Château de Maintenon

Maintenon

The unfinished arches of the aqueduct, planted in the valley of the Eure, keep the melancholy of a royal dream never fulfilled.

On 27 December 1674, Françoise d'Aubigné, widow of the poet Scarron, bought the château for 150,000 livres before becoming the secret wife of Louis XIV and turning it into a near-royal residence. From 1685, Vauban directed the studies for a pharaonic 80-kilometre aqueduct intended to divert the waters of the Eure to the gardens of Versailles, with three tiers of arcades planned, of 47, 195 and 390 arches. The War of the League of Augsburg brought the works to a definitive halt, leaving the arcades unfinished in the valley. The château today preserves 17th- and 19th-century apartments as well as art collections, and its gardens were redesigned in 2013 following Le Nôtre's original plans.

Getting there : Château listed as a monument historique since 1976, remains of the aqueduct protected since 1875; open to the public, managed by the Eure-et-Loir Departmental Council since 2005 through the Fondation Mansart

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound