Brief history
- By Monique Mosser, art historian, engineer at the CNRS, teaches at the Ecole d'architecture de Versailles

Recent historical research published in the book Courances, Flammarion, 2003, has come to challenge many of the accepted ideas about the creation of Courances, especially concerning André Le Nôtre's contribution to this seventeenth century garden and the supposed exclusive restoration by the Duchêne (father and son) in the early twentieth century…


1- The Nappes, 2- The «Lady of Courances» by Beaubrun, 3- The castle in 1872, 4- The Fer à Cheval, 5- The Baigneuse,

A more in-depth analysis of historical documents has brought to light a series of facts that explain the preserved beauty of a park which, at the start of this, the twenty-first century, reveals itself as a highly successful synthesis of French garden history. Indeed, what is most striking is the permanence and longevity - more than five centuries - of the main formal layout created in the second half of the sixteenth century. Each generation has left their mark, refl ecting the changing tastes in garden design, without ever disrupting the overall harmony.