Being a finance minister is no simple job at all, as plenty of politicians around the world can attest, their promising political careers having come to an end after a stint in that office. But while the worst that can happen to a failed finance minister today is warming the opposition benches (best case) or living comfortably off a budget pension (worst case), in royal France a failure at the finance ministry could end in death (if you don’t believe me, go ahead and read the next post). Usually what brought down a finance minister was political intrigue, but only one finance minister lost everything because of a château. And what a château…
The History of Vaux-le-Vicomte
Nicolas Fouquet (1613-1680) had everything a 17th-century Frenchman could dream of: money, influence, and a meteoric career that brought him to the office of finance minister of France in 1653. His successful career led him to adopt the squirrel as his personal emblem, along with the Latin motto “Quo non ascendet,” meaning “To what heights will he not climb.”
But as Fouquet’s career climbed to new heights, so did his ambition go to his head, and in 1661 the finance minister climbed one step too high. About 20 years before the event that would change his life, Fouquet had bought the lands of Vaux-le-Vicomte, and once he had amassed enough money and prestige, he decided to build himself a château. For the first time in history, three outstanding professionals joined forces: Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) the painter, Louis Le Vau (1612-1670) the architect, and André Le Nôtre (1613-1700) the garden designer, and together they created a château and garden that formed a single work, every part of it blending together in perfect harmony. The result was spectacular, but the château had one small flaw: it was too magnificent.
In August 1661, a sort of “housewarming ceremony” was held for the new château, attended by Louis XIV. The ceremony included a ballet, various performances, and ended with a spectacular fireworks display. But Louis XIV was not pleased at all. He simply could not stand the fact that his own finance minister had built himself a more beautiful château than any he himself had ever owned. The man who knew exactly how to exploit the king’s jealousy was Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683), who had long coveted Fouquet’s position.
Three hundred and fifty years before any modern politician made a career out of asking “Where’s the money?”, Colbert coined that very slogan, and it helped him become finance minister too. The money was quickly found, and it turned out that Fouquet had previously taken several million livres from the kingdom’s funds into his own personal account (which was fairly common at the time among most finance ministers and tax collectors). Fouquet’s fate was sealed. On August 18, Louis XIV sent d’Artagnan (Charles de Batz de Castelmore, comte d’Artagnan, c. 1611-1673, who was, incidentally, a completely real person, on whom Dumas later based his story “The Three Musketeers”) to arrest Fouquet on the spot.
And so, as Voltaire (1694-1778) wrote a hundred years later, “On August 17, at six in the evening, Fouquet was king of France. At two in the morning, he was nobody at all…” After a long and complicated legal process, Fouquet managed to avoid the death penalty, thanks to the many connections he had made at the royal court, but he was sent to spend the rest of his life imprisoned in the fortress of Pignerol, where he died in 1680.
Fouquet, by the way, was not the first finance minister to pour a fortune into a private château. A few years before him, Michel Particelli d’Émery (1596-1650) did the same, expanding the Château de Tanlay in Burgundy. The difference is that Particelli died while still in office and left the château to his family.
The Rebirth of Vaux-le-Vicomte
Louis XIV, who as mentioned could not stand the fact that such a beautiful château existed that he himself had not built, decided to close the château and take the paintings, the tapestries, the statues, and even the orange trees… He also decided to hire the entire team behind Vaux-le-Vicomte and demand that they create an even bigger and more magnificent château.
The result was Versailles. But Vaux-le-Vicomte did not remain orphaned and shuttered forever. Over the centuries that followed, it was bought and sold by various noble families. Since many of its owners didn’t live there and let it fall into neglect, the château and its gardens gradually deteriorated. The château was rescued in 1875, when it was bought by Alfred Sommier (1838-1908), who restored it to its original splendor.
The château has been run by Sommier’s descendants ever since, and in my opinion it is one of the most beautiful and (relatively) least known châteaux in France. So if you’re traveling around Île-de-France, I highly recommend visiting on a Saturday evening in season (roughly May to early October), when a romantic candlelight tour is held there. And if that hasn’t convinced you yet, feel free to watch the video below.
Booking Tickets for Vaux-le-Vicomte
As with every major monument in France, I strongly recommend booking tickets for Vaux-le-Vicomte in advance (especially for the candlelight tours). Here are some of the most popular ticket options:
- Admission ticket to the château and gardens, if you’re getting there on your own.
- A day trip to Fontainebleau and Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte including round-trip transportation from Paris, note that this tour does not include a live guide (only an audio guide).
- Dinner and candlelight tour, a bit pricey but without a doubt the best way to experience all the beauty this château has to offer.
- Dinner and candlelight tour plus round-trip limousine transportation to the château, a terrifyingly expensive experience, but if you want to make the maximum impression on your partner, this is the way to do it.
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