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{{Infobox World Heritage Site| WHS = Palace and Park of Versailles| Image = | State Party = | Type = Cultural| Criteria = i, ii, vi| ID = 83| Region = List of World Heritage Sites in Europe| Year = 1979| Session = 3rd| Link = http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/83-->The Château de Versailles, or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles, France.

In English language it is often referred to as the Palace of Versailles. When the château was built, Versailles was a country village, but it is now a suburb of Paris. From 1682, when Louis XIV of France moved from Paris, until The Royal Family was forced to return to the capital in 1789, the Court of Versailles was the centre of power in Ancien Régime France. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy which Louis XIV espoused.

The first château The earliest mention of the village of Versailles is found in a document dated 1038, the “Charte de l'abbaye Saint-Père de Chartres” (Charter of the Abbey of Saint-Père de Chartres). Of the signatories of the charter was one Hugo de Versailles, hence the name of the village. During this period, the village of Versailles centered on a small castle and church and the area was controlled by a local lord. The village's location on the road from Paris to Dreux and Normandy brought some prosperity to the village but following the Black Death and the Hundred Years War, the village was largely destroyed and its population severely diminished.“Histoire du Château de Versailles” (1911-1918) Pierre de Nolhac, Paris: André MartyPierre Verlet (1961) “Versailles”, Paris: Librarie Arthèmem Fayard] In 1575, Albert de Gondi, a Florence, purchased the Manorialism of Versailles. Gondi had arrived in France with Catherine de' Medici and his family became influential in the French States-General. In the early decades of the 17th century, Gondi invited Louis XIII of France on several hunting trips in the forests of Versailles. Following this initial introduction to the area, Louis XIII ordered the construction of a hunting chateau in 1624. Designed by Philibert Le Roy, the structure was constructed of stone and red brick with a slate roof. Eight years later, in 1632, Louis obtained the deed or ownership of Versailles from the Romonov family and began to make enlargements to the château.

Expansion under the rule of Louis XIV Louis's successor, Louis XIV of France, took a great interest in Versailles. He had grown up in the disorders of the civil war between rival factions of aristocrats called the Fronde and wanted a site where he could organize and completely control a government of France by absolute Personal Rule. He settled on the royal Hunting at Versailles, and over the following decades had it expanded into the largest palace in the world.Beginning in 1669, the architect, Louis Le Vau, and the landscape architecture, André Le Nôtre, began a detailed renovation of the château. It was Louis XIV's hope to create a center for the royal court. Following the Treaty of Nijmegen in 1678, the court and French government began to be moved to Versailles. The court was officially established there on 6 May 1682.

By moving the royal court and the seat of the French government, Louis XIV hoped to gain greater control of the government from the nobility to distance himself from the population of Paris. All the power of France emanated from this centre: there were government offices here, as well as the homes of thousands of courtiers, their retinues, and all the attendant functionaries of court. By requiring that nobles of a certain rank and position spend time each year at Versailles, Louis prevented them from developing their own regional power at the expense of his own and kept them from countering his efforts to centralize the French government in an absolute monarchy. The meticulous and strictured court etiquette that Louis XIV established, which overwhelmed his heirs with its petty boredoms, was epitomized in the elaborate procedures accompanying his rising in the morning, known as the Levée, divided into a petit lever for the most important and a grand lever for the whole court; like other French court manners, it was quickly imitated in other European courts.

Evolution of Versailles Upon the death of Jules Cardinal Mazarin in 1661, who had served as Co-regency during the minority of Louis XIV, Louis XIV (b. 5 September 1638 at Saint-Germain-en-Laye; d. 1 September 1715 at Versailles; reigned 14 May 1642 – 1 September 1715) began his personal reign by vowing to be his own prime minister. From this point, construction and expansion at Versailles became synonymous with the Absolute monarchy of Louis XIV.

After the disgrace of Nicolas Fouquet in 1661 — Louis claimed the finance minister would not have been able to build his grand château at Vaux-le-Vicomte without having embezzled from the crown — Louis XIV, after confiscation of Fouquet’s estate, employed the talents of architect Louis Le Vau, landscape architect André Le Nôtre, and painter/decorator Charles Le Brun for his building campaigns at Versailles and elsewhere. For Versailles, there were four distinct building campaigns (after minor alterations and enlargements had been executed on the château and the gardens in 1662-1663), all of which corresponded to Louis XIV’s wars.

1st building campaign The First Building Campaign (1664-1668) commenced with the Plaisirs de l’Île enchantée of 1664, a party that was held between 7th and 13th May 1664. The party was ostensibly given to celebrate the two queens of France — Anne of Austria, the Queen Mother and Marie-Thérèse, Louis XIV’s wife, but in reality celebrated the king’s mistress, Louise de La Vallière. The fête of the Plaisirs de l’Île enchantée is often regarded as a prelude to the War of Devolution, which Louis XIV waged against Spain — both the Queen Mother and Marie-Thérèse were Spanish by birth — from 1667 to 1668). The First Building Campaign (1664-1668) saw alterations in the château and gardens in order to accommodate the 600 guests invited to the party.

2nd building campaign The Second Building Campaign (1669-1672) was inaugurated with the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668) (the treaty that ended the War of Devolution). During this campaign, the château began to assume much of the appearance that it has today. The most important modification of the château was Louis LeVau’s envelope of Louis XIII’s hunting lodge. The envelope — often referred to as the château neuf to distinguish it from the older structure of Louis XIII — enveloped the hunting lodge on the north, west, and south. The new structure provided new lodgings for members of the king and his family. The first floor — the piano nobile — of the château neuf was given over entirely to two apartments, one for the king and one for the queen. The Grand appartement du roi occupied the northern part of the château neuf and Grand appartement de la reine occupied the southern part. The western part of the envelope was given over almost entirely to a terrace, which was later destroyed for construction of the Hall of Mirrors (Galerie des Glaces). The ground floor of the northern part of the château neuf was occupied by the appartement des bains, which included a sunken octagonal tub with hot and cold running water. The king’s brother and sister-in-law, the duc and duchesse d’Orléans occupied apartments on the ground floor of the southern part of the château neuf. The upper story of the château neuf was reserved for private rooms for the king to the north and rooms for the king’s children above the queen’s apartment to the south.

Significant to the design and construction of the grands appartements is that the rooms of both apartments are of the same configuration and dimensions — a hitherto unprecedented feature in French palace design. In his monograph “Il n’y plus des Pyrenées: the Iconography of the first Versailles of Louis XIV,” Kevin Olin Johnson posited the hypothesis that the unprecedented similarity to the king and queen’s apartments represented Louis XIV’s wish to establish his wife as queen of Spain. In doing so, a dual monarchy of sorts would have been created. Louis XIV’s rationale for the joining of the two kingdoms was seen largely as recompense for Philip IV of Spain's failure to pay his daughter Marie-Thérèse’s dowry, which was among the terms of capitulation to which Spain agreed with the promulgation of the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659, ending the war between Spain and France that had been waged since 1635). Louis XIV regarded his father-in-law’s act as a breach of the treaty and consequently engaged in the War of Devolution.

Both the grand appartement du roi and the grand appartement de la reine formed a suite of seven enfilade rooms. Each room is dedicated to one of the then-known Astronomical object and is personified by the appropriate Greco-Roman deity. The decoration of the rooms, which was conducted under the direction of the Charles Le Brun, depicted the “heroic actions of the king” and were represented in allegorical form by the actions of historical figures from the antique past (Alexander the Great, Augustus, Cyrus, etc.).

3rd building campaign With the signing of the Treaty of Nijmegen (1678, which ended the Franco-Dutch War of 1672-1678), the Third Building Campaign at Versailles began (1678-1684). Under the direction of the architect, Jules Hardouin Mansart, the palace of Versailles acquired much of the look that it has today. In addition to the Hall of Mirrors, Mansart designed the north and south wings (which were used by the nobility and Princes of the Blood, respectively), and the Orangerie. Charles Le Brun was occupied not only with the interior decoration of the new additions of the palace, but also collaborated with André Le Notre in landscaping the palace gardens. As symbol of France’s new prominence as a European Superpower, Louis XIV officially installed his court at Versailles in May of 1682.

4th building campaign Soon after the crushing defeat of the War of the League of Augsburg (1688-1697) and owing possibly to the pious influence of Madame de Maintenon, Louis XIV undertook his last building campaign at Versailles. The fourth building campaign (1701-1710) concentrated almost exclusively on construction of the Chapel Royal, designed by Mansart and finished by Robert de Cotte and his team of decorative designers. There were also some modifications in the king’s Petit Appartement, namely the construction of the Salon de l’Oeil de Boeuf and the King’s Bedchamber. With the completion of the chapel in 1710, virtually all construction at Versailles ceased; building would not be resumed at Versailles until some 20 years later during the reign of Louis XV.Sources:

André Félibien, Description sommaire du chasteau de Versailles, (Paris, 1674).Pierre de Nolhac, La création de Versailles, (Versailles, 1901).———, Versailles, résidence de Louis XIV, (Paris, 1925).———, Histoire de Versailles. 3 vol. (Paris, 1911).Kevin Olin Johnson, “Il n’y plus de Pyrenées : Iconography of the first Versailles of Louis XIV,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts (6e pér., vol. 97, janvier 1981) : 29-40.

Features Grand Appartement du Roi As of result of Louis LeVau’s enveloppe of Louis XIII’s château, the king and queen had new apartments in the new addition, known at the time as the château neuf. The State Apartments, which are known respectively as the grand appartement du roi and the grand appartment de la reine, occupied the first floor of the château neuf. LeVau’s design for the state apartments closely followed Italian models of the day, as evidenced by the placement of the apartments on the first floor — the piano nobile — a convention the architect borrowed from 16th and 17th century Italian palace design.

Le Vau’s plan called for an enfilade of seven rooms, each dedicated to one of the then-known planets and their associated titular Roman deity. LeVau’s plan was bold as he designed a heliocentric system that centered on the salon d’Apollon (Salon of Apollo). The salon d’Apollon originally was designed as the king’s bedchamber, but served as a throne room.During the reign of Louis XIV (until 1689), a solid silver throne stood on a Persian rug covered dais on the south wall of this room. The original arrangement of the enfilade of rooms was thus:



The configuration of the grand appartement du roi conformed to contemporary conventions in palace design.Baillie, Hugh Murray. "Etiquette and the Planning of State Apartments in Baroque Palaces," Archeologia CI (1967): 169-199. However, owing to Louis XIV’s personal tastes,Owing to the apartment’s northern exposure, Louis XIV found the rooms too cold and opted to live in the rooms previously occupied by his father. the grand appartement du roi was reserved for court functions — such as the thrice-weekly appartement evenings given by Louis XIV.

The rooms were decorated by Charles LeBrun and demonstrated Italian influences (LeBrun met and studied with the famed Tuscan artist Pietro da Cortona, whose decorative style of the Palazzo Pitti in Florence LeBrun adapted for use at Versailles). The quadratura style of the ceilings evoke Cortona’s sale dei planeti at the Pitti, but LeBrun’s decorative schema is more complex. In his 1674 publication about the grand appartement du roi, André Félibien described the scenes depicted in the coves of the ceilings of the rooms as allegories depicting the “heroic actions of the king.”André Félibien, Description sommaire du chasteau de Versailles, (Paris, 1674). Accordingly, one finds scenes of the exploits of Augustus, Alexander the Great, and Cyrus alluding to the deeds of Louis XIV. For example, in the salon d’Apollon, the cove painting “Augustus building the port of Misenum”Located in the western cove of the salon d’Apollon and painted by Charles de La Fosse ca. 1674. alludes to the construction of the port at La Rochelle; or, depicted in the south cove of the salon de Mercure is “Ptolemy II Philadelphus in his Library”, which alludes to Ptolemy’s construction of the Library of Alexandria and which accordingly serves as an allegory to Louis XIV’s expansion of the Bibliothèque du roi.Located in the southern cove of the ceiling of the salon de Mercure and painted by Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne ca. 1674.For a more detailed discussion regarding the ceilings’ decor of the grand appartement du roi, see Gérard Sabatier, “Versailles, ou la figure du roi,” (Paris: Albin Michel, 1999). For an analysis of the symbolism in the decor of the grand appartement du roi, see Edward Lighthart, “Archétype et symbole dans le style Louis XIV versaillais: réflexions sur l’imago rex et l’imago patriae au début de l’époque moderne,” (Doctoral thesis, 1997). Complementing the rooms’ decors were pieces of massive silver furniture. Regrettably, owing to the War of the League of Augsburg, in 1689 Louis XIV ordered all of this silver furniture to be sent to the mint and to be melted down to help defray the cost of the war.

LeVau’s original plan for the grand appartement du roi was short-lived. With the inauguration of the 2nd building campaign, which suppressed the terrace linking the king and queen’s apartments and the salons of Jupiter, Saturn and Venus for the construction of the Hall of Mirrors, the configuration of the grand appartement du roi was altered. The decor of the salon de Jupiter was removed and reused in the decoration of the salle des gardes de la reine; and elements of the decoration of the first salon de Vénus, which opened onto the terrace, were reused in the salon de Vénus that we see today.Originally, the room that is known today as the salon de Vénus formed part of the apartment of the king’s mistress, Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan. Owing to her involvement with Poison affair, during which time its was alleged she had been giving the king love potions, she fell from grace in 1678 and her apartments were taken over by Louis XIV at which time the new salon de Vénus was installed.

From 1678 to the end of Louis XIV’s reign, the grand appartement du roi served as the venue for the king’s thrice-weekly evening receptions, known as les soirées de l’appartement. For these parties, the rooms assumed specific functions:

In the 18th century during the reign of Louis XV, the grand appartement du roi was expanded to include the salon de l’Abondance — formerly the entry vestibule of the petit appartement du roi — and the salon d’Hercule — occupying the tribune level of the former chapel of the château.

Grand Appartement de la Reine Forming a parallel enfilade with that of the grand appartement du roi, the grand appartement de la reine served as the residence of three queens of France — Marie-Thérèse d’Autriche, wife of Louis XIV; Marie Leszczyska, wife of Louis XV; and Marie-Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI (additionally, Louis XIV’s granddaughter-in-law, Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, as duchesse de Bourgogne, occupied these rooms from 1697 (the year of her marriage) to her death in 1712).

When Louis Le Vau’s enveloppe of the château vieux was completed, the grand appartement de la reine includes a suite of seven enfilade rooms with an arrangement that mirrored almost exactly the grand appartement du roi. The configuration was:



As with the decoration of the ceiling in the grand appartement du roi, which depicted the heroic actions of Louis XIV as allegories from events taken from the antique past, the decoration of the grand appartement de la reine depicted heroines from the antique past and harmonized with the general theme of a particular room’s decor.On an interesting note, not only were women depicted in the decoration of the grand appartement de la reine, but women contributed to the decoration of these room. Most notably is Madeleine de Boulogne, who painted the over-door painting in the salle des gardes.

With the construction of the Hall of Mirrors, which began in 1678, the configuration of the grand appartement de la reine changed. The chapel was transformed into the salle des gardes de la reine and it was in this room that the decorations from the salon de Jupiter were reused.With the creation of this room, a new chapel — the château’s third — was built in the adjacent room to the east. In 1682, when the third chapel was built (where the salon d’Hercule is now located), this room was renamed la grande salle des gardes de la reine. In the 19th century, this room was rebaptized salle du sacre owing to the installation of Jean-Louis David’s Coronation of Napoléon I. The salle des gardes de la reine communicates with a loggia that issues from the escalier de la reine, which formed a parallel pendant, albeit smaller, staircase with the escalier des ambassadeurs in the grand appartement du roi. The loggia also provides access to the appartement du roi, the suite of rooms in which Louis XIV lived. Toward the end of Louis XIV’s reign, the escalier de la reine became the principal entrance to the château, with the escalier des ambassadeurs used on rare state occasions. After the destruction of the escalier des ambassadeurs in 1752, the escalier de la reine became the main entrance to the château.

From 1682, the grand appartement de la reine included:



With the death of Louis XIV in 1715, the court moved to Vincennes and later to Paris. In 1722, Louis XV reinstalled the court at Versailles and began modifications to the château’s interior. Among the most noteworthy of the building projects during Louis XV’s reign, the redecoration of the chamber de la reine must be cited.

To commemorate the birth of his only son and heir, Louis-Ferdinand, in 1729, Louis XV ordered a complete redecoration of the room. Elements of the chamber de la reine as it had been used by Marie-Thérèse and Princess Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy were removed and a new, more modern decor was installed.The decoration of this room was an important expression in French interior design. It heralded the transition from the Regency style, which prevailed from the death of Louis XIV through to 1732(with the decoration of the Salon de la princesse at the Hôtel de Soubise), and the Rococo (or style Louis XV), the style that prevailed for the greater part of the reign of Louis XV.

During her life at Versailles, Marie Leszczynska (1703-1768) lived in the grand apartment de la reine, to which she annexed the salon de la paix to serve as a music room. In 1770, when the Austrian archduchess Marie-Antoinette married the dauphin, later Louis XVI, she took up residence in these rooms. Upon Louis XVI’s ascension to the throne in 1774, Marie-Antoinette ordered major redecoration of the grand appartement de la reine. At this time, the queen’s apartment achieved the arrangement that we see today.



Appartement du Roi (King's Private Apartments) Overlooking the cour de marbre, these rooms, which are situated in the château vieux, were once the private apartment of Louis XIII. During Louis XIV’s 3rd building campaign, this suite of rooms were enlarged and decorated for the king’s daily use. In 1684, the apartment du roi comprised the following rooms:



In 1701, as part of Louis XIV’s 4th building campaign, the configuration of the appartement du roi altered.



Le petit appartement du Roi; l’appartement interieur du Roi From 1683 to 1693, during the Louis XIV’s 3rd building campaign, the king ordered the construction of the appartement des collections (also know as the appartement des raretés). This apartment comprised:



The appartement des collections housed the rarest and most valuable of the artworks in the Louis XIV’s collection. Access to these rooms was by personal invitation of Louis XIV, but there descriptions of the collections have survived. These are some of the objects housed in the appartement des collections:



Between 1738 and 1760, Louis XV ordered significant changed to the appartement des collections. In 1738, the king ordered the construction of new bedroom — la nouvelle chambre — as Louis XIV’s old bedroom was too uncomfortable in the winter to use for anything but his morning lévé. The arrangement of the petit appartement du roi ca. 1760 was:



Le petit appartement de la Reine These rooms, situated behind the grand appartement de la reine, and which now open onto two interior courtyards, were the private domain of the queens of France, Marie-Thérèse, Marie Leszczyska, and Marie-Antoinette. Evolving with the building campaigns of Louis XIV, the petit appartement de la reineThese rooms are also known as les petits cabinets de la reine and l'appartement intérieur de la reine likewise evolved.

Marie-Thérèse

At the completion of the LeVau’s enveloppe, a suite of small rooms that opened onto the cour de marbre (rooms later incorporated into the appartement du roi) and onto a small interior courtyard — at the time called the cour de la reine. In these rooms, Marie-Thérèse led her private and family life. Very little information survived about the décor or the arrangement of these rooms, owing largely to her early death in 1683. What is known is that a redecoration of these rooms occurred in 1697 when Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie married Louis XIV grandson, the duc de Bourgogne. When Marie-Adélaïde died in 1712, the rooms were divided among the king and various other residents.

Marie Leszczyska

From the time of her marriage, the petit appartement de la reine underwent a number of transitions. One of the more significant transitions occurred when additional rooms were built. With these new rooms, the cour de la reine was divided into two courtyards — the cour du dauphin (to the east) and the cour du Monseigneur (to the west). With regard to these rooms, Pierre de Nolhac published a partial description of the petit appartement de la reine as it appeared at the time of the death of Marie-Leszczyska:



None of the décor of the petit appartement de la reine — except for a small room that communicates between the grand cabinet and the appartement du roi — has survived. When Marie-Antoinette moved into these rooms in 1774, a complete reorganization and redecoration of the rooms, under the direction of Richard Mique, was ordered.

Marie-Antoinette

The fame of the petit appartement de la reine rests squarely in the hands of the last queen of France during the Ancien Régime. The restored state of the rooms that one sees today at Versailles replicate the petit appartement de la reine as it probably looked during Marie-Antoinette’s day. The principle rooms of the petit appartement are:



During Marie-Antoinette day, these rooms served the queen’s daily private life. For example, in the morning, the cabinet de la méridienne, which was decorated by Richard Mique to commemorate the birth of the dauphin, was the room in which Marie-Antoinette would choose the clothing she would wear that day.Books containing drawings of the queen’s dresses and other garments would be presented to Marie-Antoinette. She would indicate her preference by inserting a pin into the page that depicted the dress she wanted to wear.

Of all the features of the petit appartement de la reine, the so-called secret passage that links the grand appartement de la reine with the appartement du roi must be cited. The passage actually dates from the time the Marie-Thérèse and had always served as a private means by which the king and queen could communicate with each other.The only other option would be to cross the public rooms, which were always crowded with people. It is true, however, that Marie-Antoinette, who was sleeping in the chambre de la reine in the grande appartement de reine, escaped from the Paris mob on the night of 6/7 October 1789. The entrance to the so-called secret passage is through a door located on the west side of the north wall of the chambre de la reine.

Galerie des Glaces As central feature of Louis XIV’s third building campaign, construction on the galerie des glaces — The Hall of Mirrors — began in 1678. To achieve the galerie des glaces as well as the salon de la guerre and the salon de la paix, which connect the grand appartement du roi with the grand appartement de la reine, architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart suppressed three rooms from each apartmentThe rooms that were destroyed were the salon de Jupiter, salon de Saturn, and the salon de Vénus from both the king and queen’s state apartment. as well as the terrace that separated the two apartments. The principal feature of the room is the seventeen mirror-clad arches that reflect the seventeen arcaded windows that overlook the gardens. Each arch contains twenty-one mirrors with a total complement of 357 used in the decoration of the galerie des glaces.

In the 17th century, mirrors were one of the most expensive items to possess and at the time, the Venetian Republic held the monopoly on the manufacture of mirrors. In order to maintain the integrity of his philosophy of mercantilism, which required that all items used in the decoration of Versailles be made in France, Jean-Baptiste Colbert enticed several workers from Venice to make mirrors at the Gobelins FactoryThe Gobelins, which still exist today, was nationalized in the 1660s by Colbert for the express purpose of making furniture and other decorative items for Versailles and other royal residences. for use in Versailles.According to legend, in order to keep its monopoly, the government of the Venetian Republic sent agents to France to poison the workers whom Colbert had brought to France.

The galerie des glaces’ dimensions are 73.0 metre × 10.5 m × 12.3 m (239.5 foot (unit of length) × 34.4 ft × 40.4 ft) and is flanked by the salon de la guerre (north) and the salon de la paix (south). Construction on the galerie and its two salons continued until 1684, at which time it was pressed into use for court and state functions. The ceiling decoration is dedicated to the military victories of Louis XIV. The present decorative schema represents the last of three that were presented to Louis XIV. The original decorative plan was to have depicted exploits of Apollo — which was consistent with the imagery associated with the Sun-King, Louis XIV. However, when the king learned that his brother, Philippe d’Orléans, had commissioned Pierre Mignard to decorate the ceiling of the grand galerie of his brother’s residence at the Château de Saint-Cloud, Louis XIV rejected the plan. The next decorative plan was one in which the exploits of Hercules — as allegories to the actions of Louis XIV — were to be depicted. Again, as with the first plan, the Hercules theme was rejected by the king. The final plan represents military victories of Louis XIV starting with the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659) to the Treaty of Nijmegen (1678-1679). In a departure form the decoration of the ceilings in the grand appartement du roi, LeBrun has depicted Louis XIV and has ceased to refer to the king in allegorical guises. In this way, themes such as good governance are rendered with Louis XIV as the key figure.

During the 17th century, the galerie des glaces was used daily by Louis XIV when he walked from his private apartment to the chapel. At this time, courtiers assembled to watch the king and member of the royal family pass and to make a particular request by intoning: “Sire, Marly?”This was the manner in which one was able to obtain a much sought-after invitation to one of the king’s house parties at Marly-le-Roi, the villa Louis XIV built north of Versailles on the route to Saint-Germain-en-laye. However, of all the events that transpired in this room during the reign of Louis XIV, the Siamese Embassy of 1685-1686 must be cited as the most opulent. At this time, the galerie des glaces and the grands appartements were still appointed with silver furniture. In February 1715, Louis XIV held his last embassy — which could be regarded as the swan song for his absolutism — in the galerie des glace, one in which he received Mohamed Reza Beg, ambassador of the Shah of Persia. It was later revealed that the ambassador was bogus and that the entire ceremony was orchestrated for the benefit of Louis XIV (who died in September of the same year).

In the successive reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI, the galerie de glaces continued to serve for family and court functions. Embassies, births, and marriages were fêted in this room; however, perhaps the most celebrated event of the 18th century occurred on 25 February 1745: the celebrated Bal des Ifs (Ball of the Yew Trees). It was during this costume ball that Louis XV, who was dressed as a yew tree, met Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson d'Étiolles, who was costumed as Diana (mythology), goddess of the hunt. Jeanne-Antoinette, who became Louis XV’s mistress, is better known to history as the Marquise de Pompadour.

In the 19th century, at the conclusion of the Franco-Prussian War, the Prussian king, William I, German Emperor, was declared German emperor — thus establishing the (second) German Empire — on 18 January 1871 in the Hall of Mirrors. On 28 June 1919, Clemenceau chose the Hall of Mirrors to sign the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. The Hall of Mirrors is still pressed into service for state occasions of the French Fifth Republic, such as receptions for visiting heads of state.

Chapels of Versailles One of the more curious aspects of Versailles is the chapels. The reign of Louis XIV, Versailles saw no fewer than five chapels.

1st Chapel
The château’s first chapel dated from the time of Louis XIII and was located in detached pavilion at the northeast of the château (today, La pièce de la vaisselle d'or or le Cabinet de Mme Adélaïde occupies the approximate site). This chapel, which followed the palatine modelThis plan was widely used in France. Sainte-Chapelle in Paris is a prototypical example; all successive chapels at Versailles followed the palatine model — a chapel of two floors, the upper floor reserved for the monarch and members of the royal family, the lower floor used by members of the court and the royal household — was destroyed in 1665 when the Grotto de Thétis was built.

2nd Chapel
The château’s second chapel was created during Louis XIV’s second building campaign. When the enveloppe of Louis LeVau was completed, the chapel was situated in the grand apartment de la reine (it formed the symmetrical pendant with the salon de Diane in the grand appartement du roi). This palatine model chapel was short-lived. When Louis XIV began his third building campaign, this chapel was converted to the salle des gardes de la reine.

3rd Chapel
Located next to the new salle des gardes de la reine, this chapel was transitory. Soon after its construction, Louis XIV found it inconvenient and impractical for his needs as well as those of his court. In 1682, this room was converted into the grande salles des gardes de la reine (known also as la salle du sacre).

4th Chapel
With the construction of the aile Nord, a new palatine model chapel was built. Construction of the North wing necessitated the destruction of the Grotto de Thétis; it was on this site that the new chapel was built in 1682.When the 4th chapel was constructed, the salon de l’Abondance, which had served as entry to the petit appartement du roi, was rebaptized the vestibule of the royal tribune — so named as it was from this upper level of the chapel that the royal family head daily mass. This chapel remained in use by the king and court until 1710.This chapel witness most of the baptisms and wedding of members of the court and royal family during the reign of Louis XIV. Today the salon d’Hercule and the lower vestibule occupy the space of the 4th chapel.

5th Chapel
As the focal point of Louis XIV fourth building campaign, the final chapel of the château of Versailles is a masterpiece. Began in 1689, construction was halted due to the War of the League of Augsburg; Jules Hardouin-Mansart resumed construction in 1699. Hardouin-Mansart continued working on the project until his death in 1708, at which time his brother-in-law, Robert de Cotte, finished the project.

Dedicated to Saint Louis, the chapel was consecrated in 1710. The palatine model of the chapel is traditionally; however, the Corinthian colonnade of the tribune level is of a classic style that anticipates the neo-classicism of the late-18th century. The tribune level is accessed by vestibule that was constructed at the same time as the chapelThe bas-relief sculpture, Louis XIV crossing the Rhine, was sculpted by Nicolas et Guillaume Coustou and was originally intended to decorate the salon de la Guerre. The floor of the chapel is inlaid with multi-colored marbles and at the foot of steps leading to the altar is Louis XIV’s crowned monogram of interlaced “L”. Adhering to ecclesiastical decoration, the chapel’s decoration refers to both the Old Testament and the New Testament: the ceiling of the nave represents “God the Father in his glory bring to the world the promise of redemption” and was painted by Antoine Coypel; the half-dome of the apse is decorated with Charles de LaFosse’s “The Resurrection of Christ”; and, above the royal tribune is Jean Jouvenet’s “The Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Virgin and the Apostles.”

During the 18th century, the chapel witnessed many court events. Te Deums were sung to celebrate military victories and the births of children born to the king and queen; marriages were also celebrated in this chapel, such as the wedding of the dauphin — later Louis XVI — to Marie-Antoinette in 1770. However, of all the ceremonies held in the chapel, those associated the Order of Holy Spirit were among the most elaborate.

Today the chapel, which has been re-consecrated, serves a venue for chamber concerts.

L’Opéra Since the time of Louis XIV, the château of Versailles had wanted — and needed — a permanent theater. Before the construction of l’Opéra, temporary theaters were constructed either in the gardens or in the château — grands appartements, escalier des ambassadeurs, aile de Midi — where the salle de spectacle of Louis XIV was short-lived — la grande écurie, la cour de marbre, etc. However, in 1740, Louis XV ordered Jacques-Anges Gabriel to build a permanent theater at the northern end of the aile de Nord, on the site that had been that chosen by Louis XIVOwing to the financial burdens that Louis XIV faced at the end of his reign, the theater was never built. The project required some thirty years to complete based on financial restraints rising from the Seven Years War and relocating residents from the northern end of the aile de nobles. Construction work on the Opéra began in earnest in 1765 and was completed in 1770; at the time, it represented the finest example in theater design — having 712 seats, it was the largest theater in Europe at the time — and today remains one of the few theaters to survive the 18th century. Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Persée inaugurated the Opéra on 16 May 1770 in celebration of the marriage of the dauphin — the future Louis XVI — with Marie-Antoinette.

Gabriel’s design for the Opéra was unique for the time as it featured an oval plan. As an economy measure, the floor the orchestra level can be raised to the level the stage, thus doubling the floor space. It was planned that the Opéra serve not only as a theater, but also as ballroom or banqueting hall.On 1 October 1789, the gardes du corps du roi held a banquent to welcome the Flanders Regiment, which had just arrived to strengthen protection for the king a royal family against the revolutionary rumblings that were being heard in Paris. At this banquet, Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, and the dauphin received the pledge of loyalty from these guards when they ripped off the blue-white-red cockades they had been wearing and replaced them with white ones — the color that symbolized the Bourbon monarchy. This was the last event held in the Opéra during the Ancien Régime. Built entirely of wood, which is painted in faux marbre to represent stone, the Opéra has excellent acoustics and represents one of the finest examples of neo-classical decoration. The theme of the decoration is related to Apollo and the Olympian deities. The decoration of the Opéra was directed by Augustin Pajou, who executed the bas-reliefs panels that decorate the front of the loges. The ceiling features a canvas by Louis Jean Jacques Durameau in which Apollo and the Muses are depicted.

In spite of the excellent acoustics and the opulent setting, the Opéra was not often used during the reign of Louis XVI, largely on grounds of costs. For a single performance to be held in the Opéra, no less than 3,000 candles were required. Given that tallow candles burned quickly and emitted soot and unpleasant odor, beeswax candles were used. During Louis XVI’s reign one beeswax candle represented approximately what one peasant earned in one week.

When the royal family left Versailles in October 1789, the château and the Opéra were closed. While the château did see some activity under Napoléon I (redecoration of the parts of the queen’s apartment for the empress Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma) and Louis XVIII of France, the Opéra did not reopen again until 1837, when Louis-Philippe redecorated the theater and presented Molière’s Le Misanthrope. In 1872, during the Commune de Paris, the Opéra was converted by Edmond de Joly for use by the Assemblée nationale, who used the Opéra until 1876; between 1876 and 1879, the Sénat convened here.Today, when the Assemblée nationale and the Sénat meet in joint session, they do so at Versailles, not in Paris. On these occasions, Versailles becomes the de-facto capital of France. To accommodate the members of the Sénat, the north wing of the château in the part that faces the city of Versailles, over 300 apartments have been arranged for the private use by members of the upper house of France’s parliament. 1952-1957 witnessed major restoration of the Opéra when it was restored to its 1770 state. The Opéra officially reopened 9 April 1957 in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom with a presentation of Act II of Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes. Since its restoration, the Opéra has been pressed into service for state functions as well as a variety of operatic and musical events.

It was in this opera that Marie Antoinette broke court tradition by clapping for the performers. She was frowned upon at first, but this particular action caught on with all of the spectators at Versailles.

Social History The politics of display Versailles became the home of the French nobility and the location of the royal court - thus becoming the center of French government. Louis XIV himself lived there, and symbolically the central room of the long extensive symmetrical range of buildings was the King's Bedchamber (La Chambre du Roi), which itself was centered on the lavish and symbolic state bed, set behind a rich railing not unlike a communion rail. All the power of France emanated from this centre: there were government offices here; as well as the homes of thousands of courtiers, their retinues and all the attendant functionaries of court. By requiring that nobles of a certain rank and position spend time each year at Versailles, Louis prevented them from developing their own regional power at the expense of his own and kept them from countering his efforts to centralization the French government in an absolute monarchy.

At various periods before Louis XIV established absolute rule, France like the Holy Roman Empire lacked central authority and was not the unified state it was to become during the proceeding centuries. During Middle Ages some local nobles were at times more powerful than the French King and, although technically loyal to the King, they possessed their own provincial seats of power and government, culturally influential courts and armies loyal to them not the King and the right to levy their own taxes on their subjects. Some families were so powerful, they achieved international prominence and contracted marriage alliances with foreign Royal House to further their own political ambitions. Although nominally List of French monarchs, de facto royal power had at times been limited purely to the region around Paris.

Court etiquette Life at the court was narrowly regulated by court etiquette. Etiquette became the means of social advancement for the court.

Louis XIV’s elaborate rules of etiquette included the following:

  • People who wanted to speak to the king could not knock on his door. Instead, using the left little finger, they had to gently scratch on the door, until they were granted permission to enter. As a result, many courtiers grew that fingernail longer than the others;
  • A lady never held hands or linked arms with a gentleman. Besides being in bad taste, this practice would have been impossible because a woman’s hooped skirts were so wide. Instead, she was to place her hand on top of the gentleman’s bent arm as they strolled through the gardens and chambers of Versailles. It is also mentioned that the ladies were only allowed to touch fingertips with the men.
  • When a gentleman sat down, he slid his left foot in front of the other, placed his hands on the sides of the chair and gently lowered himself into the chair. There was a very practical reason for this procedure. If a gentleman sat too fast, his tight trousers might split;
  • Women and men were not allowed to cross their legs in public;
  • When a gentleman passed an acquaintance on the street, he was to raise his hat high off his head until the other person passed;
  • A gentleman was to do no work except writing letters, giving speeches, practising fencing, or dancing. For pleasure he engaged in hawking, archery, indoor tennis, or hunting. A gentleman would also take part in battle and would sometimes serve as a public officer, paying the soldiers;
  • Ladies’ clothing did not allow them to do much besides sit and walk. However, they passed the time sewing, knitting, writing letters, painting, making their own lace, and creating their own cosmetics and perfumes.


    • Park and garden The grounds of Versailles contain one of the largest formal gardens ever created, with extensive

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