page_title: Gardens of Versailles
section_title: The problem with water
hierarchical_section_title: Gardens of Versailles / The problem with water
caption_attribution_description: English: A view of the garden facade of the Palace of Versailles from the western end of the Grand Canal, in Versailles, France, southwest of Paris. Made during my private vacation in Paris in 2010. Recommend everyone to visit this marvel of civilization.
context_page_description: The Gardens of Versailles occupy part of what was once the Domaine royal de Versailles, the royal demesne of the château of Versailles. Situated to the west of the palace, the gardens cover some 800 hectares of land, much of which is landscaped in the classic French formal garden style perfected here by André Le Nôtre. Beyond the surrounding belt of woodland, the gardens are bordered by the urban areas of Versailles to the east and Le Chesnay to the north-east, by the National Arboretum de Chèvreloup to the north, the Versailles plain to the west, and by the Satory Forest to the south.
  Administered by the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles, an autonomous public entity operating under the aegis of the French Ministry of Culture, the gardens are now one of the most visited public sites in France, receiving more than six million visitors a year.
  In addition to the meticulous manicured lawns, parterres, and sculptures are the fountains, which are located throughout the garden.
context_section_description: The marvel of the gardens of Versailles – then as now – is the fountains. Yet, the very element that animates the gardens, water, has proven to be the affliction of the gardens since the time of Louis XIV.
  The gardens of Louis XIII required water and local ponds provided an adequate supply. However, once Louis XIV began expanding the gardens with more and more fountains, supplying the gardens with water became a critical challenge.
  To meet the needs of the early expansions of the gardens under Louis XIV, water was pumped to gardens from ponds near the château, with the Clagny pond serving as the principal source. Water from the pond was pumped to the reservoir on top of the Grotte de Thétys, which fed the fountains in the garden by means of gravitational hydraulics. Other sources included a series of reservoirs located on the Satory Plateau south of the château (Verlet, 1985).
  By 1664, increased demand for water necessitated additional sources. In that year, Louis Le Vau designed the Pompe, a water tower built north of the château. The Pompe drew water from the Clagny pond using a system of windmills and horsepower to a cistern housed in the Pompe’s building. The capacity of the Pompe – 600 m³ of water per day – alleviated some of the water shortages in the garden (Thompson, 2006).
  With the completion of the Grand Canal in 1671, which served as drainage for the fountains of the garden, water, via a system of windmills, was pumped back to the reservoir on top of the Grotte de Thétys. While this system solved some of the water supply problems, there was never enough water to keep all of the fountains running in the garden in full-play all of the time (Thompson, 2006).
  While it was possible to keep the fountains in view from the château running, those concealed in the bosquets and in the farther reaches of the garden were run on an as-needed basis. In 1672, Jean-Baptiste Colbert devised a system by which the fountaineers in the garden would signal each other with whistles upon the approach of the king indicating that their fountain needed to be turned on. Once the king passed a fountain in play, it would be turned off and the fountaineer would signal that the next fountain could be turned on (Thompson, 2006).
  In 1674, the Pompe was enlarged – hence referred to as the Grande Pompe. Pumping capacity was increased via increased power and the number of pistons used for lifting the water. These improvements increased the water capacity to nearly 3,000 m³ of water per day; however, the increased capacity of the Grande Pompe often left the Clagny pond dry (Thompson, 2006).
  The increasing demand for water and the stress placed on existing systems of water supply necessitated newer measures to increase the water supplied to Versailles. Between 1668 and 1674, a project was undertaken to divert the water of the Bièvre river to Versailles. By damming the river and with a pumping system of five windmills, water was brought to the reservoirs located on the Satory Plateau. This system brought an additional 72,000 m³ of water to the gardens (Thompson, 2006).
  Despite the augmentation of water from the Bièvre, the gardens needed still more water, which necessitated more projects. In 1681, one of the most ambitious water projects conceived during the reign of Louis XIV was undertaken. Owing to the proximity of the Seine to Versailles, a project was proposed to raise the water from the river to be delivered to Versailles. Seizing upon the success of a system devised in 1680 that raised water from the Seine to the gardens of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, construction of the Machine de Marly began the following year.
  The Machine de Marly was designed to lift water from the Seine in three stages to the aqueduc de Louveciennes  some 100 metres above the level of the river.  A series of huge waterwheels was constructed in the river, which raised the water via a system of 64 pumps to a reservoir 48 metres above the river. From this first reservoir, water was raised an additional 56 metres to a second reservoir by a system of 79 pumps. Finally, 78 additiona
caption: The Grand Canal
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