What would the gardens of the Palace of Versailles be without the waterfalls, fountains, ponds and water games! The fountains are fed by 35 kilometers of pipes, 80% of which are from the period. Gilles Bultez is responsible, with his team, for the proper functioning of the entire hydraulic network and the quality control of the water games as in the time of Louis XIV.
How to put together aesthetics, heritage, hydraulics, function, use? What we think is beautiful for us is not necessarily so for someone else. We are not the only ones working!
Gilles Bultez, fountain worker. Trained as a hydraulic engineer, he arrived on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles with one objective: to put technology at the service of heritage. ” Here, in Versailles, it’s really a mix that doesn’t exist anywhere else. We always have to find the balance, knowing where we stop in catering. You have to have this culture of heritage, which I learned here by working with architects. The importance of detail, of the color of a joint, of the color of a stone. An engineer, he wants it to work but it’s not as simple as that. It works but we can also go further, modernize, if necessary, but we have to stick to a result that reflects what the king could see. »
One of the missions of the fountain technicians is also to ensure the quality of the water. To fight against the proliferation of aquatic plants Gilles Bultez favors the presence of certain fish. “ In 2006, we were invaded by aquatic plants and we couldn’t cope! I didn’t want to use chemicals because it’s always more and that doesn’t solve the problem. This concerns each body of water and especially the Grand Canal with its 23 hectares of water. When I arrived, the plants were cut with a harvester in the water, whereas now with the fish we don’t do anything! It is they who eat when the aquatic plants develop. It’s suitable: one type of plant, one type of fish.»
The fountain technicians restore the circuit and repair leaks detected in summer when the hydraulic circuit is empty, in winter. They carry out adjustment and maintenance work so that the jets are not clogged in the summer and that the water effects are perfect. Winter work is therefore highlighted in the summer in the operation of large waters. ” There are nine fountain workers throughout the year to maintain, repair and clean the jets. And for the preparation of the shows, we call on people from the castle whom we train to lend us a hand because there have to be fifteen of us at the weekend. Everything in the groves, everything in Trianon is done by hand, so the weekend helpers each have three or four valves to open and close several times. They love it! Usually, they are in offices and, there, they discover the profession of fountain worker.»
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