Christophe Thomas, Marly’s head gardener | Saint Germain Boucles de Seine

The job:

I am Christophe Thomas, head gardener of the Marly estate, attached to the public establishment of the Château de Versailles, under the heritage and gardens department. My main role is to conserve and embellish this 17th-century heritage site, so that it can be passed on to future generations. This mission also includes a cultural mediation component: organising tours, raising public awareness of the garden’s history and architecture.

A career guided by passion

I’ve always had a passion for gardens. After initial training as a gardener, I continued my studies with a Masters in Historic Gardens, Heritage and Landscape at the École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Versailles. My interest in plant architecture led me to work on the innovative André Citroën Park project, before joining the Élysée Gardens, where I worked for twenty years. In 2019, I joined the Château de Versailles, with a clear aim: to restore the Marly estate to all its splendour.

What makes Marly unique

Marly is an exceptional site, a “sleeping beauty” marked by history. Its landscape composition, with its large boulingrin and its perspective towards the Seine, is a rarity in the Île-de-France region. The relative neglect of the site for a century and a half has led to the development of a unique range of flora, revealed by a survey carried out in 2022. Certain plants, such as terrestrial orchids, are rare and protected. Today, we practice differentiated management of the park: some areas are intensively maintained, while others are left to evolve naturally to preserve biodiversity.

A vivid memory

During the confinement in 2020, when the site was closed to the public, I was alone in Marly, surrounded by deer and foxes that roamed freely in the middle of the day. It was an unforgettable time, a mixture of wonder and frustration at not being able to share this beauty with visitors.

Marly and the Saint Germain Boucles de Seine area

The link between Marly, Versailles and Saint-Germain-en-Laye is deeply rooted in the history of Louis XIV. We work closely with the Musée du Domaine Royal de Marly and local associations, such as La Société du Vieux Marly and Les Amis du Domaine de Marly, to promote this heritage. We also host landscape schools, encouraging students to propose contemporary projects that incorporate the site’s history.

A place close to my heart

Beyond Marly, I have a particular affection for the parkland town of Le Vésinet, a landscape utopia achieved in the 19th century. With its five hundred hectares and exceptional hydraulic network, it is a unique example of a garden city, an avant-garde vision that continues to inspire today.

©Lesmeleagres Parc De Marly Credit Otpdi

©Statuary Parc De Marlyleroi Credit Otisgbs

The Marly estate

'Sire, Marly': such were the words to be pronounced by those who wished to be part of the privileged few permitted by Louis XIV to join him at Marly-le-Roi.

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In the Spring of 1679, the Sun King created an architectural masterpiece and formal 17th-century gardens at Marly, which he wanted to become both a pleasure palace and a retreat from the Court.
Located in a small, steep-sided valley, the royal residence is visible only once you have entered the estate. It is hidden, near the village of Marly, in the forest. The architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart, who was engaged for the work, created an estate composed of several pavilions spread out along two axes. In the centre, a pavilion housed the King and his family; in front of it, on either side of a reflecting pool, were twelve pavilions to accommodate guests.
Building work took more than five years. Louis XIV first visited the place in November 1683 and stayed there for the first time in 1686.
Rivers, pools and fountains abound at Marly, thanks to the proximity of the Seine and to the famous and colossal 'machine' positioned on the river – a masterpiece of hydraulic engineering of its time, constructed from 1682 and operational for pumping water by 1685. The quantity of water enabled the King to produce waterfalls, which he had been unable to do at Versailles. Such water features included La Rivière (1696–7), a gigantic cascade made from white marble situated to the south of the royal pavilion, and La Cascade champêtre, constructed in the Bosquet du Levant (1701). To the north, a monumental horse-watering pool (1698–9) was built to serve as a symbolic entrance to the lower gardens, where it can still be seen today.

In addition to Jules Hardouin-Mansart and Charles Le Brun, other pre-eminent artists contributed to enchantment of the site. Today, their works can be seen in the Cour Marly at the Louvre.
The extravagance of the water features, buildings and gardens made the estate, according to contemporary visitors, 'the most beautiful place in the world'.

Although the estate itself no longer exists, you can still walk in the park and admire the statuary, or stroll alongside the large reflecting pool.

In the Spring of 1679, the Sun King created an architectural masterpiece and formal 17th-century gardens at Marly, which he wanted to become both a pleasure palace and a retreat from the Court.
Located in a small, steep-sided valley, the royal residence is visible only once you have entered the estate. It is hidden, near the village of Marly, in the forest. The architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart, who was engaged for the work, created an estate composed of several pavilions spread out along...

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