Parc Monceau

The park you are entering was established in seventeen seventy-eight by the Duke of Chartres, a cousin of King Louis the Sixteenth. He possessed immense wealth and a taste for the whimsical, commissioning a landscape that rejected the rigid symmetry of traditional French gardens in favor of global fantasy. His original design included a collection of curious structures known as follies, which featured a miniature Egyptian pyramid, a Dutch windmill, a Chinese fort, and even an Italian vineyard. To further the sense of surprise, the Duke originally employed servants to dress in exotic costumes and kept animals like camels on the grounds.