For a few weeks, the Château de Versailles, with its Grand Canal and gardens designed by André Le Nôtre, will become the epicenter of world sport, welcoming over 250 horses and 200 riders.

With its 800 hectares of gardens and 350,000 trees, this royal site will offer spectators a unique experience, combining sport, culture and heritage!  

It took over a year of work to transform the park into an Olympic venue, while preserving the majesty of the site, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. Despite the severe winter weather, which delayed the progress of the work, the result is worthy of the event: Olympic! 

Olympic-style facilities! 

A training arena for the horses, a veterinary polyclinic, stable tents... everything here has been designed with animal welfare in mind! For competition purposes, the site has been entirely remodeled to accommodate the various equestrian events: dressage (July 30 to August 4), show jumping (August 1 to 6) and eventing (July 27 to 29). One of the highlights will be the Gué de la Ménagerie, which will serve as a major obstacle in the cross-country event (July 28). A challenging 5.3 km course with 28 obstacles, including 3 fords!  

For the show jumping and dressage events, 16,500-seat grandstands have been installed on the Étoile Royale site, facing the Grand Canal. Once again, everything has been designed to ensure that the stands blend harmoniously into the landscape, without spoiling the view or obscuring the show! 

A nod to history 

The development of the Étoile Royale for the Olympic Games is also an opportunity to highlight a part of the history of the Versailles estate. This site, designed by André Le Nôtre in the time of Louis XIV, was the inspiration for the Place de l'Étoile in Paris, which has the exact same dimensions!  

It goes without saying that all these installations have been designed to be reversible, and will be dismantled at the end of the Games, leaving the site intact.