Castle of Versailles

The castle of Versailles was the residence of the kings de France Louis XIII, Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI. It is located at the west of Paris, in the town of Versailles, France. This castle became a symbol of the apogee of the French royalty. The size of the places wanted to be with the image of that of the successive kings. The castle of Versailles includes/understands many elements:

the castle strictly speaking, consists of a succession of elements having an architectural harmony. It is spread out over 67 000 m ² and include/understand more 2 000 parts
the park of the castle of Versailles extends on 815 ha (8000 before the Révolution) including 93 ha of gardens. It includes/understands many elements of which

the Petit Trianon and the Grand Trianon
the Hameau of the Queen
the Large one and the Small Channel
a orangery
the Pièce of water of Swiss the

The castle today

Architectural and artistic presentation

The castle of Versailles constitutes an exceptional witness of French art with XVIIe and 18th century. Architecture takes again the guns of the Classicisme: the symmetry of the plan, frontages with colonnades, ancient or mythological inspiration in the choice of the carved characters. Some keys Baroque S bring a little imagination to this traditional rigor.

The castle remains attached to the figure of Louis XIV (1643-1715) but this fact should not occult that its construction and its installations largely exceed the framework of the reign of the Sun king. The heart of the castle forms the primitive building and goes back to the time of Louis XIII, the father of Louis XIV. It slices with the other parts by its two-tone walls (brick and stone) and its high slate roof. This “old castle” is partly wrapped in a more recent construction industry, built by the architect Vau on the order of Louis XIV in 1668. Side gardens, this part presents a frontage to the traditional ordinance on three floors. The second level (occupied by the Gallery of the Ices) is lit by high windows framed by columns punts or rounds. Columns punts which one finds on the last floor, less height. At the top, a balustrade hiding place the very flattened roof (roof in Mansart). The “old castle” and the “new castle” form a plan out of U coarsely. Two long wings prolong in north and the south this first unit. Built by another architect, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, they however take again the broad outlines of the envelope of Vau.

The interior of the castle is in particular occupied by the Large Apartments. Those include/understand the Large Apartment of the king, the Apartment of the Queen and the Gallery of the Ices. The Apartments correspond to rows of living rooms magnificiently decorated by the artistic team with Charles Le Brun up to the ceilings. Long of 73m, the Gallery of the Ices wants to be the most majestic room of the castle. It opens on a side on the garden while the other is covered with 17 panels of mirrors. The large Apartments the Small apartments answer. It is in this part that the Room of the king is, papered brocart and decorated gilded woodworks. One finds there as the cabinets, of the parts more intimate as the big rooms of pageantry. Louis XV invited to it to supper its close relations and Louis XVI installed his small forging mill of metal worker there. The Apartments are not always in their configuration of origin, i.e. at the time of Louis XIV. The apartment of the Queen is presented for example in her state of 1787 when Marie-Antoinette lived it.

In addition to these residential buildings, the castle is supplemented by the Vault and the Opera. In the vault, high between 1689 and 1710, the kings attended the daily mass. The opera, inaugurated in 1770, is one of the last built buildings of the castle.

Some figures

The castle of Versailles is managed since 1995 by the public corporation of the museum and the National Domaine of Versailles, of which the president is Jean-Jacques Aillagon, former minister for the Culture. This public corporation employs 900 people, including 400 assigned to the monitoring. It receives 3 million visitors per annum in the castle and 7 million in the park. 70% of the visitors are foreigners.

It includes/understands three castles: Versailles, Large Trianon and Small Trianon, like several buildings located downtown: large and small stables, hotel of the Menu-Pleasures, room of the Play-of-Palm, the Large Commun run…

The castle of Versailles counts 700 parts, 2.513 windows, 352 chimneys (1 252 pennies the old mode), 67 staircases, 483 mirrors (distributed in the Large gallery, the living room of the War and the living room of Peace) and 13 hectares of roofs. The total surface area is of 67 121 m ² of which 50 000 are opened with the public. The castle counts also 51.210 m2 of floors.

The park covers 800 hectares, including 300 ha of Forêt, and two Jardin S with the Frenchwoman: the Small Park, 80 ha, and Trianon, 50 ha. It counts 20 km of surrounding walls and 42 km of alleys. There are 372 statues.

Among the 55 basins, largest are Large Channel, 23 ha and 500 000 m ³, and the water part of Swiss, 180 000 m ³. 600 water jets and 35 km of drains are counted.

Its construction at the time of Louis XIV required thousands of workmen (a maximum of 36.000 one year). It cost a little less than 100 million books. They were not so expensive which one can it think since a military campaign was more expensive.

Programs of restoration

A program of restoration, the “project of Large Versailles”, was launched in 2003. Equipped with a State grant of 135 million euros for the first seven years, it will be spread out over 17 years and will relate to the whole of the field, castle and park. The three main aims are to make safe the castle, to continue the restorations and to create new spaces for the reception of the public.

Beside the State of many patrons finance the restorations. Their contributions account for 5% of the budget of the public corporation. Thus the foundation “American Friends off Versailles” has just given 4 million dollars (that is to say 2/3 of the total costs) for the restoration of the “thicket of the three fountains”, inaugurated in June 2004, and the company Vinci finance that of the Galerie of the Ices to height of 12 million euros. Work started in 2004 and finished in 2007.

The restorations undertaken since 2003 create sometimes polemics. Certain in love with the castle reproach the administration Public corporation and to the architects as a chief of the Historic buildings to want to gum the additions and installations of Louis-Philippe at the 19th century.

Museums

The museums of the castle of Versailles are created in 1837 by Camille Bachasson, count de Montalivet on order of Louis-Philippe under the name of “Musée of French history”. They constitute, with their 18 000 m ² the largest museum of history of the world. The museum contains a collection of tables gathered or ordered by Louis-Philippe, and organized in historical series. To expose them, certain apartments were transformed into rooms of museum.

At the present time, the museum of French history is located in the wings, while the central part (except for the ground floor), containing the Large Apartments, the private apartments and those of the royal family were restored such as they were it when they were occupied.

The maintenance with Versailles is difficult, in particular with regard to its immense roofs, but tourism, as well as gifts, come to supplement the State grants to make it possible to conclude it.

Spectacles

Every year during the summer in the gardens of the castle, find Large Musical Water, Large Night Water as well as the Fêtes of Versailles .

in 2005, Voyage to the Gallant Indies of Bartabas
in 2006, Weddings of the child king of Alfredo Arias (text of Chantal Thomas, music of the Rita Mitsouko and scenography of Roberto Plate) which tells the history of the infante Marie-Anne-Victoire, girl of king d' Espagne come to France to marry the future Louis XV
in 2007, Concert electro , the Lake of the swans by English National Ballet and the Hidden side of the Sun by the Groupe F

Events

The “national festival” of the Ordre of Malta proceeds the day of the Saint Jean Baptiste, i.e. on June 24th. In this occasion in France, the members of OHFOM meet every year with the castle of Versailles.

Direction of the establishment

1997 - 2003: Hubert Astier
2003 - 2007: Christine Albanel
2007 -: Jean-Jacques Aillagon

At the origins of the place

It is in 1038 that the first mention of Versailles appears, in a chart of the Holy Father abbey of Chartres. Hugo de Versaillis is one of the signatories. At the 10th century, monks clear the ground and found the church priory of Saint-Julien.

In 1429, two lords, Guy and Pierre of Versailles, are interfered with the life Jeanne d' Arc. Pierre was in Bourges, when the Virgin was examined; as for Guy, canon of Turns, it took part in the lawsuit of Jeanne d' Arc. At the end of the War One hundred Year old, the small borough was presented in a sad state: its plundered and devastated houses are given up, and the castle is in ruin. It is the family of Soisy which raises the destroyed buildings which are composed of a principal main building and a wing in return, preceded by a framed gate of two turrets.

The name of a small borough, Versaille-with-borough-of-Galie, appears in a text gone back to 1472. The lords of Versailles belonged directly to the King. Their modest castle dominating the church and the village was drawn up on the southernmost slope of the hillock on which the future castle will be built.

In 1475, Gilles of Versailles, lord of Versailles, yields his rights on Trianon to the abbot of Saint-Germain. The sale contract is the first mention of this name. Trianon was a bought village then destroyed by Louis XI with an aim of building on these new grounds of the royal field a house to be collated. Seeking to flee in family the too heavy protocol of Paris, the king was with Trianon nearer as of his. First royal whim of Versailles, Trianon, like later Marly, remains a place of relaxation, far from the label and of tirednesses of the capacity.

In 1561, the field is sold to Martial de Loménie, secretary of finances of Charles IX, which increases it to reach 150 hectares… In 1572: August 24th, Loménie is assassinated the night of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Estoile pays in its Memories that the queen Catherine de Médicis “made strangle, in the interest of the count de Retz, to make him have the castle of Versailles, the Secretary of State Loménie, which was owner. ” This crime is perhaps not authentic, but it is not incredible.

The following year, Albert de Gondi (baron de Marly), count de Retz, one of Florentins which accompanies Catherine de Médicis in France, becomes owner of the castle and the seigniory of Versailles by repurchasing the field for 35 000 pounds.

In 1589, one month before he becomes king de France, the king de Navarre remains in Versailles. Ghost of Blois, it stops from July 7th to 9th and is received there by Albert de Gondi; he goes back there in 1604 and 1609. Meanwhile, in 1607, the dolphin, which will become Louis XIII, makes its first hunting in Versailles.

In 1616, Albert de Gondi yields the seigniory to his/her son Jean-François de Gondi.

Versailles under the Old Mode

At the origins of the castle: Louis XIII

the Old Castle

In 1623, Louis XIII, the father of Louis XIV, built in the middle of the forests and at the top of a hillock encircled by unhealthy marshes, a modest brick home, stone and slate. If it constituted its go of hunting favorite, it however formed only one rustic construction and purely utility. The provision of its houses, and the ditches which surrounded it, pointed out still certain feudal constructions.

Louis XIII builds this new dwelling on a ground which it bought in Jean of Soisy, whose family was owner since the 14th century. In his small residence, Louis XIII received time with other his mother Marie de Médicis and his wife Anne of Austria. They did nothing but there pass without never sleeping there.

The first " château" from Versailles rose at the bottom of the current marble court. The principal main building was 24 meters long on six of depth and limited each side to two low wings. The apartment of the king included/understood a small gallery where a table representing was hung the seat of La Rochelle. Then, four parts came whose walls were covered with tapestries. The room of the king occupied the center of the building, site which will correspond thereafter with that of the bed of Louis XIV.

November 11th 1630, the cardinal of Richelieu went secretly to Versailles with an aim of convincing the king whom a plot was fomented by the queen-mother. This event will be known, later, under the name of Day of Dupes. Richelieu remained Prime Minister and the queen-Mother was exiled.

By carrying out excavations in the court of the Large Commun run, a team of Inrap exhumed the vestiges of the Jeu of palm of Louis XIII. The discovery is single. Louis XIII, large amateur of the play of palm, added about 1630 to his gentilhommière a court. Built by Philibert Leroy, it is appeared as a large rectangular building of 33 m by 14; with side walls of one 1,30 m of width. The presence of three galleries indicates that it is about a play " in dedans". The ground is covered squares out of stone of size and probably preceded by a ground of floor tiles. The house of the paumier (that which maintains, manages and animates the gaming room) was also found.

1631-1634 First enlarging

April 8th 1632, Louis XIII repurchased the field of Versailles with Jean-François de Gondi, archbishop of Paris, uncle of the cardinal of Retz and heir to Albert. Here an extract of this last sale contract:

The King acquired of this castle only to demolish it and thus extend the panorama of the royal residence. According to a tradition, at the top of the plate of Versailles, the place even of the current castle, drew up a windmill: a miller reigned where Louis XIV reigned. In same time, the king bought new grounds and extended his grounds of huntings. The house built with haste on the grounds of Jean of Soisy, became skimped.
May 26th began from work of enlarging which was directed by the engineer-architect Philibert Roy.

Work was completed in 1634 and Louis XIII took possession of his new apartments.

Starting from 1636, the king multiplied his stays and benefitted from the comfort of its new house as well as approval of its gardens. The new castle accepted its first floral decoration; the gardens were arranged " with the française" by Boyceau and Menours, decorated with arabesques and interlacing.

In 1643, feeling its death to approach, Louis XIII declared: “If God returns health to me, as soon as my dolphin in age to ride a horse and age of majority I will put it at my place, and will withdraw me in Versailles with four of our fathers to maintain me divine things”. May 14th, it returned the heart leaving his too young son to control. Versailles then ceases being a royal residence during almost eighteen years.

Louis XIV

At the beginning of its reign, Louis XIV did not find any house royal which satisfies it fully. He lived Paris: the Palais Royal, the Louvre, the Tileries, it tried to be fixed at Vincennes and Saint-Germain-in-Bush hammer and remained with Fontainebleau. The king compared the advantages and the disadvantages of his castles, and to mitigate their inconveniences, undertook important work there, but in any did not feel at ease.

In 1651, the King paid his first visit in Versailles. At this point in time the love at first sight occurred. The castle of Versailles was born from a mistrust on behalf of the young person Louis XIV towards the capital and its population judged like not easily controllable since the episode of the Fronde. Initially, the residence constitutes only one nest of refuge for the loves of the sovereign. It takes along there its mistress Louise of Vallière.

October 25th 1660, Louis XIV conduit in Versailles his young wife, the queen Marie-Therese.

1661-1668: first extensions

The following year, after the death of the cardinal of Mazarin, the king seized the power personally. New work of enlarging began. From 1661 with 1662, the king devoted to it a million a hundred and thousand books. The resolution of Louis XIV to set up instead of the small castle of his/her father of one of the most marvellous palates of Europe caused many criticisms underhand among the courtiers. There remain however testimonys of these secret oppositions; the place appeared especially badly selected. “Versailles, ungrateful place” said Saint-Simon, “sad, without sight, wood, water, without ground, because all is moving sand and marsh, without air, consequently which is not good. ” Louis Vau, the architect of the Castle of Be worth-the-Viscount, was charged to rebuild the commun runs, Charles Errard and No5el Coypel began work of decoration of the apartments, while Ours created the orangery and the menagerie. At that time, Versailles was only one residence of approval, where festivals were given in the gardens, Louvre remaining officially the royal palace. In a letter remained famous, Colbert complained besides that Louis XIV forsook Louvre:

During time that Majesté spent of so great sums in this house, she neglected the Louvre, which is undoubtedly the most superb palate that there is in the world. (…) O which pity (…) how the largest king was measured with the ell of Versailles!

To May 1664, the first festivities were given to the castle. Placed under the topic “the Pleasures of Isle Enchanted”, they proceeded on an about eight days and took as a starting point two poems epic by the 16th century: furious Roland of Arioste and Jerusalem delivered ( Gerusalemme liberata , 1580) of the Cup. Molière will present the French Letters by creating the Princess of Elides and the first three acts of the Tartuffe. The king had secretly offered this festival to Miss of Vallière.

There between 1664 and 1666, Louis XIV made arrange Versailles in order to be able to spend several days with its Council. It decided to preserve the initial castle built by Louis XIII, more for financial reasons that sentimental. Vau tripled the surface of the castle, which was decorated with much luxury, by taking again in particular the topic of the sun, omnipresent in Versailles. The gardens, particularly appreciated by Louis XIV, transfer their again increased surface, and were decorated sculptures of Girardon and Hongre.

In 1665, the first statues are installed in the garden and the built cave of Téthys. The first orangery, the menagerie and the cave of Téthys did not resist the time proof. Only the group of “Apollo been useful by the nymphs” and “the horses of the Sun”, (carved by Girardon, Regnaudin, Marsy and Tuby) point out the cave of Téthys.

Two years later, the digging of the Large channel started. Ours conceives the widening of the central alley and deals with the external gardens and installations. He collaborates with Francine, wire of Italian engineers, for the construction of the hydraulic installations. The second festival will take place on July 18th 1668; it will make it possible to make known the name of Versailles. Known under the term of “ Great Royal Entertainment of Versailles ”, it will be marked by the creation of Georges Dandin , of Molière, and the Fêtes of the Love and the Chance , of Lully. During festivals of 1664 and 1668, the courtiers measured the inconvenience of the small castle because much did not find a roof to sleep. The King, eager to increase this one, entrusted this task to Vau which presented several projects. The first envisaged the destruction of the primitive castle and its replacement by a palate with the Italian. The second project proposed to increase the castle, side garden, by a stone envelope. On the councils of Colbert, the King chose the second solution.

1668-1670: the New Castle

Of 1668 with 1670, Vau undertook the construction of the Envelope. This Envelope consisted of a second building which encircled the first castle. On both sides of the old castle, the Large Apartment of the King, at North, and of the Queen, at the south, were placed symmetrically. A vast terrace, vis-a-vis the gardens, extended between the two. Temporarily preserved, the stone and brick castle was embellished. The frontages decorated marble columns of Rancid, wrought iron balconies and gilded, busts posed on balustrades. The roofs carried ornaments and the court was paved of marble. Side city, the building of the commun runs elevated and was connected to the castle Louis XIII by a succession of houses to form the Royal Court which closes a gilded grid. The ends of the old commun runs accepted a peristyle of columns surmounted of statues. New constructions tripled the surface of the castle.

With died of Louis Vau, on October 11th, work continued under the control of François d' Orbay indicated by Colbert. The wish of Louis XIV was carried out, the castle of Louis XIII remained intact side city, but disappeared on the side garden, hidden by the new buildings. From now on one will distinguish the “Old Castle” from Louis XIII of the “New Castle” raised by his son. The “new Castle” was a building of Italian design very out of stone. The long frontages were punctuated by fore-parts and divided in the height. The western frontage was occupied, on the level of the first stage, by a large terrace fixed by the house of the king (in north) and the house of the queen (in the south). Just like the architects of Chambord, Vau drew its inspiration in the Italian models, but volumes, the proportions and the ornamentation made of it a work of the spirit français.

the ground floor, consisted a Soubassement underlined by the horizontal lines of the partitions, lights by arched windows on the floors.
the stage was equipped with ionic columns, niches and high rectangular windows (curved by Mansart in 1669). This stage accepted a carved decoration: statues placed in the niches, and rectangular low-reliefs surmounting the windows (they will disappear in 1679).
the second stage or attic accepted a decoration of Corinthian Ordre and was surmounted by a balustrade on which rested fire trophies and pots.

The Trianon of porcelain is built in 1670. It is during this period that the courtiers made build their hotels near the preferred residence of the king. Between 1670 and 1671, 14 large hotels (Luxembourg, Noailles, Guise or Bouillon and Gesvres) are built in the new town of Versailles.

Louis XIV dreamed to build a palate which would mark its time. The palates of Louvre and Tileries were limited by the work of its predecessors. The creation of Versailles answers a political and economic wish. Directing the businesses of the kingdom personally and centralizing the administration, the King wished to gather near him the ministers and their services. Its majesty thus let appear its intention to fix its residence at Versailles. Mansart had to work out projects for the installation of the Court. The palate will extend to dimensions that we know to him. The castle was perceived like a symbol of the Centralisme.

1678-1686: the gallery of the Ices

Between 1678 and 1684, the Gallery of the Ices, symbol of the power of the absolute monarch was high on the old terrace of the new castle. Masonry will be finished in 1684. Decoration was entrusted to the team of Charles Le Brun. For a long time the king dreamed to then build in Versailles one of these large galleries very to the mode. Louis XIV had undoubtedly appreciated the long galleries of Tileries, Louvre and Fontainebleau: crossing points and means of communication between the apartments, they lent themselves by their surfaces to great decorations. The King had made install the gallery of Apollon in Louvre, and in the palate which it had raised in Clagny, for Madam de Montespan, the gallery of Mansart had dazzled all the visitors.

In Versailles, by closing the terrace of Vau by a long frontage whose architectural lines take again those of the new castle, Mansart will build the gallery of the Ices.
The large gallery, limited to north by the living room of the War and to the south by the living room of Peace, extends on 73 m length; it occupies all the western frontage of the new Castle and it will be used as passage between the apartments of the King and those of the Queen. The creation of the gallery of the Ices will have a great consequence: the apartment of the king is off-set in the old castle; the apartment of the Sun will become the “Large Apartment” and will be used for the receptions. In 1678:

Installation of the first stones of the wing of the South intended to place the courtiers. Mansart envisaged the construction of two immense buildings, framing the castle of Vau in north and the south, and in withdrawal compared to this one.
the frontage on the gardens is altered.
a very large mirror with gilded the bronze framework engraved by Cucci was placed in the room of the baths.
Two lengthened tanks, out of white marble enriched by gilded bronzes were added in the cabinet of the baths.
Beginning of work of the water part of Swiss and the basin of Neptune, as well as the earthworks necessary for the doubling of the floor of the South and the construction of the News Orangery.

In 1679:

the gallery of the Ices, the living room of the War and Peace replace the terrace and the cabinets of the King and the Queen.
the central building, on the side of the marble Court, is surmounted by a stage. A framed clock of statues of Mars by Marsy and Hercules by Girardon decorate the new frontage.
Orbay began the construction of a second staircase intended to make during with the staircase Ambassadors: The staircase of the Queen. Staircase of the Ambassadors, only remained to us the two doors which opened in the Large Apartment, the bust of Louis XIV and ancient Silène. A counterpart of this staircase was carried out with the Château of Herrenchiemsee by Louis II of Bavaria.
As of the completion of the wings of the Ministers, one undertook the construction of Large and the Small Stables. Work continued in the gardens which grew rich by statues and new thickets.

In 1681

Charles Le Brun completed the decoration of the Large Apartments.
the Machine of Marly started to pump the water of the the Seine.
the prospects were widened.
Excavation of the Large Channel and the water part of the Swiss ones.
Multiplication of the thickets as well as fountains in the gardens at the price of long work of water conveyance. Thus were born the gardens with the Frenchwoman. The largest sculptors of time decorated these spaces with bronze and marble statues.

In 1682, Louis XIV does not have any more patience to await the end of work. The court had a presentiment of the projects of the king and pretended to believe in it. However, on May 6th the king leaves Saint-Cloud and settles definitively in Versailles. Versailles became officially the residence of king de France. A contemporary described the conditions under which the installation was held: “The sixth of May the King left Saint-Cloud to come to settle in Versailles, where it wished to be for a long time, though it was filled masons, in the intention remaining there until after the layers of Madam the Dauphine one, who was obliged to change apartment the second day that she had arrived, because the noise prevented it from sleeping. ” The king settled in a residence in building site where work of decoration went good progress. The Galerie of the Ices was encumbered by the scaffolding of Charles Le Brun, and to cross it, it was necessary to borrow a passage practiced between the poutrelles.
The inauguration of the wing of midday has lieu.
One of the major problems of Versailles will be always the housing of the courtiers. If Versailles is the symbol of the power of Louis XIV, one should not lose sight of the fact that it is only at 44 years that it is established there definitively.

Versailles thus saw the apogee of the company of court. By fixing the courtiers at it, Louis XIV transformed a quarrelsome and potentially rebellious nobility into a group supporting the State, in the person of the king. The king who, in his childhood, had known with the Sling the dangers of a rising of the nobility, wished to protect the royal person and the government. He endeavoured to reduce the power and the pride of the noble ones. The means which it employed were:

to attract the large lords at his court in their distributing or their letting hope for honors, titles, pensions.
to offer to most important residences with the castle.
to inspire with its courtiers the respect and to raise a barrier with their promiscuity.
to make courtiers of the assiduous spectators of his size.

The king lays down rigorous and complex rules of label, which transformed all its acts, even daily, in a quasi crowned ceremonial.
The king and the queen had their Large and their Small Rising, their Large and their Small To sleep. Certain people were allowed there. To most favoured returned the honor to surround the king, behind the balustrade which isolated the bed from the remainder of the part, and to lend assistance ritually to him by presenting a clothing to him. All the circumstances of the life were thus regulated, since the birth of the princes, which took place in public (what avoided any dispute of legitimacy), until funerals of the king controls by immutable habits. The relationships of the king with the people allowed to approach it knew same solemnities, that they are the receptions of ambassadors, the presentations of gentlemen and titrated ladies or reception of the wishes and congratulations.
To break with this protocol, Louis XIV instituted the “Days of Apartment” where three times per week, of 19 to 10 p.m., the courtiers were allowed in the Large Apartment. In various living rooms dressers, tables of play were distributed, one could listen to music or dance. The king walked there without the lords and the ladies dussent to get out of order of their play to greet it. It was an great honor, envied and disputed, to be allowed there. It is in the same spirit that Louis XIV wanted to reserve himself, while making arrange the Small apartments, a more intimate life in the only company of its familiar, such his/her companions of hunting which it often retained to dine.
For Europe, Versailles was a testimony of the power of France and Louis XIV.

Between 1685 and 1689, a true fever constructor gave birth:

with the Orangery which replaced that of Vau. It provided 3000 shrubs and 150.000 floral plants each year.
with the stables,
with the Large Commun run,
with the northern wing of the courtiers.

The Northern construction of the wings and the South prolonged the development of the frontages of Mansart. Seen gardens, the three buildings distinct composed a harmonious unit. The frontage developed over a 670 meters length. The two new buildings accommodated the Princes and the courtiers, the stables, fit with body them, the general services and the housing of the servants. The cave of Téthys was destroyed.

Two years after the installation of the Court, 22.000 to 30.000 workmen (according to the availability of the regiments) and 6000 horses affairaient themselves on the various building sites of Versailles. One set up a hill in order to carry the 680 meters length of the castle. A whole forest was planted. Jules Hardouin-Mansart coordinated the immense building site. The total invoice will rise to approximately 80 million books. In the event of industrial accident, following compensations were envisaged:

30 to 40 books for an arm or a leg broken,
60 books for a burst eye,
40 to 100 pounds for the widow in the event of mortality.

The village of Versailles was transformed into true city which was built in the axis of the castle and the gardens. The 5000 courtiers set up downtown of the hotels where their servants and their crews were placed. Taverns and inns contributed to the animation of the city whose population, which did not cease growing, will reach 70.000 inhabitants the day before the revolution.

In 1686, the Brown one completes the decoration of the gallery of the Ices. The ambassadors of king de Siam are received in Versailles.

The king, who wearies Trianon of porcelain, makes set up in 1687 by Hardouin-Mansart, on the same site, a porphyry and marble small palace with gardens, the Grand Trianon; Louis XIV supervised of so close work which he seemed the true architect of the place.

In 1689, in new Versailles, the access to the apartments of the Queen was done by the marble staircase, called the staircase of the Queen. The stage opened in the two rooms of the Bodyguards, then came the Anteroom, the Large Cabinet and the Room which gave in the living room of Peace. This unit developed on the southern frontage of the envelope of Vau.
The new apartments of the king developed around the Marble Court. The official apartment called “Apartment of the King” occupied the wings southern and western castle of Louis XIII and the “Interior Apartment” was installed in the northern wing. The apartment of the King was composed of seven parts, the seventh forming the junction with the Interior Apartment. In the center of the castle the living room of the King (future room of Louis XIV) was installed, the apartment ended in the cabinet of the Council and the cabinet of the Terms or the Wigs (two parts located at the site of the current living room of the Council).

The 1683-1686 apartment of the collections

1683, in an apartment, interdict with any person not - authorized, the architects and the decorators arranged living rooms and cabinets intended to receive chiefs of works and the collections of the king. In the oval Living room, the Cabinet in the tables, the Cabinet with the shells one exposed all kinds of rich person curiosities and objets d'art; the walls carried tables of the royal collection. These parts belonged to the apartment of the Collectors which ended in the cabinet of the Medals. According to the description of Miss de Scudéry, this last was lit by rock crystal glosses and one could admire there:

of the vases of big size furnished with gold and diamonds,
of the busts and the ancient figures,
a gold Nave furnished with diamonds and ruby (it is the great Nave of Louis XIV which one sees painted with the ceiling of the living room of Abundance),
of the porcelains of China and Japan,
of the vases of agate, emerald, turquoise, jade, girasol, jasper of Germany and the East, stone of star, cornaline, of crisolite,
of the grotesque figures of pearls, emerald, ruby and of agate,
a great quantity of vases of conches of pearls,
of the tables, mirrors,
of the ancient statues of animals,
a large jasper vase whose figure is a species of irregular oval which was used with the baptism as Charles Quint.

Part of these treasures was transported, by order of Louis XV, with the cabinet of the Medals of the Library of Paris, the remainder was dispersed during the Revolution. The gallery of Apollo, in Louvre, collected some very beautiful pieces of the collections of Louis XIV: vases out of rock crystal or precious substances (jasper, cornaline, etc) as of small groups of bronze.

The year 1683 was endeuillée by the death of the Marie-Therese queen and that of Colbert. The superintendence of the Building industries will pass between the hands of Louvois which does not like Brown the and which will introduce Mignard in Versailles.

1684, the apartment of the collectors increases by the annexation of the old apartment of Montespan, transformed into a small gallery which Mignard decorated which found in this gallery the occasion to compete with the Brown one. Mignard painted the ceiling while taking as a starting point the topic of Apollon and with Minerve, it also decorated the ceilings with the two small living rooms of the gallery. The ground was an invaluable wood parquet floor, the walls were tightened sumptuous fabrics. It is in this part that Louis XIV exposed the showpieces of his collection of tables. As this collection of chiefs of work was considerable, one hung the tables by bearing. Within this invaluable framework, the king was delayed to contemplate the Joconde.

1701 New Apartments of the King

1700, the duke of Anjou, small son of Louis XIV, is proclaimed king d' Espagne and it takes the name of Philippe V of Spain.

1701, transformation of the apartments of the King. The room of the King is placed in the center of the castle. The Anteroom of Bassan and the Room (of 1689) were joined together to form the Room with the bull's eye. These parts were magnificiently furnished and tended very rich fabrics, the not painted ceilings formed vast white caps.

The 1698-1710 vault

Louis XV

in 1715, the new king being only one child, his tutor Philippe of Orleans (known as the Regent, first cousin distant with the 2nd degree from Louis XV) left Versailles on September 9th and settled in its Parisian residence of the Palais Royal and the Court with Tileries. During this Regency, the duke of Noailles proposed to shave the castle.

1717, Pierre Large the, tsar of Russia, visited Versailles and resided at the Grand Trianon.

1722, 12 years old Louis XV was reinstalled in Versailles in the apartments Louis XIV.

The new sovereign was anxious to make respect the traditions of Versailles. The era of great constructions was completed and the castle did not find any more the gloss of the years Louis XIV - Louis XV did not appreciate Versailles particularly. When it was there, it often took refuge in the Small Apartments in the attics, above its Large Apartments. But most of the time, it remained in Trianon, Marly, Compiegne or Fontainebleau, or in small residences near Paris.

The first transformations consisted of:

the demolition of the apartment of the Baths and the staircase of the Ambassadors,
constructions of the living room of Hercules (with the ceiling of F. Lemoyne), of the Opera and Small Trianon,
the transformation of the apartments of the King, the Queen and the princes of the royal family gradually transformed to adapt to the tastes of the time and made more comfortable. Angel-Jacques Gabriel will deal with these modifications.

The new administration of the Building industries, with the head of which since 1708 was the duke of Antin, started the decoration of the big room (living room of Hercules) under the responsibility of Robert de Cotte who directed work according to the projects worked out in the last years of the reign of Louis XIV. This living room completed the Large Apartment of the Brown one and the spirit of size joined that of the previous century. The walls were covered with marbles chosen by Louis XIV of alive sound and were decorated by two works with Véronèse. The innovation lay in the compartmentalized ceiling of any carved framework. François Lemoyne seizes the occasion to compete with Véronèse while painting: “The Apotheosis of Hercules”. The living room of Hercules connected the apartments of the King to the hall of the vault. Later, Gabriel planned to replace the staircase of the Ambassadors by a new staircase which would emerge in this room.

1729, beginning of work of renewal of the decoration of the room of the Queen. Robert de Cotte provides the drawings of the new woodworks.

1735, completion of work of renewal of the decoration of the room of the Queen by Gabriel father and wire

1736, inauguration of the living room of Hercules.

1738 with 1760, the parts of the apartment of collectors of Louis XIV were constantly altered. Work started in 1738 with the creation of the room to sleep private of the King, and was stabilized about 1760.

1741, Philibert Orry, which had replaced the duke of Antin, made carry out the completion of the Basin of Neptune;

1742, Louis XV grants audience to Saïd Méhemet Pasha, ambassador extraordinary of the Large Lord.

1745, the head of the Administration of the Building industries of the King, Charles François Paul Normalizing It of Tournehem succeeded Philibert Orry, thanks to the influence of its pupil - perhaps even his/her natural daughter - Madam de Pompadour.

1750, Louis XV introduced a new type of parts into the royal apartments: the dining room returns of hunting.

1751, death of Tournehem which was replaced by the marquis de Marigny, brother of Madam de Pompadour. Under its directives will appear: the architect Angel-Jacques Gabriel, and two sculptors of woodworks, Verbeckt and Rousseau. It is the apartment of Marie Leczinska who provides to Gabriel and Verbeckt the occasion to work together.

1752, destruction of the staircase of the Ambassadors, the Small Gallery and the cabinet of the Medals. These glorious witnesses of the reign of Louis XIV were destroyed for the creation of an apartment intended for elder of the Girls of France: Mrs Adélaïde.

1755, the second transformation consisted in joining together the old cabinet of the King (or the Council) with the cabinet of the Thermal baths (or the Wigs) to form the large living room of the Council. Jules Antoine Rousseau carved the gilded woodworks. Gabriel re-used part of the old panels to decorate the walls. On the second floor the interior cabinets of the king developed. In this part of the castle no gilding coloured the woodworks. Bright colors and varied brightened the statues, painted according to the techniques worked out by Martin, the inventor of famous “varnished Martin”. The essential component of this apartment was a small gallery informed on the Marble court. Tables of To stop, Carle Van Loo, Lancret, Lord's Prayer and Parrocel were hung on the coloured woodworks.

During all its career Gabriel faced problems of housing. The queen put at the world eight princesses:

Mrs Toisième and Mrs Therese died very young person,
Mrs Henriette was carried by the disease in 1752.
Mrs Elisabeth became duchess-infante of Parma.
Mrs Louise took the veil and was withdrawn in Carmel of Saint-Denis.
Mesdames Alélaïde, Victoire and Sophie lived there a long time before leaving it for the castle of Bellevue, old residence of the marchioness of Pompadour, that Louis XVI with his advent gave them.

To place all these princesses, in apartments which are appropriate for their row, Gabriel carried out multiple work. With the passing of years Mesdames changed apartments, passing from the Wing of the South to the Wing of North, and the ground floor of the Central Body (and even on the first floor as we noted for Adélaïde). These successive removals led to disappearance compète of the Apartment of the Baths, the Staircase of the Ambassadors, and with the bulk-heading of the Low Gallery. These apartments were destroyed by Louis Philippe, some splendid woodworks have escaped with this confusion and testify to us to the luxury which reigned at Mesdames.

According to the tradition established under Louis XIV, the dolphin and his wife took possessions of the two apartments of the ground floors located under the apartment of the Queen and, in return of square, under part of the gallery of the Ices. Marvellous decorations were then created. The 19th century devastated this unit. Only was preserved the room of the Dolphin and the library.

1757, the January 5th, attack of Damiens against the king.

1761 with 1768 Angel-Jacques builds Small Trianon

1769, the Adélaïde princess moved and its apartment was joined together with that of Louis XV. The two important parts of the interior apartment were the new room of the king and his interior cabinet (the latter forming the turntable between the old living rooms and the “New Rooms” of the apartment of Adelaide.

In the second part of the reign of Louis XV of the reconstruction projects of the frontages compared to the city will shape. One reproached the walls of Vau their materials and their provision.

1770, on May 16th, marriage of the dolphin (future Louis XVI) with Marie-Antoinette of Lorraine, archduchess of Austria, celebrated in the royal vault. In the same time the inauguration of the Royal Opera at the time of the royal feast will take place, it marks the top of the art of Gabriel.

1771 Gabriel presented to king his “Grand Projet” of rebuilding of all the frontages side city. Only the right wing, which threatened ruin, was built. With its house with columns, the rules of the classical architecture were complied with. The king gave his approval to this project. As the money missed in the royal cases, Madam of Barry undertook to join together the funds with this operation.

1772, work of the “Great project” began and were not never completed but gave rise to the Wing Louis XV. Inside the wing, work of the large staircase known as Grand Degree begins, but will be completed only in 1785. At the end of the Old Mode, the palate will be the royal residence most luxurious of all Europe.

While Gabriel continued its work the life of the court continued, always brilliant and luxurious, enamelled balls and festivals. The favorite distraction of this century was the theater. One appreciated Voltaire for his tragedies and his prose. Madam de Pompadour will give a great impulse to this movement.

Louis XV was responsible for the destruction of splendid whole of the time of Louis XIV, but it had known to create inside the palate of splendid decorations. The gardens and in particular Trianon had grown rich by the French House and the Petit Trianon.

the 1729-1736 living room of Hercules

The decoration of this new living room began, since 1712. It is with the site of the old vault, destroyed in 1710. The building site is placed under the direction of Robert de Cotte, the decorator of the new royal vault. However the death of the king Louis XIV, in 1715 stops the building site. This one took again only after the return of Louis XV to the castle, in 1729. The ceiling of the part was decorated between 1733 and 1736 by François Lemoyne. It represents the Apotheosis of Hercules there. On the wall of the bottom is exposed an immense fabric of Véronèse offered by the Republic of Venice to the king Louis XIV in 1664, the Meal at Simon . The installation of the part was finished in 1736. But the inauguration took place only on January 26th, 1739, by a “avoided ball” given at the time of the marriage of the oldest daughter of Louis XV with Infant of Spain. The living room of Hercules was used as framework with exceptional “great covers” (in 1769, for the marriage of the duke of Chartres or in 1782 for the birth of the Dauphin) or with extraordinary audiences (with the sultan of Mysore, in 1788).

The 1758-1770 royal Opera

Louis XVI

Under Louis XVI, the life of court in Versailles continued to decline, while becoming an empty shell of direction, and flees by the courtiers as well as by the royal family. Moreover, the castle appeared a financial drain. The absence of conveniences (bathroom, heating) in the apartments made increasingly sensitive the need for a restoration major of the buildings. But the lack of money made give the project until the French revolution. Marie-Antoinette imposed important expenditure for the installation of Small Trianon, which largely contributed to make it unpopular. One does not meet there more but for great circumstances, like on August 15th, feast of the Assumption, commemorated by a great procession to which must assist all the courtiers. This one recalls the dedication of France to Marie, issued by Louis XIII. It is during the ceremony of August 15th, 1785 that the king makes stop, in the Gallery of the ices full with world, its large chaplain, prince cardinal Louis of Rohan-Guéméné, compromised in the business known as of the Collar of the queen.

The 1774 library of Louis XVI

As of its advent in 1774, Louis XVI wants to make design for him a part dedicated to its relaxation. The choice was made on a library. It was started at the beginning of its reign. The decoration was drawn by Jacques-Angels Gabriel and was carved by Jules Antoine Rousseau. Riesener carved a large table with plate monoxyle to allow Louis XVI to expose his cookie of Sevres resulting from its personal collection. Two spheres, terrestrial and celestial, came to supplement this decoration in 1777. It is in this library that Louis XVI decided arrest of his large chaplain on August 15th, 1785, after being badly advised by the baron de Breteuil and its Minister of Justice Armand-Thomas Hue of Miromesnil.

The 1783 gilded cabinet

This part was creates to shelter part of the collections of Louis XIV. Under Louis XV, it took various assignment. Thus, it was used to the king of part of exposure for its service as gold plate, from where one of its names cabinet of the Gold plate. It was then attached to the apartments of Mrs Adélaïde, girl of Louis XV. This part consequently becomes its cabinet of music where Adélaïde accepted lessons of Toothing-stone of Beaumarchais. Mozart would have played there for the royal family, in 1763. Under Louis XVI, this part becomes again a part of exposure. In 1788, Louis XVI exposes to it one of his purchases personnel, the cabinet of the butterflies.

Versailles since the Revolution

The Revolution

1793-1796 In the storm

Versailles saw the apogee of France of the Bourbons, but also its fall: it is in Versailles that the General states were held of 1789.

The October 5th 1789, in spite of the rain, the people of Paris leads by women goes on Versailles, or it runs up against the grids of the castle. A shooting bursts. The people invade the castle, and bring back the royal family to Paris.

The furniture of the castle is transported in movable guards. Thus, the famous office secretary of Louis XV by Riesner, after having undergone modifications of its decoration (in particular the replacement of the flowers of lily by anchors, ropes and other elements decorative having milked with the sea) is affected with the Ministry for the Navy, Place Harmony.

At the beginning of 1791, the tables, the ices and all the too explicit emblems of the royalty are taken down walls and ceilings. The works of art are sent to the Louvre, become the Central Museum of Arts in 1792.

The convention, the June 10th 1793, after the fall of monarchy, sells with the auction the furniture of the castle: 17.182 batches, spread out over the years 1793 - 1796. More the beautiful pieces leave for the England, bought by agents of the king Georges III, and furnish or decorate the Palais with Buckingham or the Castle with Windsor. In 1792, during the fall of monarchy, it was even plundered by vandals. The father of the painter Delacroix thinks that it would be necessary to demolish it and pass the plow there.

Napoleon thought a time to make its imperial palace of it, but Versailles remained unutilised until the return of monarchy. Lastly, Louis-Philippe entrusted to his minister Camille Bachasson, count de Montalivet the task to transform the castle into museum: it is of this time that date the dedication “ With all glories of France ”.

Thereafter, Versailles did not reconsider any more the front of the scene but in an episodical way, even anecdotic. Thus, the castle becomes the general headquarter of the Prussian army at the time of the head office of Paris, during the war of 1870. The German Empire was proclaimed in the gallery of the Ices the January 18th 1871. During the Common , Thiers and its government took refuge there. They remained there in the gigantic hemicycle with the armchairs color Bordeaux wine until in 1879, then it was the framework of the election of the presidents of IIIe and IVe République. It is decorated with large allegorical frescos evoking the war, agriculture, the trade, industry and peace.

The peace treaty, known as Traité of Versailles which put an end to the First World War there was signed on June 28th, 1919.

Nowadays, Versailles is a national palate at the disposal of the presidency of the republic. It is used to accommodate foreign Heads of State, like Elisabeth II in 1972, the Shah of Iran in 1974, Mikhaïl Gorbatchev in 1985 or Boris Ieltsine in 1992. In 1982, it was used as meeting room with the G7.

Place symbolic system, the castle of Versailles is the object of an attack in the night from June 25th to 26th 1978. The bomb has delayed-action posed by two Breton nationalists damages ten rooms, making three million damage.

In addition, since the III {{E}} Republic, Versailles is used as meeting room of the Congrès of the Parliament. The Assemblies have about thirty apartments function representing a surface of almost 7 000 m ² in the wing of the South.

1797 First Museum

August 1st

Under the Restoration

In 1815, Philippe Louis Marc Antoine de Noailles, prince de Poix becomes governor of the royal House of Versailles and Trianon, general Lieutenant, marguillier of honor of the parish and general secretary of the government of Versailles. For this reason, it represents the king in Versailles and has in more the care of all that looks at the factory and the work of the Saint-Louis parish. Auguste de Rambaud, wire of his friend Agathe de Rambaud, former police chief of the wars, is his intimate secretary.

Philippe Louis Marc Antoine de Noailles dies on February 15th, 1819 in Paris. Its praise is pronounced with the Room of the pars by Armand Maximilien François Olivier of Saint-Georges, marquis de Vérac († 1858), husband of one of his nieces, who succeeds to him in the government of Versailles

Return to the Crown

In 1833, Louis-Philippe I {{er}}, king of the French, decides, to save Versailles of the ruin, to transform it into a museum of the French history celebrating the military conquests of the Ancien Mode, the French revolution, the Empire and even of the Restauration. Very attached to this project intended to mark the company of national reconciliation carried out by the Monarchy of July, the king supervises very close the completion of the work and the orders of the tables.

The restoration of the castle is directed by the architect Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine. The work, paid on the personal cassette of the king, rises with more than 23 franc million.

Louis-Philippe also makes restore the Grand Trianon for his personal use. In October 1837, it celebrates the marriage of his/her daughter there, the princess Marie with the duke of Wurtemberg.

The Gallery of the Battles

Installed in the wing of the South, in the place of the apartments of the princes, the Galerie of the battles was conceived personally by Louis-Philippe. It surprises by its vast dimensions (120 meters length on 13 meters broad). It is decorated of thirty-two large-sized paintings celebrating the glorious military actions of the French history since the Bataille of Tolbiac in 496 until that of Wagram in 1809. The painter more solicited was Horace Vernet.

1837: “With all Glories of France”

The museum of the French history of the castle of Versailles, dedicated “to all Glories of France”, is inaugurated officially by Louis-Philippe the June 10th 1837, within the framework of the festivities which mark the marriage of the royal prince with the princess Helene de Mecklembourg. It includes/understands in particular the Salle of the Crusades whose planks bear the weapons and the names of the cross knights opened to the public in 1843.

The museum meets a very great success. “What king Louis-Philippe did in Versailles is well, comments on Victor Hugo. To have achieved this work, it is to have been large as king and impartial like philosopher; it is to have made a national monument of a monarchical monument; they is to have put an immense idea in an immense building; it is installto have installed the present in the past, 1789 with respect to 1688, the emperor in king, Napoleon at Louis XIV; in a word, it is to have given to this splendid book which one calls this splendid binding the French history that one calls Versailles. ”

Napoleon III

August 1st

Worship with Marie-Antoinette

The Eugenie empress, who dedicated a worship with Marie Antoinette, was at the origin of an renewed interest for the castle of Versailles. It is under its influence that during the World Fair of 1867, of the prestigious pieces of furniture were reinstated in the Inheritance of the castle. Thus, large greenhouse-jewels of Schwerdfeger or the office of Roentgen.

Under the Republics

1890-1920

June 28th 1919, signature of the Treated of Versailles: Lloyd George, George Clemenceau, and Woodrow Wilson, is joined together in the Galerie of the ices at the German sides of the far-sighted representative in order to ratify a treaty several points, the 14 points of Wilson, of which the demilitarization of the Rhineland and the French resumption of Alsace-Lorraine.

1938-1953

August 1st

The 1961-2004 time of the Returns

By the decree n°95-463 of April 27th, 1995, the government carried out the creation of the Public corporation of the museum and the national field of Versailles. There is thus side the national museum of the castle of Versailles and in addition the national Field of Versailles. Sometimes the museum is entitled National museum of the castles of Versailles and Trianons.

Large Versailles

Since 1875, approximately 25.000 m ² of buildings, located mainly in the wing of the South (including the gallery of the Battles), are assigned to the Parliament, two thirds with the National Assembly and a third with the Senate. This assignment was formalized by a law of July 22nd, 1879 relating to the seat of the executive power and rooms in Paris, then by the ordinance n° 58-1100 of November 17th, 1958. In May 2005, a private bill put forth by Jean-Louis Debré, president of the National Assembly, proposes the restitution of these buildings to the public corporation of the museum and the National field of Versailles. This reassignment is coherent with the program in the course of restoration of the castle says “project of Large Versailles”. However the Senate refused by amendment the restitution of the room of the meetings of the Congress, considered as a “ place of memory of the parliamentary history of our country ”.

Since September 2005, the Public corporation of Versailles launched the project " Large Versailles numérique" which consists in making of Versailles the laboratory of numerical cultural the . The objective of this program, supported by the ministry for the culture and the communication, is to imagine, test and deploy numerical tools for enrichment of the real or virtual visit of the castle and field. The first experiments numerical were launched in June 2006 with three devices :

a Web site window presenting the project and proposing visits 3D, panoramic and a multi-media chronological plank. site window GVN (this site gained the innovation prize of the International festival of Multi-media, in Montreal, on October 14th, 2006)
a numerical visit of the new field of Marie-Antoinette, with pdas connected to a network wi-fi and iPods
a download location of audio sequences and vidéos site podcast of Versailles which proposes the greatest podcast cultural offer of France, more than 50 audio sequences and vidéos, in French and English. The site podcast exceeded the 400.000 remote loadings 3 months after its launching, on July 14th, 2006.

Objectives and role of the castle

The castle of Versailles is a typical case of monumental decoration designed to impress and contribute to the Mise in scene of the capacity. This reading of the monument, exceeding the traditional artistic analysis, was proposed by historians like Joel Cornette.

The glorification of the king

Run up by its visit of the Castle of Be worth-the-Viscount, splendid residence of its minister Fouquet, Louis XIV intends to create in Versailles a palate which does not have a comparison in the kingdom and even in Europe. The building must devote the size of the king and his reign.

The plan of the castle is studied to emphasize the sovereign. The royal room is located at the center of the palate and on main roads which leave the statue of the king in the court of access and which is prolonged by the green Carpet and the Large Channel. Louis XIV is made represent as a divinity in several carved compositions.

Moreover, the castle seems a work of “propaganda” to take again the word of Joel Cornette. Through decoration, the king transmits some messages. Painted after the War of Holland, the ceilings of the Galerie of the Ices return a glorious image of the prince, intended to amplify a military victory limited finally enough. Louis XIV appears represented there as a king of war and triumph who crushes all his enemies.

The castle becomes animated splendid festivals that the invitation of the largest musicians (Jean-Baptiste Lully) and more great authors (Molière) raise. As many occasions to divert the nobility present and glorifier the owner of the places. This patronage makes of Versailles the crucible of the Classicisme. By certain aspects, Versailles is also presented in the form of a seat of a “monarchical worship”. A kind of liturgy is worked out there, with its great moments (the rising of the king, the meals of the king, the visit of the gardens, couchers of the king…), its faithful (large lords and servants) and its rules (the Label).

Versailles, capital news of the kingdom

With the installation of Louis XIV in 1682, Versailles becomes the seat of the government even if several of the great institutions of the State remain in Paris. The king directs there the businesses within his councils and in the discussions with his ministers. Consequently, the Cour also settles with the castle. Louis XIV thus breaks with the itinerant tradition of king de France and his entourage who went from castle in castle for more or less long stages. The rooting of the government is not however total sometimes since it sometimes happens at Louis XIV to attend other residences (Fontainebleau for example).

Holding of a centralization, the king could have chosen Paris to fix himself but its fear of Parisian directed it towards another choice. It undoubtedly remembered that his/her grandfather Henri IV was assassinated in a street of Paris and that in 1648, during the Fronde, the people had set up barricades and had invaded the Palais Royal. Versailles was a quieter place.

The domestication of the nobility

While asking the nobility to join it in his residence, Louis XIV creates a new function for the site of Versailles: that of a gilded prison. Indeed, the large lords understanding that their presence at the Court is an essential condition to profit from the royal favor answer the invitation. They settle in particular in the large wings north and south built by the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart. Nourished, placed, diverted with the expenses of the Crown, the noble ones consequently lose occasion their freedom. The king has them from now on under the eyes and can transform them into flexible servants by the distribution of offices or the threat of a disgrace.

Victory of the man over nature

The castle of Versailles east established on a rather inhospitable ground. The ground presents the uneven ones. He is forester and by sandy or marshy place. Louis XIV thus launches a challenge to the architect Vau and the gardener Ours when he asks them to build the most beautiful royal residence there. But the sovereign is convinced that the human genius can domesticate nature. The project of Versailles thus constitutes an example of Town and country planning. It is necessary to drain the ground, to level it and even shave a village (Trianon). At the end of several tens of years, rises a majestic palate where symmetry and the straight line triumph over an unequal and irregular ground.

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