The Palace of Versailles Musical Fountain Shows

The fountains are the key highlights of the Palace of Versailles.

Although the palace is far from the natural water source, over 50 fountains and 620 water jets are scattered throughout its gardens.

During the high season (29 March to 31 October), these fountains come to life on certain special days with Musical Fountains Shows.

There are different types of fountains shown at the Palace, which visitors can enjoy.

This article will explain everything about the Palace of Versailles Fountains shows, from their dates and timings to their types and tickets. 

Palace of Versailles Fountain Show Timings

The Versailles fountains have a complex system of reservoirs, pipes and hydraulic mechanisms designed to operate without electricity. 

Water was originally pumped using windmills and horsepower. Due to water supply challenges, the fountains have run intermittently over the centuries.

However, the fountain shows timings varies months to months, so it’s better to stay updated with the best times:

Musical Fountains Shows

•  Every Saturday and Sunday from March 29 to October 31, 2024 (peak season).
• Every Tuesday from May 7 to August 15.
• Groves open from 9 am to 7 pm
• Musical displays from 10 am to 7 pm

Night Fountains Shows

• Every Saturday evening from November 1 to March 28, 2024 (low season).
• Watering of the Gardens from 8.30 pm until the end of the event.
• Fireworks display in front of the Grand Canal at the Apollo’s chariot fountain closes the evening (except for special event nights).

Exceptional Nights

• Fire Night Show: Thursday, August 15, 2024, from 8.30 pm to 11.05 pm
• Electro Night Fountains Show: Saturday, September 21, 2024, from 8.30 pm to 11.45 pm

Palace of Versailles Magical Fountain Show Tickets 

Tickets are required to access the gardens on days when the Musical Fountains Shows or Night Fountains Shows are running. 

Visitors can stroll through the illuminated gardens and see the fountains and water features come alive to the rhythm of baroque music.

The show features lighting effects, water displays, and a grand finale fireworks display over the Grand Canal.

Passport Ticket

The Passport ticket provides access to the entire estate, while the Musical Fountains Show ticket is for the gardens only on show days.

The ticket is valid for one entry into the Gardens through the Palace’s Honour Courtyard or the gates of Little Venice, the Menagerie, Neptune, or the Dragon. 

Please be aware that a second admission is possible only through a gate different from the one used for the first entry.

Night Fountain Show Ticket

Tickets for the Night Fountains Show can be purchased in advance online.

Full-price tickets are €32, with reduced-price tickets available for €28 (for children, students, disabled visitors, etc.).

Tickets are physical and must be collected from the Versailles Tourist Information Office.

Visitors can stroll through the gardens, but no seats are available. Access to the gardens is only through the Cour des Princes entrance.

The ticket does not include access to the Palace of Versailles or other areas of the estate.

Types of Fountain Shows at the Palace

The Versailles Gardens present three separate shows: 

The Versailles Fountain Show, the Versailles Musical Gardens, and Les Grandes Eaux Nocturnes (Versailles Fountains Night Show).

The biggest difference between the two-day concerts at the Versailles Musical Gardens and Musical Fountains is that the fountains at Versailles Musical Gardens do not run.

1. Versailles Fountain Show

The Versailles Fountain Show is our favourite Versailles show. 

You can explore the gardens and woods while listening to Baroque music and seeing the fountains’ water presentations with extraordinary effects.

You can only see the Versailles Fountain Show without the Château or get a combined ticket to the Château of Versailles and Gardens to save money. 

2. Versailles Musical Garden Show

The Musical Gardens Show is not as impressive as the Versailles Fountain Show, but still beautiful. 

You can wander around the world’s largest open-air museum, filled with incredible sculptures, while listening to the enchanting sounds of Baroque music.

This show does not feature the fountain’s water display. 

You can visit the Musical Gardens Show just without the Château or get a combined ticket to the Château of Versailles and Gardens to save money. 

3. The Night Fountain Show

When night falls, the gardens become a magnificent visual and musical experience, with fountains and trees bursting with colourful and dramatic lighting effects. 

This year, lighting and stage-effects artists will again illuminate the gardens and surprise strollers with unexpected installations.

To cap off the evening’s entertainment, there were water features in the Mirror Fountain, lasers streaking across the dark in the Colonnade Grove, and the Groupe Fireworks display in front of the Grand Canal.

How Many Fountains are there in Versailles?

At its peak, there were over 2,400 fountains at the Palace of Versailles, all operated by hand.

Today, only about fifty of these fountains are still working.

One of the most famous fountains is the Neptune Fountain, which has ninety-nine water jets. It features statues of Neptune, Proteus, and Oceanus.

The gardens also feature the Four Seasons Fountains, each representing a different season.

These include the Summer Fountain (Ceres), the Autumn Fountain (Bacchus), the Spring Fountain (Flora), and the Winter Fountain (Saturn).

Another notable fountain is the Apollo Fountain, which depicts Apollo riding his chariot out of the water. This fountain symbolizes the king’s power and majesty.

The water for these fountains comes from the mile-long Grand Canal of Versailles.

Versailles Mountain Map 

All of Versailles’ fountains are located in the Petit Parc. The Petit Parc is free to visit during the low season, which runs from November 1 to March 31.

Best Fountains in Versailles

Here’s a list of the greatest Fountains at Versailles, chosen for their beauty and strategic relevance in water distribution.

Water reservoirs (mirror basins)

The water parterres at the foot of the Château (Mirror Basin) include two water jets. 

Because they were visible from the Palace, King Louis XIV always wanted to observe them in operation.

The basins are surrounded by four groups of two sculptures depicting the major French rivers and their tributaries.

Below the terrace is a large 3,400 m3 water reservoir, created in 1672 to supply the fountains in the Palace of Versailles. 

The water is then delivered to the Latona Fountain or the Salle de Bal. 

This underground area resembles a little water cathedral!

Latona Fountain

This is one of Versailles’ most important fountains, both aesthetically and symbolically, as well as technically.

It tells the narrative of Latona, the mother of Apollo and Diana, who shields her children from the taunts of Lycia’s peasants. 

She begs Jupiter to avenge her, and the deity transforms the population of Lycia into frogs and lizards. 

Latona Fountain also features a parterre with two Lizard Fountains.

It features approximately 70 water jets, each fed by a distinct pipe, resulting in a complicated network of pipes known as “the spider.” 

This civil engineering achievement is unique globally, with most of these pipes dating back to King Louis XIV’s reign!

Apollo Fountain

The Apollo Foutain is another crucial component of the Grande Perspective. 

It has existed since the reign of King Louis XIII and was known as the Lake of the Swans. 

Later, King Louis XIV added the stunning gilded lead depiction of Apollo riding his chariot.

Apollo is the Sun God, one of the 12 Greek Gods of Mount Olympus, and King Louis XIV’s symbol. 

The Apollo Fountain depicts the god emerging from the water, anticipating his daily trip above the earth.

Latona Fountain provides gravity-fed water to the Apollo Fountain.

La Salle de Bal (The Ballroom)

The Salle de Bal is Le Notre’s last groove, designed between 1678 and 1682. It resembles an open-air amphitheatre.

Le Notre made the most of the land’s various elevations by producing a large cascade in which water flows by gravity from reservoirs beneath the Palace’s water beds. 

There used to be a stage or dancing floor in the centre of this ballroom, but it has since disappeared, and the musicians can now be located on top of the amphitheatre.

This Salle de Bal was unsuitable for performances (the cascade is extremely noisy), yet the King hosted several soirées or meals here. 

These dinners were beautiful in the summer, surrounded by a wall of pure water.

The Salle de Bal is closed throughout the winter. It is only accessible during the Versailles Fountain Show.

Enceladus Fountain, Versailles

This is one of Versailles’ most original fountains. 

The Enceladus Fountain, created in 1675, depicts the gigantic Enceladus, buried beneath Mount Olympus’s rocks by the Gods he and his brothers sought to dethrone.

The giant is battling to survive in the fountain, and his pain is recorded by a tremendous water jet that emerges from his mouth like a scream.

Enceladus contains a 23-meter water jet, one of the highest in the gardens. 

This fountain is only accessible during the Versailles Fountain Shows, although the gigantic can be seen from the fence during the off-season.

Apollo’s Bath in Versailles

Hubert Robert, a painter, designed this groove between 1778 and 1781, during King Louis XVI’s reign. 

It consists of three sculptural groups and depicts the care given to Apollo (the Sun God) and his horses following their daytime voyage above the Earth.

‘When the Sun is exhausted and has finished his day in the west

He goes down to Tethys place to rest.

Thus, Louis relaxes in the same way.

From a duty that is repeated every day.

The sculptures were recycled from the Tethys Grotto, which was demolished to build the Palace’s current North Wing and is regarded as a masterpiece of 17th-century French sculpture.

This groove is only accessible during the Versailles Fountain Shows; there is no opportunity to see anything of this fountain during the off-season.

Neptune Fountain

The Neptune Fountain, located in the north of the Petit Parc, emphasizes the garden’s North-South orientation. 

This basin was created during King Louis XIV’s reign but was only completed with the final sculptures during King Louis XV.

The central sculpture group depicts the Gods Neptune and Amphitrite, while the other two sculpture groups depict Proteus and the Ocean, each with various aquatic animals.

The Neptune Fountain is renowned for the number, size, and diversity of water jets that surround the lead sculptures.

And the historic jet finale after the afternoon is the climax of the Versailles Fountain Show.

The Neptune Fountain receives water from the other fountains positioned above. 

Thanks to its 99 water jets, the basin transforms into a water wall, shutting the perspective beside the Dragon Fountain directly behind it.

How did fountains work at Versailles?

The Versailles fountains are a work of art and technique that necessitates a large amount of water. 

In 1715, when all the fountains were operational, they consumed a total of 69,000 muids (one muid is equivalent to approximately 130 litres) of water in three hours!

The Château’s placement on top of a hill, far from any water supply, was unsuitable for such a large water basins and fountains project. 

As a result, water supply was an ongoing issue at Versailles.

This technological difficulty necessitated the collaboration of hydraulic engineers, architects, and fountain masters.

They had to consider getting water to Versailles, redistributing it to the fountains, and generating surprising water effects to pique visitors’ interest.

The first solution to this water problem was building an artificial pond near the Château, the Lac de Clagny. 

From there, water was pumped into reservoirs in the Domain of Versailles using water mills, windmills, or pumps propelled by horse carousels. 

This early hydraulic system made filling the dozen or so existing fountains feasible, and King Louis XIV inaugurated the first Grandes Eaux de Versailles on August 17, 1666.

But the King wanted to add more fountains and water jets, which required more water. 

In subsequent years, hydraulic engineers added more water to the Domain of Versailles by building other artificial ponds. 

Bucket windmills, siphons, and aqueducts completed the network that transported water from the ponds to the reservoirs of the Domain of Versailles.

The wooden pipes were eventually replaced with lead pipes, followed by cast iron. 

The hydrant man acquired a crucial function in the palace, essential to the fountains’ proper operation, to the point where the king elevated certain of them.

Water Supply in Versailles Today

Versailles Park’s waters now function in a closed circuit, consuming 4,500 m3 per hour. 

35 kilometres of piping have remained intact since the 17th century, and a crew of thirteen hydrant men manages this circuit.

An electric pump draws water from the Grand Canal and feeds the park’s reservoirs near the palace. 

Rainwater helps to complete this system. The several Fountains of Versailles are fed with water by gravity.

The majority of the fountains are still opened manually by hydrant workers. 

During the Versailles Fountain Show, you can see them roaming around the fountains, and they still use the same keys to activate and close the fountains as the Sun King did!

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Featured Image: Nationalgeographic.com