Potager du Roi (King's Kitchen Garden), Versailles

King's Kitchen Garden was conceived under King Louis XIV between 1678 and 1683, through the vision of Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie. Its purpose was clear yet ambitious: to supply the royal court with fresh fruits and vegetables, all year round, including varieties out of season.

The site chosen for the garden was challenging. It was originally marshy land, known as the “stinking pond”, near the area of the Swiss Pond. La Quintinie and his team had to drain it, install infrastructure, bring in quality soil from surrounding hills, and build high walls and terraces to exploit micro-climates. All this so that fruits and vegetables-which normally thrived only in ideal conditions-could flourish.

Architecturally, the garden reflects French Baroque principles as much as any formal garden of Versailles. There is the “Great Square”, a large central square divided into sixteen smaller beds around a circular pond and fountain, surrounded by terraces for observation. Around this core there are a number of enclosed garden chambers and orchards with espaliered fruit trees, walls to shelter from wind or cold, and greenhouses to force or protect more delicate plants.

Since 1995 it has been managed by the French national school for landscape architecture, which uses it as both a site of conservation and a living garden. Its produce still reaches local markets, and the garden is used for research, education, and innovation-particularly in how to grow food sustainably in an urban context. It also forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing of Versailles.