Parc de Bagatelle

Parc de Bagatelle in the western Bois de Boulogne was created in 1775 in just 64 days because the Comte d'Artois had bet his sister-in-law Marie Antoinette that a small pleasure pavilion could be built in that time. Architect Francois-Joseph Belanger and Scottish gardener Thomas Blaikie laid out an early English-style landscape garden around the little Chateau de Bagatelle, with grottoes, follies and a Chinese pagoda. The City of Paris has owned the estate since 1905 and hosts the celebrated Concours International de Roses Nouvelles every June. About 1,200 rose varieties bloom on its famous beds, with iris and water-lily gardens nearby. For visitors weary of mass-tourism Paris, this is one of the city's quietest and most romantic parks.