Bagatelle

The Chateau de Bagatelle stands as a monument to a royal wager. In seventeen seventy-seven, the Comte d'Artois, brother to King Louis the Sixteenth, challenged his sister-in-law, Queen Marie Antoinette, that he could build a complete country residence on this site in under three months. To secure his victory, he mobilized nine hundred workers to toil day and night, even ordering his Swiss Guards to patrol the main roads of Paris and seize any carts carrying stone, lime, or plaster to ensure he never ran out of materials. The residence was completed in just sixty-three days. The resulting structure was so extravagant that it earned the nickname Folie d'Artois, or Artois's Madness, due to the staggering three million livres spent to win a playful bet. A plaque on the facade bears the Latin motto Parva sed apta, which translates to Small but well conceived, reflecting the pride of its architect, Francois-Joseph Belanger.