284 



GARDEN CRAFT IN EUROPE 



hy Henry IV of Castile in 1450. The shooting lodge took its name form 

 a granja, or grange, and ever since the early part of the eighteenth century, 

 when it was much enlarged by PhiHp V, who came to the throne in 1701 

 and with true Bourbon instinct wished to surround himself with all that was 

 best in art. Being only about 60 miles distant from Madrid, La Granja has 



always been a favourite sum- 

 mer palace of the Spanish 

 monarchs. 



Both chateau and gar- 

 dens are French in style and 

 are an imitation on a smaller 

 scale of those at Versailles, 

 but the fountains, the unique 

 and crowning joy of La 

 Granja, are far more real 

 than those of the celebrated 

 French original. Great 

 reservoirs, the largest of 

 which is modestly called el 

 Mar, the ocean, are placed 

 high up on the mountain 

 side, and collecting an abun- 

 dance of water from streams 

 and springs lead a vast 

 volume to the famous cas- 

 cade, Ce?iador, down to the 

 garden level. Thence the 

 Avater is led away to all 

 manner of wonderful foun- 

 tains and surprises. The 

 great fountain, whose like 

 is hardly to be found in Europe, represents Fame mounted on Pegasus 

 and has a single huge jet of water rising to a height of 132 feet. In 

 another spot, called the Plazuela de las ocho Calles, eight fountains unite 

 to form a sort of Ionic temple, with columns of white marble. There 

 are twenty-six great fountains in all ; the finest are known as los Bailos de 



ALCAZAR , SEVILLE: PAVILION of CHARLES ,V. 



