"This comprehensive volume documents for the first time twenty-one chateaux and pavilions commissioned by Louis XIV, France's great builder-king. These royal buildings, and over forty architectural ornaments enriching their gardens, are illustrated in breathtaking watercolors by authors Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Dams.

Depicted are several of the most influential structures in all of Western architecture, such as the palace of Versailles and the magnificent lost complex at Marly, which contemporaries deemed a veritable "Paradise on Earth." The authors give full attention to unrealized projects and depict completed structures not as they stand today, if indeed they stand at all, but as they were originally designed by the leading architects of the day."--BOOK JACKET.