France June 2016 - Chateau de Vaux le Vicomte
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We drove from Reims to the Chateau de Vaux le Vicomte this morning. It's about 35 miles southeast of Paris. Approaching the Chateau, we drove down this tree-lined road.
From Ira Caro: "There may be more beautiful places than Vaux-le-Vicomte, but I haven't seen them. It is today, as the king's mistress exclaimed when she saw it for the first time over 300 years ago, a 'veritable fairy palace'. It is a palace that was built with an extravagance that astounded a very extravagant king. Vaux is human in scale, 'of superb and elegant proportions,' while Versailles is intentionally overwhelming."
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As soon as we saw the Chateau, we knew it would be special.
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Because the main Chateaux sits by itself -- no doubt intentionally -- you could really get a good look at it from all directions.
Nicolas Fouquet was Vaux's creator. He was the MInister of Finances in France from 1653 until 1661. He had a glittering career and combined with some lucrative marriages, acquired enormous wealth, which he used to build Vaux.
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Vaux's magnificence and splendour of decoration was a forerunner of the Palace of Versailles. In building Vaux, Fouquet brought together three artists that the King would later take up for Versailles: the architect Louis Le Vau, the painter Charles Le Brun, and the garden designer André le Nôtre. Fouquet gathered the rarest manuscripts, paintings, jewels and antiques in profusion, and above all surrounded himself with artists and authors. His table was open to all people of quality.
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| King Louis XIV. Louis began his personal rule of France in 1661, after the death of his chief minister, the Italian Cardinal Mazarin. |
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| The château was lavish, refined and dazzling to behold, but those characteristics proved tragic for its owner: the king had Fouquet arrested shortly after a famous fête that took place on 17 August 1661, where Molière's play 'Les Fâcheux' debuted. The celebration had been too impressive and the superintendent's home too luxurious. Fouquet's intentions were to flatter the king: part of Vaux-le-Vicomte was actually constructed specifically for the king, but Fouquet's plan backfired. Jean-Baptiste Colbert led the king to believe that his minister's magnificence was funded by the misappropriation of public funds. Colbert, who then replaced Fouquet as superintendent of finances, arrested him. Later, Voltaire was to sum up the famous fête: "On 17 August, at six in the evening Fouquet was the King of France: at two in the morning he was nobody." |
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"Fouquet, who loved beauty and women, would spend the rest of his life under heavy guard in a cold, damp dungeon in the Pignerol fortress located in the Alps (now Pinerolo, Italy)." - Ina Caro
After Fouquet was arrested and imprisoned for life and his wife exiled, Vaux-le-Vicomte was placed under sequestration. The king seized, confiscated or purchased 120 tapestries, the statues and all the orange trees from Vaux-le-Vicomte. He then sent the team of artists (Le Vau, Le Nôtre and Le Brun) to design what would be a much larger project than Vaux-le-Vicomte, the palace and gardens of Versailles.
Down by the kitchen was this symbolic display of Fouquet's aftermath.
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I was surprised to see this DC-3 fly overhead -- with D-Day Invasion Stripes on the wings.
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| From every different vantage point, Vaux looks different. And beautiful. |
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| Nice backyard! |
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| Looking at the Chateaux's rear. |
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Lynnette hanging out with a pair of Lions.
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Looking back a the Chateaux.
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| Moving away from the Chateaux. It looks different at various distances away. I think so, anyways. |
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| Towards the end of the grounds, a river-canal flows perpendicular to the main walk-Chateaux. |
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Heading back to the Chateaux.
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We made it back just in time to avoid a rain shower.
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| The sun came out soon after. |
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Deer statues on the side lawn.
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| Looking at the rear grounds from higher elevation. |
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| Inside the Chateaux, in the main rotunda. The big domed ceiling needs some restoration, as cracks are clearly visible. |
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| Busts surrounded the rotunda, including this one of the great Julius Caesar. |
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It was impossible to photograph the huge rooms.
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Fouquet.
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Horrible photo of Fouquet's portrait.
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The Chateaux and grounds were so vast, we were tired from walking. Here, Lynnette takes a rest amidst the splendor.
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| But she perked up when she got to the Chateaux's kitchen. |
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| Looks like we're having roast pork for dinner. |
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Chateaux de Vaux le Vicomte is an absolute must-see for anyone visiting northern France! Surprisingly, despite its fairly close distance from Paris, it is not in Rick Steves France book (2014).
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