Fouquet Castle.

18.02.202427.05.2017

Find

The second castle of the day was Vaux-le-Vicomte. If I knew about Fontainebleau before, then I heard about Vaux-le-Vicomte for the first time. This 17th-century manor-palace is located near the town of Melun, just between Fontainebleau and Paris... Castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte (

Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte)

The castle was built in 1658-61. for Nicolas Fouquet, Viscount of Vaux and Melun, Superintendent of Finance under Louis XIV.

In 1641, 26-year-old Fouquet acquired the small estate of Vaux-le-Vicomte, conveniently located near the road connecting the royal residences in Fontainebleau and Vincennes. 15 years later, having reached the position of the main financier of France, Fouquet started the construction of the best private palace in France at that time, inviting three of the greatest professionals of his time - the architect Louis Leveau, the landscape architect Andre Le Nôtre and the interior designer Charles Lebrun.

Entrance ticket to the castle and park costs 16 euros.

Here you can see a portrait of Nicolas Fouquet (1615-80) himself.

Cardinal Mazarin made Fouquet superintendent of finance in 1653.

Nicolas Fouquet's room (Сhambre de Nicolas Fouquet)

Fouquet's reign was marked by the complete breakdown of finances and the systematic plunder of the state treasury.

At first he was restrained by another superintendent, Servien, but after the death of the latter in 1659, there were no more limits to the robbery.

Bedroom

One of the most beautiful rooms of the palace is the room of the muses (it is decorated with images of 8 muses). 5 tapestries are dedicated to the goddess Diana.

Room of the Muses (Chambre des muses)

Since 1654, Fouquet stopped keeping track of his income, spending huge sums on buildings, festivities, mistresses and spies.

Game room

Fouquet was surrounded by artists and writers whom he patronized (Molière, La Fontaine, etc.).

Library

Even King Louis XIV was taken aback by the luxury of the palace and wondered - what kind of big deal was all this spent on?

Louis XIV room

Fouquet sent the king financial statements, reducing the figures for expenses and increasing the figures for income, and did not suspect that the king, together with the head of the government, Colbert, began to carefully check these statements. Fouquet's fate was sealed.

As a result, in 1661 Nicolas Fouquet was arrested (by the way, by d'Artagnan, whom we all know).

Fouquet spent the last 15 years of his life in captivity in the castle of Pignerol (now the city of Pinerolo near Turin). According to one version, he is the mysterious prisoner in the iron mask.

Iron mask ( Le masque de fer)

By the way, scenes from the film “The Man in the Iron Mask” (1998) with DiCaprio were filmed in Vaux-le-Vicomte. Previously, the castle took part in the filming of one of the James Bond films, Moonraker (1979).

Kitchen

The complex also has stables with an exhibition of carriages, but, unfortunately, they passed my attention.

Stables

After the tour we had free time to explore the park and have lunch. And because It was raining, so I made a tactical decision to start with lunch. And I was right.

Stables

At the request of some readers, I will now occasionally spoil you with photos of my modest food.

Dinner

At the next table there was such a colorful couple.

Restaurant

I don’t know how regularly such masquerades take place, but on this Sunday the park was filled with people in ancient costumes.

A park

Someone has already arrived in their suit, but... Not everyone has musketeer clothes at home, but in Vaux-le-Vicomte you can rent an outfit.

As a result, there were even fewer women in ordinary clothes than ladies in luxurious dresses.

The rain passed, the weather quickly improved, and people began to relax on the lawns.

Statue

The park was designed by the best landscape designer of his time, Andre Le Nôtre. Later he would create a garden at Versailles.

A park

In the central part of the park there are two Triton pools with fountains.

Triton Pool (Bassin des Tritons)

A large square pool is called a mirror because... displays surrounding objects well.

Large Mirror (Grand Miroir Carre)

The Grand Canal is 875 m long and 35 m wide.

Grand Canal

There are fountains flowing nearby that are not visible from the castle.

Fountain

An entire area was dedicated to kite flying. The masters showed the high art of managing them.

Kites

The park is decorated with numerous sculptures.

Statue

And the garden has beautiful patterns.

The castle itself is surrounded on all sides by a moat with water.

In the end the weather cleared up completely, but it was time for us to return to Paris...

1641. Twenty-six-year-old parliamentarian Nicolas Fouquet acquired a feudal estate Vaux le Vicomte France. Over the course of twenty years, he has made the building, as well as the surrounding garden, a unique masterpiece. For the first time, a historically far-sighted owner combined the talents of the architect Louis Leveau, the decorative artist Charles Le Brun, and the gardener Andre Le Nôtre.

1661. Having become a victim of a conspiracy, Nicolas Fouquet was sentenced to life imprisonment. King Louis XIV sealed castle Vaux le Viscount, taking away most of the property, including even orange trees.

Interesting. In 1998, the territory of the chateau, which served as the residence of Louis XIV, was made available for the filming of the film “The Man in the Iron Mask.”

Ten years were spent trying to restore the estate by Madame Fouquet and her eldest son. In 1705, after the death of her son, she was forced to abandon her husband’s favorite creation.

Marshal of France de Villars became the owner of the architectural masterpiece even without inspection, enjoying its charm for a long time. Since 1764 the Duc de Praslin, his descendants possessed Fouquet's Palace Vaux le Viscount for more than one century, categorically refusing to sell it.

By July 1875, when the palace was empty and the stylized à la France park seemed a distant memory, the estate was put up for auction. Art lover Alfred Sommier acquired it and began a dedicated effort to restore its original beauty. After his death, this task fell on the shoulders of his direct heirs, Patrice and Christine de Vogüe. Their grandchildren continue the work they started more than 140 years ago.

Attractions Vaux-le-Vicomte

Castle in France Vaux-le-Vicomte available for consideration at four levels, designed as if the parliamentarian and his family members had recently left. On the first floor the tourist passes from the large Square Room to the Salon of the Muses. Here are the Baroque style interiors. The second floor is occupied by the apartment of the married couple Nicolas Fouquet, decorated with works of decoration of a seventeenth-century mansion. In the basements there is an immersion into behind-the-scenes life: the “Servants' Hall”, kitchens, cellar. Being on the round platform of the dome, you can see all the surroundings from a height of more than 25 meters above the ground.
The classic park ensemble occupies five hundred hectares, surrounded by a thirteen-kilometer wall.
The Vaux-le-Vicomte garden is a fundamental example of the French floristic style. The genius of the creator Andre Le Nôtre united for the first time on a large scale all the developed technical, scientific, artistic works of his time from the field of garden art. There are two walking routes. For the younger age category, their own field is organized, where they walk around, answering questions in an entertaining game.
The Carriage Museum presents a collection of beautiful old car models, carriages at large stables Palace of Vaux-le-Vicomte. Carriages, chariots, and horses came to life thanks to the golden hands of bodybuilders.

What is the palace famous for?

The room of muses is dedicated to the nine Greek patronesses of creativity. On the ceiling there is a work by Charles Lebrun - an octagonal oil painting measuring 4m by 4m “The Triumph of Loyalty”, an echo of Fouquet’s loyalty to King Louis XIV during the anti-government Fronde.

Historical fact. The room has a platform that served as the stage for Molière and his theater on July 12, 1661 for the performance of “The School of Husbands” before members of the invited royal family. The ceiling of this niche is decorated with Lebrun’s second oil canvas, “Night.”

On Saturdays from May 6 to October 7, 2017, the organizers offer their visitors Candlelight Evenings: the flickering of two thousand candles illuminates the estate, plant arrangements, and water cascades. New this year: at the end of the evening, a visitor chosen by lot will have the opportunity to start the fireworks display at 23.00.
Water shows, which involve all the numerous pools, fountains, cascades, are held every second and last Saturday from May 13 to September 30, from 15 to 18 hours: a unique moment to contemplate French beauty.

How to get there

By public transport

5 daily connections between Paris and Vaux-le-Vicomte from Gare de l'Est: take the train line P (direction Provence) from Gare de l'Est. Get to the SNCF train station. Trains run every 60 minutes, duration 35 minutes (on the SNCF website you can view the schedule in direction P).

Then take the Châteaubus transfer. The bus is located in front of the station exit. Attention: payment in cash!

It is possible to order a taxi from Melun station to the destination Vaux-le-Vicomte (distance: 8 km).

Attention! For your own safety, you are advised to give preference to official comfortable taxis.

By car (free parking)

50 minutes from Paris along the A4 or A6, then No. 104 and A5 towards Troyes (Exit No. 15-Saint-Germain-de-Laxis) Distances: from Paris - 50 km, from Melun station - 6 km, from Fontainebleau - 20 km, from Orly airport - 40 km, from Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport - 55 km.

Transfer from the capital

Paris – Vaux-le-Vicomte – Fontainebleau – Paris

The package includes round trip travel from the center of the capital (2nd Rue des Pyramids - 1st arrondissement) + excursions with an audio guide: the castle buildings of Vaux-le-Vicomte and Fontainebleau. Departure 9.15 – return 18.15, daily from March 25 to October 31, except Tuesday.

By car VIP service

Transfers by luxury vehicle with private driver to and from your Paris hotel, including all excursions offered:
Price from 151 EUR per person (depending on the number of people).

By helicopter from the Euroscope agency

Departure – 10.00. Flight duration is about 4 hours.

Cost from Paris to Vaux-le-Vicomte – 899 EUR;

The cost of a direct and return flight is 1282 EUR.

Excursions to Vaux-le-Vicomte

Opening hours

start of work – 10.00;
ticket offices are open until 17.00 (purchase of a ticket to the internal exhibition), until 17.30 (purchase of a ticket to the garden);
last entry to the castle - 17.15;
closing - 19.00.

On candlelight evenings (second and last Saturdays of the month):

start of work – 10.00;
ticket offices are open until 23.00;
last entry - 23.30;
closing - 24.00.

From November 25, 2017 to January 7, 2018, all weekends, as well as school holidays, excluding holidays:

start of work – 11.00;
ticket offices are open until 17.45 (except December 24 and 31 – 16.45);
last entry to the castle is 18.00 (except December 24 and 31 – 17.00);
closing - 19.00.

The price is indicated in EUR

Events		Daily (according to work schedule)	Days of evenings by candlelight	excursions during events (Easter, New Year, Christmas)
Excursion to Vaux-le-Vicomte with passage of the castle, garden and carriage museum	adults over 18 years old
	discounted rate for students
	children from 6 to 17
		for free
	families (2 adults and 2 children from 6 to 17 years old or 1 adult and 3 children from 6 to 17)
	disabled people
Garden tours	adults and children under 18
Garden tours	disabled people
Parking		for free

Address: 77950 Maincy, France
Phone: +33 1 64 14 41 90

Panorama of the estate

All the wonders of nature, corrected by the hand of man, all the pleasures and all the luxury, combined in such a way as to influence both the mind and the senses at the same time - Fouquet presented all this to his king in this magical shelter, the equal of which no one of that time could boast of. monarchs of Europe.
A. Dumas.
Ten Years Later, Part V, Chapter XL.

This story began with envy. The all-powerful Louis XIV was jealous of his finance minister, Nicolas Fouquet, and put the unfortunate man in prison for many years. Since then, many French historians believe that the Iron Mask is not the twin brother of the king, as Alexandre Dumas believed, but the superintendent of finance and the owner of the most magnificent palace in Vaux le Viscount Nicolas Fouquet.

It was the palace in Vaux le Viscount that aroused the greatest envy of the Sun King, so much so that during the construction of Versailles, the ghost of Vaux le Viscount seemed to hang over Louis. The king tried in every possible way to surpass Fouquet, who created one of the architectural wonders of the world. As a result, a paradoxical opinion emerged that Versailles was only a weak resemblance to Vaux le Viscount.

Vaux-le-Vicomte (French: Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte) is a classic French manor-palace of the 17th century, located in the vicinity of Melun, 55 km southeast of Paris. Built in 1658-1661 for Nicolas Fouquet, Viscount of Vaux and Melun, superintendent of finance under Louis XIV.

Nicolas Fouquet

If Vaux-le-Vicomte has any fault, it is excessive luxury. The castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte, because of which the “Sun King” lost sleep, was built 50 kilometers from the capital by the richest man in France - superintendent of finance Nicolas Fouquet. “The Creation of the Three Les” was designed by the architect Levo, decorated by the artist Lebrun, and the gardens in front of the castle were laid out by the then unknown Le Nôtre (for this, three villages had to be wiped off the face of the earth).

The collaboration of three masters produced a monument that became the first example of the Louis XIV style, which relied on the unity of architecture, interior decoration and park landscapes. The main house is surrounded on four sides by a moat with water. Thanks to natural irrigation (two rivers flowed on the site from time immemorial), Le Nôtre was able to arrange a regular park for Fouquet with parterres, fountains and canals. The forest around the park was planted on former arable land at the same time as the construction of the palace.

Architect Louis Leveau

Charles Lebrun, interior artist

On August 17, 1661, Fouquet celebrated a ceremonial housewarming party, at which Moliere and La Fontaine performed.
.

But instead of flattering the king, the holiday organized in his honor with dinner on golden dishes and extraordinary fireworks hurt Louis’s pride. The dilapidated Louvre and his own poverty, barely covered by fleur-de-lis, loomed before his eyes.

The monarch never went to bed prepared for him and left the next day without saying a word of gratitude. As Voltaire caustically remarked, “When the holiday began, Fouquet was on top of the world, and when it ended, he became nothing.” Within three weeks, the superintendent of finance was arrested by the captain of the royal musketeers, Charles d'Artagnan.
The fate of disgraced oligarchs in the 17th century was not much different from today - prosecution, prison and, if lucky, exile. Fouquet faced life imprisonment in the fortress of Pignerol

The king confiscated Vaux-le-Vicomte; the team of Levo, Le Nôtre and Le Brun moved on to the construction of the royal palace at Versailles. Fouquet himself died in prison in 1680, but his wife received Vaux-le-Vicomte back ten years after the confiscation.

Charles Ogier de Batz de Castelmore, Count d'Artagnan

Claude Villard
After the death of Fouquet's son, the castle passed to Marshal de Villars, and after him to the Choiseuls. In 1840, the Duke of Choiseul-Pralin murdered his wife in the castle; the estate was empty for 30 years.

By the end of the 19th century, the palace had fallen into disrepair, but then the philanthropist and industrialist Alfred Saumier appeared on the scene, who bought Vaux le Viscount and turned it into one of the most outstanding private museums in France. Of course, Saumier restored Vaux le Viscount not only for France, but also for himself, but thanks to his efforts, it was belle douce France that won, receiving a delightful palace and park complex as a gift.
The current owner of the castle and the surrounding 6,000-hectare estate, French sugar king Jean Saumier, is a man with a much happier destiny. He is free, healthy and willingly demonstrates his wealth to everyone by opening Vaux-le-Vicomte to visitors. The first impression of the castle is delight. Everything is the same as it was 300 years ago, and only the parking lot hidden at the edge of the forest inadvertently reminds us that this is already the 21st century.
The interiors of the main halls on the first floor are entirely gilded, with an abundance of paintings and statues.

On the second floor there are living quarters. From the third floor, previously intended for servants, you can climb to the roof, the renovation of which, as the owners say, is a complete ruin. And it’s definitely worth the climb, if only to admire the panorama opening from above.

The long building on the left is the former stables, where today several dozen luxurious carriages are displayed. Opposite are greenhouses. It was about them, half a century after visiting Vaux-le-Vicomte, that the aging “Sun King” said with regret to his courtiers: “Oh, you haven’t tried the wonderful peaches from Mr. Fouquet’s greenhouses. You are too young for this."

A park

Plansadovo-park area
But still, the best thing that can be seen from above is the magnificent park, which served as a model for the creation of the Versailles ensemble. Its fountains, which seemed like a miracle in the middle of the 17th century and delighted all the kings and princes of Europe, remain a miracle today.

Along the park alleys, verified with geometric precision, framed by hedges and flower beds, Fouquet personally accompanied Louis, burning with envy. The feeling, of course, is not the best, but everyone who visits Vaux-le-Vicomte will be able to understand the young king.

The gravel-strewn paths, where visitors these days drive nimble electric rental cars, end at the bank of a wide canal. As in former times, boats in the shape of huge swans glide smoothly along it. Those who wish can continue their walk on the other side, going up the green, trimmed lawn to the white rotunda gazebo at the far edge of the park.

For the first time, Vaux-le-Vicomte fully reflected the traditions of the French regular Baroque garden with a castle (or, if you prefer, a castle with a garden). The entire composition consists of three parts: the castle with the front courtyard and adjacent services; a garden on the other side of the castle with flower beds, gazebos, fountains and other entertainment devices; forest park surrounding the castle and garden. The basis of the garden is an extensive parterre on both sides of the main axis of the composition.

The parterre stretches for 1200 meters from the castle to the statue of Hercules, which visually completes the park. The parterre (French for “on the ground”) is always a flat, regularly laid out part of the garden. The elements of Vaud's parterre are extremely varied.

Next to the castle, symmetrically to the main axis, lie floral “lace” parterres of a complex pattern, clearly standing out among the almost monochrome greenery of the rest of the plane of the large parterre. In the gardens of Vaud you can find all the main varieties of parterres. There are also parterres with arabesques - complex ornaments made from low-cropped bushes; parterres with sculpture, fountains, water parterres and, finally, a green carpet in front of the statue of Hercules.

The individual elements of the stalls are varied and compositionally expressive in themselves. In general, they form an extensive, harmonious system with clearly defined spatial dominants. The formation of the environment in the French garden follows the line of subordinating nature to geometric forms, contrasted with the free soft lines of fields, forests and rivers.

Water occupies an important place in the composition of a baroque garden. Le Nôtre's brilliant invention -

Grand Canal,<¢er>running across the main axis. You need to slowly walk around it, while admiring the dynamic change of various landscapes. True, a small “loophole” was also left for especially important people: the canal could be crossed by boat, following along the main axis.

There are special steps on the canal embankment for this purpose. The canal surrounding the castle occupies a special place: it resembles the mighty moats of medieval fortresses, although it has become a purely decorative element.

The stalls and castle with services are surrounded by a forest park. The tall green trees look like walls enclosing well-groomed, filigree-finished stalls. Fragments of the park, limited by vertical greenery, are called bosquets. They can be formed by trees trimmed to the wall, tall shrubs, plants climbing along wooden trellises
.
Parterres and bosquets They formed, as it were, halls, rooms, cozy open-air offices. Green decorations of Baroque gardens are unthinkable without figuratively trimmed shrubs and trees - “topiary”. In Vaud, topiary pyramids tactfully and expressively emphasize the main divisions of the large parterre.

The entire Vaux-le-Vicomte complex covers an area of about 100 hectares, stretching from north to south for two and a half kilometers. This area also includes a forest park. It is pierced by clearings and has cozy, secluded meadows. The boundaries of the forest park were very conditional; it imperceptibly passed into the forests and fields of hunting grounds.

The compositional and semantic center of Vaux-le-Vicomte is the castle. It is one of the best works of French architecture of its time. The amazingly beautiful proportions of the castle and the front courtyard in front of it, the harmony of forms and the building as a whole, its details evoke that unique feeling of aesthetic pleasure that a person experiences in communication with masterpieces of art.

The park's precious necklace is perceived as a necessary and integral part of the entire Vaud ensemble. The feeling of unity of the buildings and the park, the harmony of nature and architecture place the ensemble in an important place among European architecture.

The castle has three floors. The first is the main floor. The wide staircases of the cour d'honneur ("court of honor" or ceremonial court) lead to the ceremonial entrance hall. Continuing further, the visitor enters the Grand Salon - a high, double-height oval hall, from which a magical perspective of a large parterre reveals itself.

On the sides of the two main rooms there are a number of other state rooms. The most important of them is the royal bedroom
.

It adjoins the Grand Salon, is exquisitely decorated, and its ceiling was made by Lebrun. Fouquet himself selected tapestries for this bedroom from the famous master Luca de Leyde. It was from this bedroom, according to Dumas, that Louis XIV was kidnapped and exchanged for his brother, the “Iron Mask.”

Oval Hall
. In some rooms on the main floor there are groups of wax figures depicting Fouquet, the king and his court. Perhaps this technique violates the purity of the museum display of interiors, but it also has an attractive side. Small, well-placed groups of figures complement the feeling of full 17th century romance that you experience while in the castle
.

Refined taste never fails the interior designers. The richness of plasticity and color of each of the halls does not contradict the harmony of the architectural design of the premises and at the same time does not violate the compositional unity of the entire suite. The second floor logically continues the compositional row of halls on the first floor. The living rooms here are more modest, but are in no way inferior in decoration and workmanship. The elegant, sophisticated interiors of the first and second floors provide a striking contrast to the basement and service floor.

The behind-the-scenes life of the magical castle is full of interesting details. One could write a whole poem about one cuisine (the famous French cuisine!). In addition, the ground floor is occupied by endless storerooms, guard duty rooms, wine cellars, and finally, mysterious underground passages lead from the castle to the buildings of the utility yards and further - to the park, to the forest - who knows where. Outbuildings are worth special mention.

Inside they are strictly rational, without unnecessary decoration. As for the appearance, they are harmoniously integrated into the ensemble of the park and the castle, emphasizing their significance and at the same time not compromising the quality of design. Every detail of the Vaud ensemble, be it a window casing or a wheel guard, is a small masterpiece of art. And this greatly contributes to the unique feeling of contact with beauty that remains after a visit to Vaux-le-Vicomte.

The wonderful creation of Le Nôtre and Levo had a huge influence on the development of landscape architecture #226;teau_de_Vaux-le-Vicomte%2C_septembre_2005_02.jpg border= ¢

It’s scary to think that such a masterpiece of architectural art as the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte could have been razed to the ground at the whim of the Sun King, Louis XIV.

Beginning of summer 1661. The king and queen arrived at the castle built by his superintendent for a housewarming ceremony. What was revealed to their eyes exceeded all expectations. Terraces and lawns buried in flowers, parks, fountains, pools with exotic fish, many grottoes and cascades and the castle itself - wherever their gaze fell, everything was not just luxurious - enchanting.

But, instead of admiring the surrounding splendor, the king planned how he would take revenge on Nicolas Fouquet for the few hours of his triumph. And he took revenge; the king’s finance minister lived in prison for the rest of his life.

The further fate of the castle was unenviable; at first, Nicolas Fouquet’s wife gives it away for debts and the king takes out all the most valuable things from there, the palace is put up for sale, and, for almost two centuries, it quietly collapses. In 1875, Alfred Sommier bought the castle and a new life for the estate began.

(70.00 €)

In 1968, the Vaux-le-Vicomte castle opens and becomes one of the most visited attractions in France. You can come here either independently or with a tour.

The new owners tried to restore the castle with historical accuracy.

The three-story palace, surrounded by a deep moat, welcomes tourists with a ceremonial hall, a Grand Salon, a royal bedchamber, decorated with frescoes and gilded plaster elements, in the Baroque style. In some salons on the ground floor there are wax figures of the owner of the house, the king and other historical characters. There is a Games room and a Muses salon in the palace. The castle also has a unique library and greenhouse. On the basement level there is a kitchen, storage rooms, and servants' rooms. Through underground passages you can get to any part of the park.

The park should be mentioned separately, because it was here that the first classical French park was born, the distinctive feature of which is the symmetrical arrangement of lawns, alleys, and swimming pools. Pyramids, balls and cones trimmed from bushes and trees are also arranged in such a way as to emphasize the symmetry of the composition. A large number of ancient sculptures, nymphs and other creatures decorate the entire territory of the park.

Near the entrance to the castle there are stables that house a carriage museum.

Excursionists who come to the castle can not only get acquainted with the estate and admire the adjacent territory, but a whole program has been developed here to attract tourists.

On all Saturdays from the beginning of May to the beginning of October, “Candle Evenings” are held in memory of the founder of the palace, Nicolas Fouquet. On the second and fourth Saturdays from the last days of March until mid-October, a “fountain show” takes place. Every year, on May 20, a costume ball is held on the territory of the castle - one of the most amazing and mysterious events of the Vélo-Vicomte Palace.

Ancient music plays here, guests are dressed in costumes of the 17th century, dancers scurry among them, offering to depict the dance of the past, and after sunset two thousand candles are lit. At the very end of the event you can see magical fireworks.

Every year on June 23rd the “Nature Picnic” or “Night of the Muses” takes place. From November 9 to 11, a children's "black gold" festival is taking place, where little gourmets will be invited to taste their favorite delicacy - chocolate - in unlimited quantities.

Of all the famous palaces around Paris that can be visited in one day, the Vaux le Vicomte castle, built in the classical style 46 kilometers southeast of Paris, looks the most harmonious and aesthetically pleasing architecturally. and proportionate to man.

It stands in splendid isolation among forests and fields (visiting hours March-November, daily from 10.00 to 18.00; price 12 euros).

The castle was built between 1656 and 1661 for Nicolas Fouquet, Minister of Finance of Louis XIV, according to the design of the best masters of the time, the architect Levo, the artist Lebrun and the landscape architect Le Nôtre.

The result of this cooperation was grandeur, clarity and perfection of proportions, as well as enormous expenses that only those who did not distinguish between their own pocket and the state treasury were able to pay. Fouquet was not destined to enjoy his luxurious home for long.

On August 17, 1661, he had the imprudence to invite the king and his retinue to visit him for a luxurious housewarming party, and three weeks later he was arrested (according to Dumas the Elder, d'Artagnan with the musketeers), accusing him of embezzlement of public money (which he was , undoubtedly guilty), and was imprisoned until the end of his days.

And the illustrious trinity of masters was invited to build another worthy structure, but for the king, Palace of Versailles, which was supposed to surpass in beauty and luxury the castle of the man who was only his minister.

The castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte, from which the king took most of its luxurious furnishings, remained in the possession of the widow Fouquet until 1705, when it was sold to Marshal Villars, an enemy of the Duke of Marlborough in the War of the Spanish Succession.

In 1764, the castle was sold again, this time to the Duke of Choiseul-Praslin, Minister of the Navy of Louis XV. His family owned Vaux-le-Vicomte until 1875, when the entire castle fell into such extreme neglect that its beautiful gardens practically disappeared.

The new owner of the castle, French industrialist Alfred Sommier, enthusiastically set about restoring the castle and decorating it, which later became his life's work.

The Vaux-le-Vicomte castle was opened to the public in 1968. Today, restoration work continues, and more and more halls show visitors their splendor.

Description of the castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte

The Vaux-le-Vicomte Castle, which is visible directly from the gate, is a tall, rather austere, majestic building surrounded by an artificial moat. Only when you go to the south side of the castle, where the gardens go downhill, with geometrically adjusted areas of grass and water, trees and yews trimmed into squares, fountains and sculptures.

Looking back, you will be able to appreciate the harmony and truly French features of this structure, the high sloping roof of which is successfully combined with a central onion dome, decorated with a classic pediment and pilasters.

As for the interior decoration, the main thing that catches your eye is, of course, luxury and wealth. The greatest artistic impression is made by Lebrun's work.

He was responsible for the creation of two exquisite tapestries hanging in the entrance hall, which were made in a local workshop opened by Fouquet specifically to decorate his palace.

Later, this workshop was taken over by Louis XIV, and it then became known as the Royal Tapestry Manufactory. Lebrun also painted numerous ceilings of the palace, including in Fouquet’s bedroom, the Salon of Muses and the Games Room (composition “Dream”), as well as in the so-called Royal Bedchamber, the decoration of which represents the first example of that somewhat ponderous majestic style that later became known as the Louis XIV style.

Other attractions of the castle are the cavernous kitchens, which have come down to us almost unchanged, as well as a hall where letters written by Fouquet, Louis XIV and other celebrities of the era are displayed.

In one of them, dated November 1794 (when the war was in full swing) French revolution) and addressed to the Duke of Choiseul-Praslin, with the address on “you” it says the following: “You have only a week to hand over one hundred thousand pounds ...”, and the letter ends with the words “Be healthy! With brotherly love...” You can imagine what a shock such familiarity was for the aristocrat.

The Carriage Museum, which is located in the stables, displays various types of horse-drawn vehicles with models of horses harnessed to them.

On summer evenings (visiting hours May-October, Saturday from 8.00 to 24.00; July-August, Friday and Saturday from 8.00 to 24.00; cost 15 euros) thousands of candles are lit in the official halls of the castle, as was probably the case on that fateful holiday Fouquet, and classical music plays in the garden, which gives the event a special shine. The operation of fountains and other hydraulic structures can be seen in the summer on the second and last Saturday of every month (April-October from 15.00 to 18.00).

If you are driving along the highway, keep in mind that the Vaux-le-Vicomte castle is located 7 kilometers east of Melun, which, in turn, is 46 kilometers southeast of Paris. You can get to Melun via the A-4 motorway (exit Melun Senard).

If you decide to go by train, then you need to get to Melun on a regular train (40 minutes 13.40 euros) from the Gare de Lyon, and then change to a regular bus that will take you directly to the castle (only on weekends, at long intervals ).

If it is not possible to take the bus, you can, of course, walk the last 7 kilometers, but it will be more convenient to take a taxi (about 18 euros). The taxi rank is located in front of the station, and there are phone numbers there that you can call if there are no available taxis.

Attractions Vaux-le-Vicomte

Excursions to Vaux-le-Vicomte

Description of the castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte

Unusual excursions from Paris

What are the cracks on the walls of a volcano called?

Sigiriya rock sri lanka. Sigiriya. What you need to know about Sigiriya

Fantastic Lisbon trams (Portugal)