Issue No. 12

The history of Vaux-le-
Vicomte
This is a chateau with an exquisite and
electrifying heritage. A tale of passion,
betrayal, corruption and despair which
shaped the history of France was played
out here. You feel it in the kitchens with
their gleaming copper pans, in the
beautifully furnished rooms with their
paintings and tapestries and gilded this
and that, in the gardens which look as they
did when Le Notre, the king's favourite
gardener designed them. There is an echo
of the past here and you can't avoid it.
Enter those grand gates, climb the
imposing staircase, and remember that
there, in 1661 stood the owner, a man called
Nicolas Fouquet. He was waiting to
welcome his King to the newly built
chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte. It was 17 August,
a hot, sultry night. Fouquet had served
Louis XIV well and loyally as his minister of
finances, and that night he hoped to wow
him by entertaining him in great style.
Fouquet had invested a small fortune in
the design and building of the chateau,
bringing together three greats from French
history, Le Brun the painter, Le Vau the
architect and Le Notre the gardener. To the
onlooker it wasn’t just fabulous, it was
dizzying in its beauty.
The chateau and gardens had taken 20
years to create. The night the King came, it
wasn’t quite finished. Painters of ceilings
and walls downed tools, masons carving
statues swept up and made everything
look as good as it could and got out of the
way before the King arrived. Even
unfinished, the result was ravishing.
The King’s carriage swept into the
courtyard, he alighted and stood at the
bottom of the stairs looking up at Fouquet,
the minister was proud of his achievement,
quite possibly the most beautiful castle in
all of France. Hours later, the fate of the
minister and the chateau was sealed by a
jealous King. Never again would anyone
stand higher than Louis XIV or have a
chateau more beautiful than his.
The Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte has
appeared in some 80 films including Marie
Antoinete, Moonraker and The Man With The
Iron mask, who incidentally was imprisoned
alongside Fouquet