Sciences at Versailles part 4: Cascade creation, water engineering

Surveying and levelling

When the estate was originally created, the scale of the Park and Gardens, not to mention the water they required, made it necessary to deploy the very latest scientific and technical expertise.

In order to survey and level the land, plotting out grand views over unprecedented distances, the members of the Academy made use of geodesy, geometry and optics-perspective.

In order to supply water to an ever-growing number of fountains, on a site naturally lacking in fresh water, the king’s engineers came up with a spectacular network of pipes. Finding sufficient water to supply Versailles involved such great distances that astronomers were called in to design new telescopes for the surveyors, and the calculations were adjusted to take account of atmospheric refraction and the curvature of the earth.

View of the Palace and Gardens of Versailles, 1668

This vast topographical view of Versailles from the air is the only image thought to have survived from the series of views of royal palaces commissioned from artist Pierre Patel. It is a remarkably precise representation of the palace and gardens of Versailles just before the vast programme of construction work overseen by architect Louis le Vau in the 1670s and 1680s. The brick and stone house built here by Louis XIII had already been expanded with two new wings to house the service quarters and stables, but work to encase the palace in its grand stone “envelope” had not yet begun.

This painting shows that the Gardens, a great passion of Louis XIV, pre-existed the palace: before the final phase of construction had even begun, the broad outlines of the park, designed by André Le Nôtre, were already in place. Starting from scratch and faced with obstacles which seemed all but insurmountable, the King’s Gardener excelled himself to “tame the wilds of nature,” transforming stagnant lakes into sumptuous water features, and overseeing the metamorphosis of the marshes and forests of Versailles into the most magnificent gardens in Europe.

The Marly Machine

During the reign of Louis XIV, a vast system of pumps, aqueducts, reservoirs and artificial lakes was created. The Marly Machine was the spectacular centrepiece of this system. True to his nickname of “Jupiter,” the King ordered Colbert to “raise the river:” that meant pumping water from the Seine up to an altitude of 150 metres (a feat never before achieved) to irrigate first the gardens of Marly, and then Versailles.

Condensing two millennia of developments in hydraulic engineering, the Marly Machine, designed by Liège-based engineer Rennequin Sualem, was based on technical knowledge which was already tried-and-tested, but had never before been applied on such a scale.

Work began in 1681 and was completed four years later. The cost was considerable: 3.5 million Pounds, not counting the even more substantial outlay required to keep the machine running.

View of the Palace of Versailles from the Dragon and Neptune fountains

The Neptune fountain, formerly known as the Dragon fountain, was created between 1678 and 1684, during the reign of Louis XIV. The fountain marks the end of the North-South axis, providing a counterpoint to the Lake of the Swiss Guard shown in the background.

Louis XIV was keen for the design of this fountain to be particularly magnificent, but the three monumental sculptures (in lead, previously gilded) which now adorn the supporting wall were not installed until 1740, during the reign of Louis XV. The most remarkable asset of this fountain is its set of 99 jets, an extraordinary hydraulic achievement whose sheer scale and variety makes this one of the most spectacular water features in all of the gardens.