page_title: Vaux-le-Vicomte
section_title: Recent history
hierarchical_section_title: Vaux-le-Vicomte / History / Recent history
caption_attribution_description: English: The castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte, in Maincy (Seine-et-Marne, France): the south façade, as seen from the gardens. This picture was the Picture of the day of the French Wikipedia on September 23, 2010; that same day, the French Wikipedia reached 1,000,000 articles. Français&#160;: Le Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, à Maincy (Seine-et-Marne, France)&#160;: la façade sud, vue depuis les jardins. Cette image a été l’Image du Jour de la Wikipédia francophone le 23 septembre 2010&#160;; ce jour-là, la Wikipédia francophone atteignait le nombre d’un million d'articles.
context_page_description: The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte is a Baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, 55 kilometres southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne department of Île-de-France.
  Built between 1658 and 1661 for Nicolas Fouquet, Marquis de Belle Île, Viscount of Melun and Vaux, the superintendent of finances of Louis XIV, the château was an influential work of architecture in mid-17th-century Europe. At Vaux-le-Vicomte, the architect Louis Le Vau, the landscape architect André Le Nôtre and the painter-decorator Charles Le Brun worked together on a large-scale project for the first time. Their collaboration marked the beginning of the "Louis XIV style" combining architecture, interior design and landscape design. The garden's pronounced visual axis is an example of this style.
context_section_description: Marshal Claude Louis Hector de Villars became the new owner without first seeing the chateau. In 1764, the Marshal's son sold the estate to the Duke of Praslin, whose descendants maintained the property for over a century. It is sometimes mistakenly reported that the château was the scene of a murder in 1847, when Charles de Choiseul-Praslin killed his wife in her bedroom, but he did so not at Vaux-le-Vicomte but at his Paris residence.
  In 1875, after thirty years of neglect, the estate was sold to Alfred Sommier in a public auction. "He came for the [Charles] Le Brun paintings, especially those on the ceiling of the Chambre des Muses – he loved art," according to descendant Alexandre de Vogüé. The château was empty, some of the outbuildings had fallen into ruin and the gardens were completely overgrown. Restoration and refurbishment began under the direction of the architect Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur, assisted by the landscape architect Elie Lainé. When Sommier died in 1908, the château and the gardens had recovered their original appearance. His son, Edme Sommier, and his daughter-in-law completed the task. His descendants continue to preserve the château, which remains privately owned.
  Since 1967, the owner has been Patrice de Vogüé, Alfred Sommier's great-grandson, who received it as a wedding present, with his wife Cristina, the Count and Countess de Vogüé. By that time, the estate contained only a few pieces that had originally been owned by Fouquet. For some time, the family occupied the first floor, and then the refurbished stables, of this largest private chateau in France with its 1,235 acres of gardens.
  In 1968, the property was opened for public tours. A major restoration was completed starting in 1976 and it was continuing in 2017; the roof repair alone took six years. The Baroque ceiling in the Chambre des Muses, "decorated by Charles Le Brun's workshop", was restored in 2016–2017 and was first shown to the public in March 2017. The business is now administered by their three sons: Alexandre, Jean-Charles and Ascanio de Vogüé. "We don’t care about the aristocratic part of this life," said Alexandre de Vogüé, but they are determined to continue the preservation. "We have a ten-year plan, detailing what to do and when; a plan that includes a project of infrastructure restoration, restoration of the garden, and smaller projects; all with anticipated costs next to it. We make this list public for our donors, and people can sponsor a special project, such as restoring a statue in the garden," Alexandre told a reporter in 2017.
  Approximately 300,000 visitors arrive each year, 75% of them from France. Recognized by the state as a monument historique, the property is open most of the year, but closed for approximately two months in winter, 6 January to 22 March in 2019, for example. During the Christmas season, major decorations are installed: 150 trees, 10,000 items and 4,000 metres of garlands and lights, as well as a giant illuminated squirrel and angel, in 2018.
caption: View of the garden front
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