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Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte à Maincy en Seine-et-Marne

Patrimoine classé
Musée du cheval et des véhicules hippomobiles
Demeure seigneuriale
Château de style Classique

Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte

    D215 
    77950 Maincy
Ownership of a private company; property of the department
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Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte
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Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte
Crédit photo : Eric Pouhier - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Renaissance
Temps modernes
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
1641
Purchase of property by Fouquet
1656-1661
Construction of the castle
17 août 1661
Party in honor of Louis XIV
5 septembre 1661
Arrest of Fouquet
1875
Repurchase by Alfred Sommier
1968
Open to the public
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

To the south of the road from Melun to Champeaux: castle, commons and all buildings, fences, gates, gardens with their terraces and statues, ponds, water rooms, reservoirs, streams and part of the park surrounding them to the limits laid on the plan annexed to the decree (to the west, west side of the driveway known as Maincy Road, south wall of the vegetable garden, west fence of the park at the end of the canal; to the south, a line 50 meters beyond the edge of the wooded parts surrounding the canal and the large lawn of the Hercules, including the open-air reservoir, then following the aisle of the Gerbe and the edge of the wooded parts around the east end of the canal; to the east, the line on the west side of the driveway of the Sapins). Outside these limits: two water supply aqueducts under the large north-south driveway behind the statue of Hercules and under the large north-west/south-east driveway from the roundabout of the Hercules (known as the gangway of the Granges) and underground reservoirs throughout their range. To the north of the road from Melun to Champeaux: roundabout and large north-south driveway known as the "Allée des Tilleuls", in all its length, including the row of linden trees bordering them and the two tree lines behind this row (parts bounded by a green shade on the plan annexed to the decree): classification by decrees of 22 November 1929 and 4 April 1939 - Totality of the park (limited in blue on the plan annexed to the decree) (A 1 to 26, 32, 34 to 39, 41 to 47; B 1 to 180; C1 1 to 14; C2 15 to 36): classification by order of 23 June 1965 - Parcelles dependent on the park of the castle (cad. Moisenay A 1p, 2, 3, 4p, 5, 6, 976, 977): classification by order of 11 March 1968 - Part of the departmental road 215 located between the national road 36 and the departmental road 126, old monumental access road to the castle (cad. not cadastre): classification by decree of 26 December 1994

Key figures

Nicolas Fouquet - Sponsor and original owner Superintendent of Finance of Louis XIV.
Louis Le Vau - Architect of the castle Creator of the innovative "double body" plan.
André Le Nôtre - Garden landscaper Master of perspectives and beds.
Charles Le Brun - Painter-Decorator Author of the interior frescoes.
François Vatel - Maitre d'hotel de Fouquet Organizer of the 1661 party.
Alfred Sommier - Saviour of the castle (1875) Restore the estate in the 19th century.

Origin and history

The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, located in Maincy in Seine-et-Marne, is an architectural jewel of the 3rd quarter of the 17th century (1658-1661), commissioned by Nicolas Fouquet, Superintendent of Finance of Louis XIV. This monument illustrates the alliance of major talents of the period: architect Louis Le Vau, painter Charles Le Brun, landscape architect André Le Nôtre, and master mason Michel Villedo. Fouquet, wishing to create an estate rivalling the royal residences, chose a strategic site between Vincennes and Fontainebleau, where he had a modest medieval chastel shaved to erect this classical palace.

The building of the castle and its gardens was a technical and artistic feat. The Nôtre designed revolutionary gardens, playing on optical perspectives and illusions, with parts of embroidery, basins, and a cave decorated with sculptures. Le Brun decorated the interiors with allegorical frescoes, such as Le Triomphe de la Fidelité in Fouquet's bedroom, while Le Vau innova with a "double body" plan, organizing the pieces in parallel threads. The oval living room, central room, symbolizes this architectural audacity.

The peak of Vaux-le-Vicomte culminated with the sumptuous feast of 17 August 1661, organized in honour of Louis XIV by Fouquet and his intendant François Vatel. The latter orchestrated shows, fireworks, and a lavish dinner, marking the story with his fascist. However, this demonstration of wealth precipitated Fouquet's disgrace: arrested three weeks later for malfeasance, his property was seized. The castle, emptied of its treasures, passed into the hands of creditors before being bought in 1673 by his widow, Marie-Madeleine de Castille.

In the 18th century, the estate changed several times, including the Marshal de Villars, who added military elements such as trophies, and the Duke of Choiseul-Praslin, who modernized the apartments without altering the gardens. The French Revolution spared the castle, saved in extremis by the donation of its decorations to the Republic in 1793. In the 19th century, the Choiseul-Praslin retained it despite partial sales of furniture, until the Duke Charles-Félix committed a crime of passion there in 1847, causing its closure.

In 1875, the industrialist Alfred Sommier acquired the estate at auction and undertook a colossal restoration, entrusting the works to architect Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailler and landscaper Achille Duchêne. The Sommier, then their descendants the Vogüe, preserved Vaux-le-Vicomte by reopening it to the public in 1968. Today, the castle, classified as a Historical Monument, attracts 300,000 visitors annually with its illuminated gardens, candlelit dinners, and its role as a cinematic decor, as for Versailles (2015) or Le Roi Soleil (2005).

External links