★★★★★ 5.0
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Domaine de Sceaux, parc et musée départementaux
That grand pink château straight ahead hides a secret party palace where a future King of Sweden got married in 1798! Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who managed all of King Louis XIV's money, built this 180-hectare playground in 1670 with a one-kilometer canal - that's ten football fields long - just for boat rides. The most famous parties in French history happened right here... the Duchess of Maine threw SIXTEEN massive celebrations every two weeks in 1714, and even young Voltaire came to dance and write poetry under the stars!
Did You Know?
- The Domaine de Sceaux was once the dazzling stage for the Grandes Nuits de Sceaux—a series of 16 spectacular fêtes in 1714–15 hosted by Anne, Duchess of Maine, featuring music and opera-ballets every two weeks with France’s finest musicians and even attracting a young Voltaire, making it one of the most culturally vibrant salons of early 18th-century France and a hotspot for Enlightenment thinkers.
- Hidden within the park is the Pavillon de l’Aurore, a classical domed pavilion whose ceiling was masterfully painted by Charles Le Brun in 1673. The allegorical fresco, 'L’Aurore sur son char chassant la Nuit,' symbolically represents Jean-Baptiste Colbert awaiting Louis XIV, the Sun King—a unique blend of art and political allegory that’s a must-see for visitors exploring beyond the main château.
- The present château is not the original: the grand 17th-century palace built for Colbert was demolished after the French Revolution, and the current structure, designed to evoke the Louis XIII style, was built in 1856–62 by the duc de Trévise. Remarkably, the bones of André Le Nôtre’s original terraced gardens—including the kilometer-long Grand Canal and intersecting grand axes—still shape the park’s layout today, offering a living link to France’s classical garden design heritage.