Château de Maintenon

Enter the "secret gardens" of the Sun King. Discover the furnished home of Madame de Maintenon, whose eternal youth charmed Louis XIV the all-powerful.

The French-style garden of the château de Maintenon was restored in 2013, using Le Nôtre's original plan to recreate flowerbeds which were in keeping with the times and which respected the chateau's views of the aqueduct. Patrick Pottier, the master gardener of the Château de Champ de Bataille in Eure, was involved in the restoration project, and used a plan from 1687 by Robert de Cotte, conserved in the National Library of France. We know, via a letter from Madame de Maintenon to Madame de Brinon, that "Le Nôtre worked in the Maintenon gardens in 1684".Enter the "secret gardens" of the Sun King. Discover the furnished home of Madame de Maintenon, whose eternal youth charmed Louis XIV the all-powerful. The 16th and 17th century château and mediaeval tower were embellished as Madame de Maintenon grew in influence to become the secret spouse of the King. Go for a walk among the formal gardens designed by the famous Le Nôtre, the King's gardener. Admire the view over the Eure, spanned by the unfinished aqueduct of Vauban built to supply water to the gardens of Versailles.