Square des Francine

Square des Francine is a public park created from a former watering pool for horses, situated at the edge of the Avenue de Sceaux in Versailles, France. In 2016 the pool was transformed into a geometrical shrubbery park with a playground for children around a fountain.[1]

Square des Francine
Square des Francine as seen from the Avenue de Sceaux
General information
TypePublic park with a fountain
AddressAvenue de Sceaux
Town or cityVersailles
CountryFrance
Coordinates48°47′50″N 2°07′53″E
Construction startedunder Louis XIV of France
RenovatedSpring 2016

The Francines were the family who over several generations created and oversaw the hydraulic system that ran the many fountains in the garden of Versailles during the 17th and 18th centuries. The newly created fountain is named in their honour.[2]

History

Originally, the Square des Francine was a vacant lot in the royal domain and dominated by the Gobert reservoirs, which was transformed into the Jardin des Etangs Gobert (Gobert Pond Garden) in 2014.

In 1808, renovations by the architect Jean-Prospèr Marital created a drinking trough 32m in diameter surrounded by a stone wall and a paved ground for receiving horses, and a wall built to hide the view from the Palace of Versailles[3]

In 1934, the field around the horse watering pool was registered in Monuments historiques (national heritage site in France) as "Abreuvoir Louis XIV" (Horse-watering-pool of Louis XIV).[4]

During World War II, the original construction was destroyed leaving only the semicircular wall seen today.[5]

Between 1955 and 1957, the city of Versailles developed the site into a public park with a pond of 80m2 surrounded by 4 wings of playing zone and the ring formed walking place around the wings.[3]

Between 2012 and 2014, as part of a development plan for the Versailles Chantiers area, the semicircular wall was renovated. The rest of the area was also developed and the Square des Francine was opened to the public in 2016.

Structure of the Square des Francine
  • a semicircular paved wall at the edge of South-East
  • Inside of the wall, the shrubbery is geometrically planted, and some benches are placed
  • the pond has been removed and replaced by a dry fountain
  • The north-west side is a playground for children
  • Embedded in the centre of the wall is a plaque dedicated by the Mayor dated 1808 , surmounted by the Versailles coat of arms.
  • Fountain at the Square des Francine
  • Plaque dedicated to the Mayor

Movie filmed at Square des Francine

The project of the development of Versailles Chantiers area (2012-2019)

The city of Versailles develop the building of the SNCF train station of Versailles Chantiers and its area for:

  • The Jardin des Etangs Gobert (2014)
  • The Square des Francine (2016)
  • The extended part of the SNCF station of Versailles Chantiers (2016)
  • Two new buildings for offices, apartments, shops and services (2019)
  • A bus station and a car parking (2019)
  • A new head office of Nature et Découverte (2019)

References
  1. "Ville de Versailles: Versailles : le square des Francine deviendra un labyrinthe végétal". www.versailles.fr. Archived from the original on 2016-09-21. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  2. "Les Francine". Château de Versailles (in French). 2016-10-06. Retrieved 2017-08-04.
  3. "les Principales étapes de la construction du Square" (PDF). www.Versailles.fr. Mairie de Versailles. September 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  4. Base Mérimée: PA00087774, Ministère français de la Culture. (in French)
  5. "Le Square des Francine va retrouver ses bancs publics". les Soirées de Paris. April 2015. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
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