The Désert de Retz is a landscape of over 17 uniquely styled follies created from 1774 to 1789 by aristocrat François Racine de Monville. The follies range widely in architectural style, size, and make reference to a wide range of art historical eras. (...)
The Désert de Retz is a landscape of over 17 uniquely styled follies created from 1774 to 1789 by aristocrat François Racine de Monville. The follies range widely in architectural style, size, and make reference to a wide range of art historical eras. A visitor to the Désert de Retz encounters structures that evoke ruins of a Gothic church, an Egyptian-style pyramid that served as an ice house, a decaying Roman Temple of Pan, an open-air theatre, a teakwood pavilion named the Maison Chinoise, and a series of rustic altars. The Column House, Monville’s main residence, is located at the center of the garden. This enormous Tuscan column, measuring 80 feet high and 50 feet wide, features a spiral staircase that connects five floors and approximately 20 rooms. One side of the column rises higher than the other, creating the appearance of a jagged edge hiding the glass ceiling behind its façade.
