Gardens of Versailles - The Problem of Water

The Problem of Water

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 Louveciennes Aqueduct 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 additional pumps raised the water to the aqueduct, which carried the water to Versailles and Marly.

In 1685, the Machine de Marly came into full operation. However, owing to leakage in the conduits and breakdowns of the mechanism, the machine was only able to deliver 3,200 m3 of water per day – approximately one-half the expected output. The machine was a must-see for visitors to France. Despite the fact that the gardens consumed more water per day than the entire city of Paris, the Machine de Marly remained in operation until 1817 (Thompson, 2006).

During Louis XIV’s reign, water supply systems represented one-third of the building costs of Versailles. Even with the additional output from the Machine de Marly, fountains in the garden could only be run à l’ordinaire – which is to say at half-pressure. With this measure of economy, fountains still consumed 12,800 m3 of water per day, far above the capacity of the existing supplies. In the case of the ‘‘Grandes Eaux’’ – when all the fountains played to their maximum – more than 10,000 m3 of water was needed for one afternoon’s display. Accordingly, the ‘‘Grandes Eaux’’ were reserved for special occasions such as the Siamese Embassy of 1685-1686 (Hedin, 1992; Mercure Galant, 1685).

One final attempt to solve water shortage problems was undertaken in 1685. In this year it was proposed to divert the water of the Eure river, located 160 km. south of Versailles and at a level 26 m. above the garden reservoirs. The project called not only for digging a canal and for the construction of an aqueduct, it also necessitated the construction of shipping channels and locks to supply the workers on the main canal. Between 9,000-10,000 troops were pressed in service in 1685; the next year, more than 20,000 soldiers were engaged in construction. Between 1686 and 1689, when the War of the League of Augsburg began, one-tenth of France’s military was at work on the Canal de l'Eure project. With the outbreak of the war, the project was abandoned, never to be completed. Had the aqueduct been completed, some 50,000 m3 of water would have been sent to Versailles – more than enough to solve the water problem of the gardens (Thompson, 2006).

Today, the museum of Versailles is still faced with water problems. During the Grandes Eaux, water is circulated by means of modern pumps from the Grand Canal to the reservoirs. Replenishment of the water lost due to evaporation comes from rainwater, which is collected in cisterns that are located throughout the gardens and diverted to the reservoirs and the Grand Canal. Assiduous husbanding of this resource by museum officials prevents tapping into the supply of potable water of the city of Versailles (Thompson, 2006).