand Canal to the reservoirs. Replenishment of the water lost due to evaporation comes from rainwater, which is collected in cisterns that are located throughout the gardens and diverted to the reservoirs and the Grand Canal.
Assiduous husbanding of this resource by museum officials prevents the need to tap into the supply of potable water of the city of Versailles.
The Versailles Gardens In Popular Culture
The creation of the gardens of Versailles is the context for the film 'A Little Chaos', directed by Alan Rickman and released in 2015, in which Kate Winslet plays a fictional landscape gardener and Rickman plays King Louis XIV.