A nightclub and underwater meditation room: Inside the world’s most expensive home
Move over Louis XIV, there’s a new flamboyant royal in town.
In 2015, the presumed heir to the Saudi kingdom Mohammed bin Salman, splashed out almost $300 million on the 50,000 acre Chateau Louis XIV in Louveciennes, near Versailles in France — making it the most expensive home in the world.
And apparently, it’s finally ready for the Crown Prince to move in.
While modeled on a 17th-century French castle, the current chateau was actually built by Emad Khashoggi, nephew of the late billionaire arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, who bulldozed a 19th-century castle in Louveciennes to make way for the new chateau in 2009, according to The New York Times.
The structure was built to look as if it were built during the time when Versailles was built, but it is decked out with all sorts of modern amenities — the fountains, lights and more can be run from an iPhone, according to the newspaper.
Spanning 57 acres, the chateau has a wine cellar that can hold 3,000 bottles, gold-covered doors and fixtures, elaborate frescoes, two ballrooms, a squash court, a movie theater, two swimming pools — the indoor one has a rain spout falling from the ceiling. The underground nightclub is filled with priceless art from MBS’ personal collection.
Most spectacularly perhaps is the underwater meditation room built inside the castle’s moat, which features a transparent underwater chamber with fish, including sturgeon and koi, swimming above, according to the Sun.
A statue of Louis XIV made of Carrara marble stands watch over the grounds.
“The idea is tacky, and then once you visit, it isn’t,” Marianne Merlino, who was the town’s deputy mayor during construction told The New York Times.
“Like in Versailles, that was way over the top too, and like Louis XIV, he achieved something really quite incredible.”