La machine de Marly : un spectacle technologique

• Main Author: Thomas Brandstetter
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles 2006-03-01
• Series: Bulletin du Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/crcv/11907

The Machine of Marly was in use more than 200 years. During that time its reception changed dramatically. The article concentrates on two episodes of this history. First, it shows how the machine, when it was built, was celebrated as a monument to Louis XIV. In the seventeenth century it was not so much seen as a technical apparatus but rather as an architectonical structure bearing witness to the power of the king. Its representation in odes, architectural guides and descriptions of voyages aimed not at elucidating its function but at exhibiting its symbolic value. The second part of the article shows how the reception changed during the eighteenth century. In physiocratic writings it was described as a tool that could be used for different purposes. The critique of the machine is a critique of its use: it was charged with serving only the pleasure of the king instead of contributing to the welfare of the body politic. The article wants to make a contribution to the cultural history of the Machine of Marly by focusing on this apparatus’s changing meanings.