Trianon Matelots’ Gate E Saint Antoine’s gate Queen’s Hamlet Menagerie’s Gate Little Venice’s Gate NOTICE TO VISITORS Keep your ticket all day long and show it at the checkpoints. No picnics are allowed inside the chargeable area, except in the authorised picnic area. Visitors are prohibited from walking on the lawns and sitting or leaning against the bronze, marble or lead groups, vases or statues. Please observe the instructions given by reception staff. D 14 10 12 13 SIDE NORTH 9 11 8 15 SOUTH SIDE C 7 6 16 17 Renovation works 5 18 Queen’s Gate 3 19 4 20 Renovation works Renovation works Neptune’s Gate A 21 25 1 27 2 23 22 28 26 24 Dragon’s Gate A B Versailles Rive droite Versailles Château Versailles Rive gauche Chantiers GREAT PERSPECTIVE 11 Colonnade Grove Musical Fountains Show A Castle Entrance Singles A Water Parterres 12 Grove of Domes MUSICAL DISPLAYS from 10 am to 6:30pm ticketing B Latona Fountain and Parterre 13 Encelade Grove B Castle Entrance Groups Entrance - Exit C Royal walk 14 Obelisk Grove WATER DISPLAYS Information / Castle Ticketing D Fountain of Apollo’s Chariot 15 Flora Fountain E Grand Canal 16 Dauphin’s Grove MORNING Parking 17 Star Grove 11 am to noon A D 22 23 25 26 27 FOUNTAINS AND GROVES 18 Ceres Fountain 1 South Parterre 19 Grove of Apollo’s Bath 11:15 to 11:45 am 13 15 18 19 Toilets Book Shop 2 Orangerie 20 Water Theatre Grove Toilets for disabled persons Row Boats 3 Ballroom 21 Three Fountains Grove AFTERNOON 4 Queen’s Grove 22 Dragon Fountain 3:30 to 5 pm All Groves and Fountains Mini-train Bike 5 Bacchus Fountain 23 Water Avenue 6 Girandole Grove 24 Triumphal Arc Grove 5:20 28 Electric vehicles Picnic area 7 Mirror Fountain 25 Nymphs’ Bath ALL DAY LONG Food and Beverage 8 Saturn Fountain 26 Pyramide Fountain Every 10 minutes from 10 am to 6:30 pm 7 9 King’s Garden 27 North Parterre 10 Horse Chestnut tree Room 28 Neptune Fountain Water Display hours could be changed. See information at the garden entrance. Numbers indicate spot names and not a trail FOCUS ON THE FOUNTAINS AND GROVES THE MUSICAL FOUNTAINS SHOW, THE SPLENDOURS OF AN EPHEMERAL A GREAT PERSPECTIVE MASTERPIECE REVIVED A main highway runs from east to west, covering not only the Park of the Château but the whole town of Versailles, joining the royal domain Canals and walks, waterfalls and small cascades, decorative ponds to Paris. This road that begins in the garden and that was made by and fountains, grottoes and nymphaeums, spouts and sprays, E André Le Nôtre in the 1660's is called the Great Perspective. mirrors, sheets of water and games… Water at Versailles has a « DISCOVER DISCOVER « THE TOTALLY SPIES TOTALLY BOOKLET ! BOOKLET vocabulary as rich as the secrets of the groves. These words sum up Jean-Baptiste Lully : Ouverture de Psyché - Ouverture de Cadmus - » the genius of Le Nôtre who wanted water and sculptures to give life Chaconne d’Amadis - Ouverture le Carnaval - Mascarade to his gardens. For thirty years, that life was the reflection of the Jean-Philippe Rameau : Dardanus Ouverture, Actes 1 et 3 king’s as he walked around the gardens every day and saw his dream come true. Even before giving his attention to the furnishing of his palace, the patterns formed by the walks and groves was his constant preoccupation. He filled it with legends, with Apollo B LATONA FOUNTAIN - renovation works It illustrates the legend of the mother of Diana and Apollo protecting emerging from the spouts, Neptune unleashing the storm, and her children against the insults of the peasants of Lycia and demanding pm 5 to 3:30 from and noon to 11 from displays Water Enceladus attacking Jupiter whom Latona implored. The ancient vengeance of Jupiter, changing them in frogs. Surrounded by the Lizard pm 6:30 to am 10 from displays Musical mythology pointed to the grandeur of Louis XIV at the same time Fountain, the Latona Fountain, constructed under Louis XIII, was pm 6:30 to am 9 From as it decorated an incomparable place. The king himself provided a modified by J.H. Mansart between 1687 and 1689. guide to this extraordinary outing for posterity by designing the and also 18 April, 8, 29 May and 15 August 15 and May 29 8, April, 18 also and perfect itinerary punctuated by “water affects” which the visitor was Tuesdays from 20 May to 24 June 24 to May 20 from Tuesdays required to follow. We will forget the question filled with spite and Saturdays and Sundays from 5 April to 26 October 26 to April 5 from Sundays and Saturdays denigration that the writer Paul Morand gave to Fouquet in his D FOUNTAIN OF APOLLO'S CHARIOT prison: “How were the great fountains during the king’s festivity?” The Apollo’s chariot, dug under the reign of Louis XIII and fitted out SHOW FOUNTAINS Fouquet could not believe that a water supply would be provided for under Louis XIV who had the magnificent group represent “Apollo on Versailles. But the king wanted to see it everywhere, where it has MUSICAL 4 1 0 2 THE his Chariot” installed ; the latter created by Tuby from drawings by stayed. The Musical Fountains remain faithful to his wishes, spouting Lebrun. 3 majestic fountains rise from this pool, the central jet reaching in time with the music and playing around the work of sculpture a height of 20 meters. created over two centuries to offer their spectators a festivity that echoes those of the past. On some evenings during summer, lights, lasers and fireworks make the fairytale setting of the gardens even 3 BALLROOM GROVE more extraordinary. Faithful to the spirit of the Great King and the The Ballroom was landscaped by Le Nôtre between 1680 and 1685 and artists who accompanied him, Château de Versailles Spectacles, a is the only grove to be in its décor comprises a semi-circular cascade d’Apollon Char du Bassin subsidiary of the Public Establishment, organises the entertainments decorated with millstones and shells brought back from the Indian set in the gardens. Our goal is that these restorations and reinterpre- Ocean and the Red Sea by what was then the French Royal Navy. tations will bring back to life the time-worn groves so that new fountains will continue to spout there to the sound of new music. So Jean-Baptiste Lully : Petit Air pour les mesmes – Marche pour la that the magic can endure through the ages. cérémonie des Turcs – Reprise de la Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs Jean-Philippe Rameau : Dardanus, Acte 1 Catherine Pégard President of the Public Establishment of the Museum and the National Estate of Versailles and chair of the Château de Versailles Spectacles 7 MIRROR FOUNTAIN Louis XIV commissioned the Mirror fountain in1702. In the spirit of Le Nôtre’s Fountains, but with modern technical methods, Musical water displays are presented by Crystal Group, to the sound of Rameau and Lully. Every 10 minutes, from 10 am to 6:30 pm. Jean-Baptiste Lully : Reprise de la Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs THE MUSICAL FOUNTAINS SHOW CD Jean-Philippe Rameau : Dardanus, Actes 2 et 3 11 COLONNADE GROVE With its circular peristyle punctuated by 32 ionic columns, La Colonnade is more of a “mineral” than a “green” grove and was LLES I VERSA DE EAU T designed by Jules Hardouin Mansart in 1684. CHÂ CD for sale in all the Jean-Baptiste Lully : Chaconne de Phaeton – Passacaille d’Armide RMN shops Jean-Philippe Rameau : Dardanus, Actes 1 et 3 PROGRAMMING 2014 13 ENCELADE GROVE • THE FOUNTAINS SHOW OF VERSAILLES Alpha invites you to continue your rambles with the CD of the The Encelade grove is a representation of Enceladus, chief of Titans music played in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles through a who was punished for his pride by the Gods from Mount Olympus. selection of the greatest works by the best contemporary players. This composition by Le Nôtre was restored in 1997. The masterpieces of the French baroque repertoire are performed here and invite you to relive in music the fabulous history of the Jean-Philippe Rameau : Dardanus, Actes 1 et 2 - Zoroastre - Zaïs Palace, its gardens and fountains, from its origins in the reign of Louis XIII until the mid-18th century. This theatrical place par excellence is the setting for all the features of the Human Comedy of the courtesans, through the dreamlike interpretation of the Poème 19 GROVE OF APOLLO’S BATHS THE MUSICAL GARDENS Harmonique, or seated in the shade of a young elm tree (à L’Ombre In 1776, the pre-romantic grove landscaped by the painter Hubert Tuesdays from 1st April to 13 May and from 1st July to 28 October d’un Ormeau) with the Musiciens de Saint-Julien. Lully’s work is Robert was laid out in the fashionable style of the “folly” gardens, with From 9 am to 6:30 pm its surprising rock, housing the three magnificent groups of marble highlighted with extracts from his greatest operas and his Comedy- sculptures of Apollo and the Nymphs (recovered from the Thetis THE FOUNTAINS NIGHT SHOW Ballet (the celebrated “Turkish” Ceremony, performed by the Grotto, built by Louis XIV), entrusted by Marsy, Guérin, Girardon et Saturdays from 21st June to 13 September ensemble Café Zimmermann and the Capriccio Stravagante Regnaudin. From 8:30 pm to 11:05 pm Orchestra which open with majesty the gates of the Enchanted Isle.