King’s Garden at Versailles (Le Potager du Roi)
Did you know that amongst the grand châteaux, immaculate flowering gardens and hedge labyrinths, Versailles boosts one of the most impressive vegetable gardens in the world - the King's Garden or le Potager du Roi?
Now a classified historical monument, the King's Garden is an incredible place to visit. As you can imagine the scale of the King's Garden is in keeping with the sheer majesty of Versailles. It is just over 23 acres with 28 small gardens on the periphery and a large square made up of 16 square vegetable gardens surrounding a central fountain. It’s also where you’ll find one of the only original golden gates to survive the French Revolution.
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Le Potager du Roi - An Impressive Vegetable Garden
Wondering why the King's Garden at Versailles is so expansive? Simply put, the royal family and all members of the King's Court during Louis XIV's reign needed to be feed as did the lucky entourages of guests invited to elaborate events held at Versailles. As well as hunting for meat and raising fowl for all meals, vegetables and fruit needed to be in abundant supply for the pleasure and sustenance of the thousands living or visiting Versailles at any one time.
It is recorded that anywhere between 3,000 and 10,000 persons were in attendance at Versailles when the King was in residence. With high demands on produce, the King's Garden or Potager due Roi, was a very important part of everyday life at Versailles.
Le Potager du Roi created between 1678 and 1683
Created between 1678 and 1683 the Potager du Roi, or King's Kitchen Garden near the Palace of Versailles, produced fresh vegetables and fruits for King Louis XIV and his entire court. Credit has to be given to Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie (1624-1688), who as head gardener was the genius behind the royal fruit and vegetable gardens.
French architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart (1646-1708) was instrumental in the architectural design of the garden. Both men worked together to fulfil King Louis XIV’s vision of creating the most impressive palace in the world.
Creating the King's Garden at Versailles
The garden was an amazing and hidden magical fruit and vegetable garden that the King liked to show off to foreign visitors.
Built within walls and terraces that allowed a microclimate to develop, the garden was able to sustain over 300 varieties of fruits and vegetables that could grow out of season. Pushing new boundaries to achieve abundant crops, and especially crops out of season, is Jean-Baptiste de la Quintinie's legacy.
“A good gardener must have passion for new discoveries”
~Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, 1690
The King’s Main Gardener
Jean-Baptiste La Quintinie was commissioned by Louis XIV to build the vegetable garden on nearby swampy marshlands to the Château because they were close enough to get fresh supplies delivered to the palace quickly. I've even read that the area was referred to at the time as the ‘stinking pond’.
Innovation and Creativity
Creating the garden from the swampy marshlands took five years of construction with marshes drained, an underground aqueduct created and underground wood burners built to heat the ground and protect delicate plant roots in winter.
With only poor soil to work with, manure from the King's stables was an important tool in the gardener's arsenal for soil improvement. This and the high stone walls and terraces that trapped the sun and kept heat in, helped create an environment where exotic and out-of-season plants and trees could grow. The walls were also integral to the art of espalier (training and pruning a fruit tree to grow flat against a masonry wall).
Today there are more ordinary flowers and vegetables growing rather than exotic species, but many vegetables still seem to flourish ahead of their normal growing schedule due to the good climate and garden layout.
Some of the achievements of Jean-Baptiste La Quintinie were to grow out-of-season asparagus, figs that grew from mid-June to the end of October, strawberry crops in March and peas in April. While these achievements are easy today with the technology of modern greenhouses and watering systems, hydroponic nurseries, fertilisers and propagation techniques, it was a marvel in France during the “Le Grand Siècle” (the Great Century).
Still loved and maintained during Louis XV and Marie Antoinette's era, it sadly fell into disrepair and remained unused for more than 300 years.
Have you visited the King's Potager at Versailles? If not, you are not the only one. Millions of visitors who enter the gates to wander and admire the gardens and buildings of Versailles don't go the extra short distance to enter the restored Le Potager du Roi.
Useful Information for visiting the King's Garden at Versailles
The King's Garden is open to the public daily, however it cannot be visited under the same ticket as the palace and the rest of the gardens as le Potager du Roi is not under the management of the Palace of Versailles.
Don’t forget to take a look in the Potager shop when you visit the King's Garden as the shop stocks some lovely souvenirs. You can also purchase fresh vegetables, flowers and fruit from the gardens - what a delicious and unique souvenir!
For more information about the King’s Kitchen Garden visit: www.potager-du-roi.fr (in French)
Address: Le Potager du Roi, ENSP 10, rue du Marechal Joffre, 78000 Versailles
Phone: +33 1 39 24 62 62
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