Parc de Sceaux near Paris – transformations of the garden complex and its present state

Abstract

The park in Sceaux near Paris was created at the end of the 17^th century according to the plans of Andre Le Nôtre for the Minister of Finance of Louis XIV, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, along with a palace in the French Baroque style. Later it was expanded and transformed. During the French Revolution, the property was confiscated by the state and transformed into an agricultural school. The park fell into decline and most of the statues were moved to Paris. In 1798, the estate was sold to a private entrepreneur. On the site of the demolished palace, in 1856–1862, the next owner, the Duke of Treviso, built a new one in the Louis XIII style, designed by Auguste Théophile Quantinet.

The park was then devastated during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 and further during the First World War. The destroyed estate was purchased in 1923 by the authorities of the department de la Seine and handed over to the authorities of the town of Sceaux and, to a lesser extent, to the authorities of the town of Antony. A year later, renovation works began which continue to this day. The park complex was reconstructed and enriched with new architectural elements (the Hanoverian Pavilion) and sculptural elements (A. Rodin’s parks, monuments honoring Armenians and Jews). Parc Sceaux is an example of successful comprehensive revitalization – after the works, it became a favorite recreational place not only for the community of the cities of Sceaux and Antony, but also for the inhabitants of the center of Paris, a place of many local and supra-local cultural and artistic events.