Louis XIV ordered André le Nôtre to build the gardens years before the rebuilding of the château itself, and the park and the gardens truly disclose the significance of the palace, the court, and the nature of absolutism. Le Nôtre erected more than 50 fountains and hundreds of sculptures, and there are overall 365 hectares of gardens. Louis XIV embedded his royal authority in the aesthetic of the royal gardens, and he made it both material manifestations and symbolic legitimations of his divine, magical, and scientific powers (Sahlins 238). Gardens, of course, exist in physical spaces, but symbolism in these gardens has been preserved and emphasized, and even after the reign of Louis XIV has come and passed, a fragment of what was once a populated
