One of the first garden decorations undertaken was the Grotto of Thetis, a green alcove beautified by exquisite marbles and a fountain that stirred the muse of La Fontaine to sing.  This graceful conceit, dominated by Apollo seated among the nymphs of Venus, was destroyed when Mansard built the north wing of the palace; the groups were removed to adorn other sites.  While the vast pleasure-house was in course of construction, each year marked the creation of new fountains and woods.  In 1664, the Parterre du Nord was laid out below the windows of the north wing; in 1667 and 1668 the Theatre d’Eau, the Maze, the Star, the Grand Canal, the Avenue of Waters, the Cascade of Diana and the Pyramid on the North Parterre, and the Green Carpet (Tapis-Vert) spread out in view of the windows of the rear facade of the palace.  In 1670 and the three succeeding years the low-lying Marais (fen) was constructed next to the Parterre of the Fountain of Latona, to meet the wishes of the King’s favorite, Madame de Montespan.  While she was in power “people spoke of the Marais as one of the marvels of the gardens, but it was undoubtedly considered less wonderful after her fall,” a writer comments.  “In the center stood a large oak surounded by an artificial marsh, bordered with reeds and grasses, and containing plants and a number of white swans.  From the swans, from the reeds and grasses, and from the leaves and branches of the oak, thousands of little jets of water leaped forth, falling like fine rain upon the masses of natural vegetation that flourished amid the artificial.  At the sides of the bosquet there were two tables of marble, on which a collation was served when the marquise came to her grove to see the waters play.  In 1704 the King ordered Mansard to destroy the Marais and transform the bosquet into the Baths of Apollo.”

In 1674 the Royal Isle came into being; and the next year the Arch of Triumph and the Three Fountains, between the Avenue of Waters and the chateau.  In the thicket of the Three Fountains were “an immense number of small jets of water, leaping from basins at the sides and forming an arch of water overhead, beneath which one could walk without being wet. . . .  The Arch of Triumph filled the end of the bosquet; it was placed on an estrade with marble steps, and was preceded by four lofty obelisks of gilded iron in which the water leaped and fell in sheets of crystal.  The fountain itself was composed of three porticos of gilded iron, with large jets in the center of each, while seven jets leaped up from the basins above the porticos, and all the waters rushed down over the steps of marble.  In addition, twenty-two vases at the sides of the bosquet threw jets into the air.  ’Without having seen it,’ says Blondel, ’it is impossible to imagine the wonderful effect produced by this decoration.’”

The Orangery was the chief work begun in 1678, and in the following year the superb Basin of Neptune and the Lake of the Swiss Guards were commenced.  In the years 1680-1685 workmen were busy digging, laying pipes, planting and decorating the Salle de Bal, or outdoor salon of festivities, the Parterre of Fountains, and the Colonnade, where amid marble columns and balustrades the Court often came to sup and make merry.