The Apollo Fountain and the Grand Canal
The Apollo Fountain and the Grand Canal features on the Gingerguide audio walk through Versailles. Give it roughly ~45 min: enough to look, hear a two to three minute story on the spot, and ask the AI guide whatever the story leaves open.
- Type landmark
- Suggested visit ~45 min
- Versailles Versailles guide
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About The Apollo Fountain and the Grand Canal
Apollo drives his four horses up out of the water where the great axis meets a cross-shaped canal a kilometre and a half long, once the king's private lake.
The Bassin d'Apollon was created between 1668 and 1671. Designed from drawings by Charles Le Brun and executed in gilded lead by the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Tuby, it shows Apollo, the sun god, driving his four-horse chariot as he rises from the water at dawn, an image tied to Louis XIV's identity as the Sun King. The fountain marks the point where the garden's east-west axis meets the head of the Grand Canal, on the site of an earlier Pond of the Swans of 1639.
The cruciform Grand Canal was dug between 1668 and 1679; its long arm measures about 1,500 metres, the transverse arm roughly 1,000 metres, and the water surface some 23 hectares. Louis XIV kept a flotilla of small boats and Venetian gondolas here for boating parties. The canal's low point also served as a drainage basin for the gardens' water system. Rowing boats can still be rented on it today.
Did you know? Apollo and his horses look like marble or gold, but the whole group is gilded lead, cast by Jean-Baptiste Tuby in the 1660s and re-gilded many times since to keep its dawn shine.
How long is a visit to The Apollo Fountain and the Grand Canal?
Set aside roughly ~45 min for The Apollo Fountain and the Grand Canal. That covers a good look and the narrated story, and because you set the pace you can always stay on.
Is The Apollo Fountain and the Grand Canal worth your time?
The Apollo Fountain and the Grand Canal is among the 15 narrated highlights the Gingerguide team chose for Versailles, so it is worth a look. Hear the story for the context, then ask the AI guide for anything more.
Nearby stops in Versailles
Day 2 of the Versailles in 2 days itinerary →
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Hear the story of The Apollo Fountain and the Grand Canal
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