Ways to stroll through the gardens of Versailles

Despite what is often still said, in the 17th century, walking through gardens was quite popular. Treaties on garden art, in particular by Dézallier-d’Argenville / Le Blond, consider walks as a privileged way of appreciating the garden. Guides from in and around Paris describe tours of the gardens of Versailles and other royal or aristocratic gardens. Engravings depict gardens abounding with walkers.
‘La Manière de montrer les jardins de Versailles’ (The way to depict the gardens of Versailles), an itinerary developed by Louis XIV to flaunt the estate to diplomatic visitors, remains in the form of well-known and regularly published texts. However, Versailles has never been exclusively reserved for official visitors. Since there was always something new to see, the gardens have continuously drawn many visitors. Of these numerous visits, a certain number of descriptions of walking tours remain, written at different periods in the gardens’ evolution and reflecting the varying sensitivities of their authors. Each one, in its own way, tells us of the pleasures of strolling through Versailles.

Catherine Szanto is a landscaper who graduated in the United States (Master in Landscape Architecture) and a doctor in architecture. She teaches landscape and geography as assistant lecturer at the ENSA (National Graduate School of Architecture) in Paris-La Villette, and the history of the landscape project at the ESAJ (School of Landscape and Ecological Transition) in Paris. Her thesis focused on the experience of walking through the gardens of Versailles and she is continuing her research on the aesthetics of spatial perception through movement in gardens and urban public areas.  She co-directed a work published in 2023 on landscape laboratories.