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Imagine living in a mansion that resembles Versailles but where the fountains, audio systems, and lighting are all managed by an iPhone. This is the most expensive Chateau in the world, Chateau Louis XIV. Located in Louveciennes 20 minutes west of Paris, which reveals a 17th-century design concealed by 21st-century technology.
The only Chateau built in France in the last century is the Chateau Louis XIV, which was built in 2009 and is the most expensive Chateau in the world. As the name implies, the mansion is an homage to King Louis XIV, whose imposing Carrara marble statue watches over the property.
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Who owns the most expensive Chateau in the world?
Fortune magazine referred to the Chateau Louis XIV as the most expensive Chateau in the world when it sold for more than $300 million two years ago. At the same time, Town & Country was enthralled with its gold-leafed fountain, marble statues, and walled labyrinth in a 57-acre landscaped park. However, one crucial piece of information was absent from all the abundant details: the buyer’s identity.
As it happens, the paper trail now points to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the heir apparent to the Saudi monarchy, who has been the impetus for several audacious policies that have modified the Middle East and transformed Saudi Arabia.
The most expensive Chateau in the world is a 50,000-acre Chateau Louis XIV in Louveciennes, near Versailles, France, was purchased for about $300 million in 2015 by Mohammed bin Salman, the alleged heir to the Saudi throne. At the time, it was the most expensive house in the world. Emad Khashoggi, the late billionaire arms merchant Adnan Khashoggi’s nephew, constructed the current Chateau, who demolished a 19th-century castle in Louveciennes to create room for the new Chateau in 2009. However, the current Chateau is based on a 17th-century French castle.
This 2015 purchase seems to be part of a string of lavish purchases made by the prince, who is spearheading a broad campaign against corruption and the elite’s self-enrichment in Saudi Arabia and advocating for budgetary restraint at home, along with a $500 million yacht and a $450 million Leonardo da Vinci artwork.
The most expensive Chateau in the world ownership in Louveciennes, France, close to Versailles, is meticulously concealed by shell corporations in Luxembourg and France. Eight Investment Company, a Saudi company run by the head of Crown Prince Mohammed’s foundation, owns those businesses. The château is ultimately the property of the crown prince, according to advisors to members of the royal family.
In a heartfelt homage to the namesake monarch and his passion for building, this project was christened Château Louis XIV. It is an example of a challenge for the early 21st century in design and execution. Current building requirements and contemporary conveniences, crucial for this kind of home, had to be skillfully included in the structure. Its construction in a completely new building has to honour the spirit and beauty of Louis XIV’s architecture, the most expensive Chateau in the world.
What’s inside the most expensive Chateau in the world?
The building was designed to appear to have been constructed during the time of Versailles. Yet, it is fully equipped with contemporary features, such as iPhone-controllable lights and fountains.
The most expensive Chateau in the world is spread over 57 acres, features a cinema theatre, two ballrooms, a squash court, an indoor swimming pool with a rain spout falling from the ceiling, ornate frescoes, and a wine cellar that can house 3,000 bottles. Treasures from MBS’s collection of fine art adorn the underground nightclub.
Built within the castle’s moat, the underwater meditation room is one of the building’s most notable features. This translucent underwater chamber gives the impression that you are in the middle of an ocean with fish like koi and sturgeon swimming around. When Kim Kardashian visited this place, she was so delighted with this room that she shared a photo of it on Instagram. She was even planning to have her nuptials there.
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The grounds and gardens of the Château Louis XIV, most expensive Chateau in the world is tucked away in a verdant, picturesque setting, adhere to the ideals of the 17th century. The grounds honour the French-style gardens, keeping with André Le Nôtre’s theories regarding the Château de Versailles. In supporting the natural contours of the land where the château is situated, it features flower gardens and embroidered box hedges, perspective plays, topiary yew trees chopped into little pyramids, a tree-lined labyrinth, a small farmhouse with goats, and stables.
A tribute to the classical taste of the French court, the bottom floor features a large area suitable for hosting lavish receptions beneath 52-foot-tall dome ceilings adorned with frescoed frescoes. Château Louis XIV is a palace where people live with all the modern conveniences.
Ambient indoor and outdoor lighting, open and close shutters, hygrometric control-enabled reversible air conditioning, music, and speaker volume adjustments. The management of all these abundant amenities is carefully evaluated to maximise the daily life of its residents in an enormous palace with a surface area of 7000 square metres, surrounded by 23 hectares of parks.
There is also a private movie theatre there that can accommodate more than 20 people. In typical French fashion, a wine cellar with space for up to 3,000 bottles is another feature of the most expensive Chateau in the world. An abundance of one, for sure. The most expensive Chateau in the world has eight stories, ten opulent bedroom suites, two ballrooms, an underground nightclub, a squash court, gold-leafed fountains, and expansive French gardens.
Making of the most expensive Chateau in the world
Throughout history, French artisans had never encountered a project as ambitious as the Château Louis XIV. For this once-in-a-lifetime project, dozens of traditional artisans were commissioned to create everything from marble and silk to stonemasonry and ironwork to colourful paintings and gold work. The highest history of French craftsmanship was preserved thanks in part to the most expensive Chateau in the world, Château Louis XIV, an intangible and irreplaceable treasure.
The Chateau was constructed in 2009 after architect Emad Khashoggi demolished a 19th-century castle to create room for it, despite being modelled after a 17th-century French castle. Sandwiched between Marly-le-Roi and Versailles, the former home of the French royal family, this outlying complex of three stories was built in three years with the help of 200 labourers, thirteen different kinds of marble, and fifteen thousand sheets of gold.
Final Thoughts
This was all about the most expensive Chateau in the world. Celebrities adore the place and have put pictures on the gram when visiting it. All the amenities of Chateau Louis XIV themselves speak for the value of the place.
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