Jardins des Champs-Élysées

The gardens you are entering were originally laid out in sixteen sixty-seven by the legendary landscape architect André Le Nôtre, the same mind behind the vast, geometric grandeur of Versailles. Le Nôtre initially designed this space as a formal extension of the Tuileries, carving a long, straight promenade through what was then swampy ground to create a perfect, sweeping vista leading away from the royal palace. While you now see a lush, meandering park, you are walking along the spine of a design that was built to project the absolute order and power of the Sun King, Louis the Fourteenth.