Vaux-le-Vicomte

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at times there were over 18,000 workers employed on the task. Fouquet's enjoyment of the property, however, was short-lived. Ignoring all warnings, he entertained Louis XIV at a spectacular celebration at Vaux-le-Vicomte on August 17 1661, a lavish event for which Molière had written a new comedy, "Les Fâcheux"; but only three weeks later he was arrested for enriching himself from his office and condemned to imprisonment for life, and Vaux-le-Vicomte was confiscated.

The splendor of Vaux-le-Vicomte led Louis XIV to resolve that he must himself possess the finest château in France. For this purpose he took over many of Fouquet's confiscated treasures, including costly vases, statues and even trees and plants. He also took over Le Vau, Le Brun and Le Nôtre, who created for him at Versailles the palace of palaces, the splendid center and symbol of absolutist power.

Vaux-le-Vicomte survived the Revolution largely unscathed. Both the buildings and the park were thoroughly restored between 1975 and 1980. Fouquet's private apartments on the upper floor have been largely preserved in their original state. In the basement are the kitchen and the servants' dining room. Le Nôtre's park is a masterpiece of French landscape gardening: the strict regularity of its plan, with main, transverse and diagonal axes, is relieved by elaborate fountains, imposing sculptural groups and over-lifesize statues (e.g. of Hercules). In the old stables is a coach museum.

The château is seen at its finest on Saturdays between May and September, when it is illuminated from 8.30pm onwards by over a thousand candles.