VERSAILLES

Versailles and it's Gardens count among the most prestigious monuments of the world's artistic heritage and are certainly the finest and most complete achievement of 17th century French art. King Louis XIII's former hunting lodge was transformed and enlarged by his son Louis XIV, who installed his court and government here. The Château was embellished with new apartments during the 18th century, in the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI. The royal family and the court were forced to leave Versailles on October 6th 1789, after the first days of the French Revolution. In 1837, King Louis-Philippe inaugurated the Museum in the Château, devoted to glorious events in the history of France.

Ambassador staircase

Hall of mirrors

Salon of Venus

Full view of the palace

From king's bedroom

Palace (park side)

Bedroom of Louis XIV

Versailles by Louis XIII

Louis in his bedroom

"Very early in the reign of Louis XIV the Court was removed from Paris, never to return. The troubles of the minority had given him a dislike to that city; his enforced and surreptitious flight from it still rankled in his memory; he did not consider himself safe there, and thought cabals would be more easily detected if the Court was in the country, where the movements and temporary absences of any of its members would be more easily noticed.... No doubt that he was also influenced by the feeling that he would be regarded with greater awe and veneration when no longer exposed every day to the gaze of the multitude.

His love-affair with Mademoiselle de la Vallière, which at first was covered as far as possible with a veil of mystery, was the cause of frequent excursions to Versailles. This was at that time at small country house, built by Louis XIII to avoid the unpleasant necessity, which had sometimes befallen him, of sleeping at a wretched wayside tavern or in a windmill, when benighted out hunting in the forest of St. Leger.... The visits of Louis XIV becoming more frequent, he enlarged the château by degrees till its immense buildings afforded better accommodation for the Court than was to be found at St. Germain, where most of the courtiers had to put up with uncomfortable lodgings in the town. The Court was therefore removed to Versailles in 1682, not long before the Queen's death. The new building contained an infinite number of rooms for courtiers, and the King liked the grant of these rooms to be regarded as a coveted privilege. "
By duc de Saint-Simon

Louis XIV in Versailles

Versailles in 1664

Louis' bedroom windows

Louis was building Versailles almost all his life. He never saw Versailles ready because he had always new ideas for building or rebuilding, so Versailles was under construction till his death. Every corner and every smallest part of the palace and of the garden was build under his dearest care. Although the main ideas came from architects and gardeners, it's possible to say that Louis XIV was the builder and planner of that masterpiece. Building that grandiose palace he wanted not only to have a big comfortable residence in the country, he wanted to move the court from Paris to have a better possibility to control them all. He also wanted to leave something glamorous to the next generations, something that will show his greatness and power.

André Le Nôtre

those at Saint Germain, Fontainebleau, and Clagny, and for the parks of the chief ministers of King Louis XIV. Le Notre's best known work is the immense park of the Palace of Versailles (1661-90), commissioned by Louis XIV and imitated throughout Europe. The principles of the jardin francais, however, can be seen more clearly at the Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte, where Le Notre worked (1656-61) in collaboration with the architect Louis Le Vau and the designer Charles Le Brun. Whereas the design of the typical Renaissance garden consisted of individual geometric units laid side by side, with a strong sense of compartmentalization, the gardens designed by Le Notre were unified by a dominant central axis that firmly controlled the movement of the spectator through the various lawns, gardens, and pools. He also made use of the lay of the land for optical effects, closing the vista by funneling the lines of perspective. He also channeled water from terrace to terrace as it passed through the various cascades and fountains. His spacious, elegantly orchestrated works epitomized the opulent era of Louis XIV and played a key role in the development of landscape architecture.

Bath of Apollo

Ship in Versailles' park

Palace (park side)

1. Official Versailles site    http://www.chateauversailles.fr
2. Versailles guide with 360° views of the palace and it's park
               http://www.smartweb.fr/versailles
3. Fontains of Versailles - site about park of Versailles
               http://patrick.urbain.free.fr/
4. Site about Versailles   http://www.chez.com/versailles/
5. La Quintinie et le potager du roi - King's fruit garden
       http://www.france.diplomatie.fr/culture/france/biblio/folio/quintinie