The Museum
In the historic grounds of Marly le Roi, the Musée-Promenade with its collections of paintings, drawings, sculptures, furniture and the decorative arts traces the history and development of the now-disappeared royal estate.

In the 1679, in the marshy valley of Marly, Louis XIV commisioned Jules Hardouin-Mansart to build a "fairy palace" in spectacular and highly original style, with one central pavilion and 12 others dotted here and there, around the great pool in a blend of art and nature. This country residence was reserved for specially chosen guests and was the setting for dazzling festivities.

The Museum shows the estate at its height, in the reign of Louis XIV, but also its destiny under his successors Louis XV and Louis XVI. It features members of the royal court such as Mme du Barry, and famous artists of this period, such as Boucher, Mme Vigée-Lebrun or Nicolas Ledoux.
The staff of the museum organize temporary exhibition, guided tour and activities for children. Ask them for further information, if you need to organize guided tour for a group you can also ask to the Tourist Office.

 

The Park

This former royal estate was a somptuous retreat, built to an unusual design by Jules Hardouin-Mansart on demand of the Sun King, Louis XIV. The estate was destroyed in the early years of the 19th century, and only the ground remain. A remarkable site in the edge of the marly forest, it still hold reminders of its past splendour : the great avenues and lines of trees that bear witness to the original layout, the ponds, the fragment of architecture that remain, and the outline on the ground of the château and its four appartments ; in the exquisitely fine water trough, on the downstream edge of the park, still intact and with its two pools surmounted by the famous masterpiece of Guillaume Coustou, the Marly horses (originals are in the Louvre museum).