Grand Siècle (French pronunciation: [ɡʁɑ̃ sjɛkl]) or Great Century refers to the period of French history during the 17th century, under the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV.
The period was notable for its development of art, music and literature, along with the construction of the Palace of Versailles, the effects of the French Wars of Religion, and the impacts of the Thirty Years' War, which made France the dominant power in Europe instead of Spain. Significant figures during this period include gardener André Le Nôtre, architects François Mansart, Louis Le Vau and Jules Hardouin-Mansart, painters Nicolas Poussin, Simon Vouet, Claude Lorrain, Georges de La Tour, Philippe de Champaigne, Charles Le Brun, sculptors Pierre Puget, François Girardon and Antoine Coysevox, playwrights Pierre Corneille, Molière and Jean Racine, the poets François de Malherbe, Jean de La Fontaine and Nicolas Boileau, writers Madame de La Fayette, Charles Perrault, composers Henri Dumont, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Michel Richard Delalande, André Campra, Henri Desmarest, Marin Marais and François Couperin, philosophers René Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Antoine Arnauld, Nicolas Malebranche, Pierre Gassendi, La Rochefoucauld, La Bruyere, and Pierre Bayle.