PETIT TRIANON

As you will observe, the atmosphere in the nearby gardens of Petit Trianon is very different from the Grand Trianon, and they were actually constructed much later, in the early 1800s, following the romantic taste for "picturesque" parks: winding paths, clearings, groves, ponds and clumps of trees that appeared quite natural but were in fact carefully organised.

The small Petit Trianon palace, a uniquely attractive edifice, was built shortly after the mid-1700s on the orders of Madame de Pompadour, the darling of Louis XV; however, it later became a favorite refuge for Marie Antoinette.

 

FUN FACT: at the peak of the collective passion for floriculture and botany, the gardens of the Trianon numbered 96,000 different plant species in the mid-1700s, and a phenomenal number of pots: two million!

There was a small army of workers, as you can imagine, under the direction of eminent gardener Jussieu.