Mith the importance and splendor of the gardens of Versailles and Vaux-le-Vicomte, the park of Sceaux cannot compete. But at least the property, which is a good ten kilometers south of central Paris and also dates back to the seventeenth century, offers the city dwellers, who are plagued by emissions, peace and fresh air as well as a variety of visual axes that convey a feeling of space and freedom.
Between the castle, which was rebuilt around 1860 in the historicist style of the epoch of Louis XIII, small woods and long avenues, huge meadows spread out, including the “Tapis vert”. This “green carpet” is rivaled at its edge by a cluster of old cedars, similar to the monumental cascade with Rodin’s masks and fountains cascading down from a hill. Below the fountains, anglers prove their patience in a gigantic pool, the “Octogone”. You also need a lot of stamina if you want to walk both banks of the “Grand Canal” lined with tall poplars.
The stately property was once the proud property of Jean-Baptiste Colbert. To give it its own character, the minister of Louis XIV engaged such luminaries as André Le Nôtre and Charles Le Brun. Jules Hardouin-Mansart was later added. A hundred years ago, the facilities were saved for our time: in 1923, the then “Département de la Seine” decided to purchase and rehabilitate the terrain, which until then had largely been in private hands. They are now managed under the name “Domaine départemental de Sceaux” by today’s Hauts-de-Seine department.
Plucking weeds is not enough
Around 1900, the park slumbered like a Sleeping Beauty: its stairs and walls were hopelessly covered in moss, its garden sculpture was caught between rampant undergrowth, the cascade was largely removed, the pools, including the octagonal one, and the Great Canal were swampy and silted up. This is how Harry Graf Kessler and Eugène Atget perceived him during their visits. When Atget took pictures of the derelict park with its battered buildings, ornamental vases and sculptures around 1925, it was already clear that a little weeding here and there would not be enough. Rather, it required an enormous amount of effort, with heavy equipment having to be used for excavation and terracing.
The impetus for the large construction site was the state obligation to the legacy of Colbert and the subsequent owners, the Duc and Duchesse du Maine. The ambitious duchess in particular was remembered for her salon and her nightly parties with fireworks. In 1923, at a time when surrounding fields and gardens were being lost and the Paris metropolitan area was dramatically expanding, the project also involved the creation of a 181-hectare recreational area (the Great Tiergarten in Berlin, for comparison, covers 210 hectares).
