The Grand Parterre

Tuesday
This is a view over the Grand Parterre, the formal garden of the Chateau de Fontainebleau. A definition of parterre: "A planting bed, usually square or rectangular, containing an ornamental design made with low closely clipped hedges, colored gravel, and sometimes flowers. Parterres were usually laid out in geometric patterns, divided by gravel paths. They were intended to be seen from above from a house or terrace." The Grand Parterre at Fontainebleau is one of the largest formal gardens in Europe, created between 1660 and 1664 by André Le Nôtre and Louis Le Vau. The original intricate box hedge work in this French-style formal garden disappeared under Louis XV. The overall layout of the herb gardens remains, as do the water features ornamented with statues, such as the round ornamental lake shown in the picture, overlooked by a statue of Tiberinus.