Versailles　

A temporary stadium with a capacity of 30,000 people and two giant screens will be set up in the French-style gardens, and an integrated equestrian cross-country event will be held along the Grand Canal.

The competition area will be flanked on both sides by plantings reminiscent of a French-style garden, and top-class athletes are expected to perform beautifully and gracefully against the backdrop of the opulent palace.

One day in the 17th century, King Louis XIV was invited to the inauguration of the newly built Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte by his treasurer Fouquet.　Louis XIV, the king, was shocked by the extravagance of the château, which had been completed by his vassal, Fouquet.　Outraged by the castle, which was the height of luxury without him, he had Fouquet disqualified and thrown in jail.

Louis XIV decided to build a castle far superior to Fouquet’s Vaux-le-Vicomte castle.

He entrusted André Le Nôtre (architect of the château of Fouquet) and Charles Le Brun (designer of the Hall of Mirrors) with the construction of the Palace and gardens of Versailles.

Versailles was home to the hunting lodge of his father, Louis XIV.　The land was surrounded by marshland, which made construction difficult.

It took more than 40 years of design and construction to enlarge the site vastly, to bring in huge amounts of earth to build the foundation with fill, to move the forest, to change the flow of the river for the fountain, and to lift the water from the Seine to the top of the hill with a huge pump.

The Petit Trianon Palace was born of the King’s passion for botany and agriculture. Louis XV had an experimental farm (zoo), botanical gardens, and greenhouses built in the area.

Marie-Antoinette, queen of Louis XVI, visited here with her children, creating small villages where they could experience agriculture and other activities and enjoy the healing power of nature.