[As Artnet reports, in addition to experiencing the surviving palace and grounds, a presence-evoking virtual version of long-lost monuments at the Palace of Versailles is now available to visitors. See the original story for four different pictures and the Palace website for more information about the Lost Gardens of the Sun King VR experience. –Matthew]

[Image: Source: Château de Versailles]

The Lost Monuments of Versailles Are Revived in a New V.R. Experience

Visitors will discover digital reconstructions of the palace’s lost menagerie for exotic animals and its iconic hedge maze, known as the labyrinth.

By Jo Lawson-Tancred, European News Reporter
February 28, 2025

They may not have invented time travel just yet, but thanks to new technological advances we are one step closer to feeling as though we have gone back in time. This spring, visitors to the Château de Versailles, once home to French royals and aristocrats, will be invited to try a new immersive virtual reality (V.R.) experience that will plant them right in the midst of the historic monument’s lost spaces.

The magnificent palace is already a portal to the past, its splendor immediately evoking a bygone era of 18th-century extravagance that eventually met its downfall with the French revolution in 1789. After Versailles became the seat of France’s court in 1682, the ensuing succession of kings Louis enhanced it, remodeling facades, expanding private apartments, and filling the halls with priceless art.

Most of these monuments and spaces have survived, and are visited by some 10 million tourists each year. Sadly, other historically significant treasures have been lost. These include the Royal Menagerie, the Labyrinth Grove, and the Grotto of Tethys. Centuries later, they have been digitally reconstructed for the new, official V.R. experience, co-produced by the Château de Versailles, art and tech platform VIVE Arts, immersive experiences creator GEDEON Experiences, and Small Creative.

“Scientific innovation has always been part of the history of Versailles, from the most precise clocks to the first hot air balloon flights,” said president of the Château de Versailles, Christophe Leribault. “Now, the introduction of virtual reality not only seamlessly continues this legacy but it also allows us to explore a part of Versailles that was thought to be lost forever.”

Visitors will experience the new recreated stone structure and vistas with the use of mobile headsets. They will be guided by the imagined voice of 16th-century landscape architect André Le Nôtre, principal gardener under king Louis XIV, who will bring to life the role that leisure, architecture, and the governance of nature played within the establishment of power and royal ambition. As he does so, visitors will be invited to roam the gardens and explore the digital reconstructions from different angles.

The Labyrinth is one of the palace’s most mourned features designed by Le Nôtre, and its recreation demonstrates how archival documentation and archaeological remains can be combined with cutting-edge technology to bring back what was once lost. The original maze contained 39 painted, polychrome fountains based on Aesop’s fables, but these were sadly destroyed in 1776 and replaced with an English style, which preferred a curated naturalism over the more formal, manicured, patterned look.

The richness of the Labyrinth is known to us today via a dedicated 1675 document illustrated with engravings by Sebastian LeClerc and written by Charles Perrault. And now, of course, by V.R.

Another site that has been recreated with the new technology is the Grotto of Thétys, a freestanding structure north of the palace that contained niches featuring sculptures related to the myth of Apollo, who rested at the cave of the sea nymph Thetis. It was not just an object for contemplation, but played a practical role in the complex hydraulic system that supplied the gardens with water from a reservoir that was supported by the grotto’s roof.

The third resurrected site is the Menagerie, which was home to birds and exotic animals like parrots, ostriches, and even an elephant. It was never intentionally destroyed, but was neglected by Louis XV and by around 1750, the inhabitants were living freely among the ruins. Most were eventually transferred to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. After the French revolution, the building fell into a further state of extreme disrepair and eventually disappeared. A few traces can still be seen on aerial photographs.

The integration of emerging technologies like V.R. and A.R. in museums and heritage sites has so far proved popular with audiences. Last year, another immersive V.R. experience provided by VIVE Arts helped the Musée d’Orsay in Paris break attendance records with its “Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise” exhibition.

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“Versailles: Lost Gardens of the Sun King” is a 25-minute virtual reality location-based entertainment experience offered by Château de Versailles from March 25 through January 4, 2026.