VERSAILLES – LA PIÈCE D’EAU DES SUISSES ET LE CHÂTEAU

'La Pièce d'eau des Suisses' is not big enough to be called a lake but it is certainly bigger than a pond. It is 682 metres long and 334 metres wide and is 1.7 metres deep. That adds up to a very large stretch of water just south of the château that was meant to be both ornamental and utilitarian.

The site was a marshy area just beyond the castle's vegetable garden. Work on the 'Pièce d'eau des Suisses' began in stages beginning in in 1665. A bit later it became part of Le Nôtre's expansion of the gardens around the palace. His redefinition of the area began in 1679 and continued until 1682.

It got its name from a regiment of the Swiss Guards who did most of the digging!

Under the "Ancien Régime" it was used as an open air theatre for nautical displays. These days it is more a site for picnics on the grass ......

BUT for the super fit it becomes a 750 metre swim - part of the triathlon du Roi each May around Versailles: "la Pièce d’Eau des Suisses (750 m), rouler sur le circuit Citroën de Satory (23 km), et courir autour de la susdite Pièce d’Eau (5 km)."

This is a postcard published by N.D. Phot No. 56: Neurdein et Cie (1860’s-1919) Paris, France.