Chateau de Vaux-le-vicomte

7 Key Dates

• castle
  1641

  The purchase of the estate by Nicolas Fouquet, the ambitious superintendent of finances, who bought the land. He brought together the three greatest geniuses of the time: the architect Louis Le Vau, the painter-decorator Charles Le Brun and the landscape architect André Le Nôtre.

• castle
  1656

  A lightning-fast construction: In just five years, the estate rose from the ground. It was the first time a castle and its gardens had been designed in total harmony and with perfect perspective.

• castle
  17/8/1661

  The Fateful Party: Fouquet organizes a dazzling party in honor of Louis XIV. Molière performs, Vatel organizes the banquet. The Sun King, humiliated by such luxury while his own palaces are dilapidated, decides to fire his minister.

• castle
  1705

  The purchase by Marshal de Villars: After years of sequestration, the castle was sold. The Villars family kept it for a century before it passed into the hands of the Dukes of Praslin.

• castle
  1875

  The rescue by Alfred Sommier: The castle was abandoned and the gardens had disappeared. Alfred Sommier, a wealthy industrialist, bought it at auction and devoted his fortune to its complete restoration.

• castle
  1962

  André Malraux classified the gardens, allowing for comprehensive protection of this private masterpiece, a model of family heritage management.

• castle
  1968

  The de Vogüé family, descendants of Sommier, opened the estate to the public. Today, it is the largest privately owned property in France listed as a Historical Monument.