The Water Problem

 




 You probably know that the Gardens of Versailles are famous for their water features including lakes, ponds, reflections and 50 wonderful fountain displays.  Some restoration work has been carried out, often at curved pipe sections, and some small sections have been replaced since the 1600’s, but incredibly most of the original hydraulics remain intact and the majority of the original network of waterworks is still in place.  

Once the landscape was levelled the search for water began. This quest inspired the greatest leap forward in hydraulic technology and engineering since Roman times. Where would the water come from and how could it be pumped around the gardens?  What sized pipes and how much pressure would be required to produce a 10ft fountain on a site lacking a water supply? 

At one time there were more than 2000 fountains in the Gardens of Versailles and a 46km network of underground pipes supplied the ponds with running water.  The pressure required led to the invention of a hydraulic system that was based not on terra cotta or wood but instead on standardised sections of cast iron that could be slotted together without the need for welding.  Copper cylinders were attached to the end of the pipes that fed the fountains and nozzles were used to create different effects.

When Louis X1V started to expand the garden with more and more fountains, water was pumped from ponds near the Palace but there was just never enough. Only the fountains seen from the Palace were on all the time and, when the king was out and about, staff used a system of whistles to signal his approach and turned fountains on and off as he passed by.   Sometimes the pond at Clagny, the main water source, ran dry. 

The garden needed more water. The ever-increasing demand meant water had to be brought from much further way – the River Seine, 10km north of Versailles.   Louis XIV was an innovative thinker and a lover of science.  He was impressed by a design by Arnold de Ville’s that involved a vast system of pumps, aqueducts, artificial lakes and reservoirs to raise water from the river Seine to an altitude of 150m, a feat never previously achieved, to provide water to both Versailles and the Chateau de Marly, a nearly royal estate. 

Cutting edge technical and scientific expertise was needed to ensure the work was completed to the Sun King’s high standards and the task of bringing huge quantities of water, over great distances to Versailles, required the design of new telescopes for surveyors. Calculations had to be adjusted to take account of the curvature of the earth.

In 1681, after 3 years of planning, the construction of the spectacular Machine de Marly began.  It took 4 years and 1800 engineers, carpenters and labours to complete the project.  It was hugely expensive.  The machine had 14 hydraulic wheels, each 33 feet in diameter that together with suction and pumping stations pushed water uphill to the Louveciennes Aqueduct.  The massive machine was noisy, labour intensive, expensive to maintain and frequently broke down but even so the Machine de Marly supplied Versailles’ 2000+ fountains for 133 years.  It was replaced by a steam-powered mechanism in 1817 and then a hydraulic system in 1859.  Some remnants of the Marly machine are still visible today, but little remains of the original 17th century masterpiece.


 

 Jeanie 28 November 2020

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