The gardens and the castle of Marly are envisaged as of their origin so that the king Louis XIV can move away from Versailles and of gravities and worry of the court, in company of characters considered or courtiers deserving of his entourage. Those wait sometimes months before having the privilege to be invited in the Holy of Holies: the only place where the sovereign felt perfectly happy.

Very appreciated by Louis XV and Louis XVI, but of a ruinous maintenance, it is dilapidated little by little; it was plundered by the revolutionists in 1789. At the beginning of the 19th century, it was dismantled and the stones were sold by it by its owner.

There remain currently nothing any more visible castle if it is not the representation on the ground of the old foundations of the royal House of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, in top of the slope park.

The castle was composed mainly:

• of the house royal, known as of the Sun where were, at the ground floor, apartments of the king, the queen, the dolphin and Sir, brother of the king (the residences of service were as for them in the roofs).

• of twelve small houses placed all along the gardens, being used to place the invited courtiers with Marly. The last two houses had been arranged to receive both famous Globes of Coronelli, one representing the ground and the other the sky at the day of the birth of the King.

The square and symmetrical plan of the house of the sun was articulated around a large central living room high of approximately 15 meters, of octagonal form, surrounded by four halls. Between each hall was an apartment, that of the king giving on the gardens directed towards the castle of Saint-Germain-in-Bush hammer, birthplace of the king.

Contemporary castles

• Palate of Louvre
• Castle of Versailles
• Castle of Saint-Germain-in-Bush hammer
• Castle of Be worth-the-Viscount

External bonds

• http://sitelully.free.fr/marly.htm