Louis XIII built a hunting lodge at Versailles in 1623. His successor, Louis XIV, expanded the château into a palace that went through several expansions in phases from 1661 to 1715. It was a favourite residence for both kings, and in 1682, Louis XIV moved the seat of his court and government to Versailles, making the palace thede facto capital of France. This state of affairs was continued by KingsLouis XV andLouis XVI, who primarily made interior alterations to the palace, but in 1789 the royal family and French court returned to Paris. For the rest of theFrench Revolution, the Palace of Versailles was largely abandoned and emptied of its contents, and the population of the surrounding city plummeted.
Napoleon, followinghis coronation as Emperor, used the subsidiary palace,Grand Trianon, as a summer residence from 1810 to 1814, but did not use the main palace. Following theBourbon Restoration, when the king was returned to the throne, he resided in Paris and it was not until the 1830s that meaningful repairs were made to the palace. Amuseum of French history was installed within it, replacing the courtiers apartments of the southern wing.
When Louis XIII died in 1643, Anne became Louis XIV'sregent,[19] and Louis XIII's château was abandoned for the next decade. She moved the court back to Paris,[20] where Anne and herchief minister,Cardinal Mazarin, continued Louis XIII's unpopular monetary practices. This led tothe Fronde, a series of revolts against royal authority from 1648 to 1653 that masked a struggle between Mazarin and theprinces of the blood, Louis XIV's extended family, for influence over him.[21] In the aftermath of the Fronde, Louis XIV became determined to rule alone.[22][23] Following Mazarin's death in 1661,[24] Louis XIV reformed his government to exclude his mother and the princes of the blood,[23] moved the court back to Saint-Germain-en-Laye,[25] and ordered the expansion of his father's château at Versailles into a palace.[16][26]
Louis XIV had hunted at Versailles in the 1650s,[15][18] but did not take any special interest in Versailles until 1661.[27] On 17 August 1661,[28] Louis XIV was a guest at a sumptuous festival hosted byNicolas Fouquet, theSuperintendent of Finances, at his palatial residence, theChâteau de Vaux-le-Vicomte.[24][29] Louis XIV was impressed by the château and its gardens,[29][30] which were the work ofLouis Le Vau, thecourt architect since 1654,André Le Nôtre, the royal gardener since 1657, andCharles Le Brun,[15] a painter in royal service since 1647.[31] Vaux-le-Vicomte's scale and opulence led him to imprison Fouquet that September, as he had also built an island fortress and a private army.[29][32] But Louis XIV was also inspired by Vaux-le-Vicomte,[33] and he recruited its authors for his own projects.[34][35] Louis XIV replaced Fouquet withJean-Baptiste Colbert,[23][30] a protégé of Mazarin and enemy of Fouquet,[36] and charged him with managing the corps of artisans in royal employment.[37][38] Colbert acted as the intermediary between them and Louis XIV,[39] who personally directed and inspected the planning and construction of Versailles.[40][41][42]
Work at Versailles was at first concentrated ongardens,[43][44] and through the 1660s, Le Vau only added two detached service wings and a forecourt to the château.[45][46] But in 1668–69,[47][48] as a response to the growth of the gardens,[49] and theTreaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668),[47][48] Louis XIV decided to turn Versailles into a full-scale royal residence.[45][50] He vacillated between replacing or incorporating his father's château, but settled on the latter by the end of the decade,[47][48][51] and from 1668 to 1671,[52] Louis XIII's château was encased on three sides in a feature dubbed theenveloppe.[48][53] This gave the château a new,Italianate façade overlooking the gardens, but preserved the courtyard façade,[54][55] resulting in a mix of styles and materials that dismayed Louis XIV[55] and that Colbert described as a "patchwork".[56] Attempts to homogenize the two façades failed, and in 1670 Le Vau died,[57] leaving the post of First Architect to the King vacant for the next seven years.[58]
Le Vau was succeeded at Versailles by his assistant, architectFrançois d'Orbay.[59] Work at the palace during the 1670s focused on its interiors, as the palace was then nearing completion,[54][60] though d'Orbay expanded Le Vau's service wings and connected them to the château,[54] and built a pair of pavilions for government employees in the forecourt.[18][61] In 1670, d'Orbay was tasked by Louis XIV with designing a city, also calledVersailles,[9] to house and service Louis XIV's growing government and court.[57][62] The granting of land to courtiers for the construction oftownhouses that resembled the palace began in 1671.[57][63] The next year, theFranco-Dutch War began and funding for Versailles was cut until 1674,[64] when Louis XIV had work begun on theAmbassadors' Staircase [fr], a grand staircase for the reception of guests, and demolished the last of the village of Versailles.[65]
Following the end of the Franco-Dutch War with French victory in 1678, Louis XIV appointed as First ArchitectJules Hardouin-Mansart,[25][66] an experienced architect in Louis XIV's confidence,[67] who would benefit from a restored budget and large workforce of former soldiers.[64][68] Mansart began his tenure with the addition from 1678 to 1681 of theHall of Mirrors,[69] a renovation of the courtyard façade of Louis XIII's château,[70] and the expansion of d'Orbay's pavilions to create theMinisters' Wings in 1678–79.[71] Adjacent to the palace, Hardouin-Mansart built a pair ofstables called theGrande andPetite Écuries from 1679 to 1682[72][73] and theGrand Commun [fr], which housed the palace's servants and general kitchens, from 1682 to 1684.[74] Hardouin-Mansart also added two entirely new wings in Le Vau's Italianate style to house the court,[75] first at the south end of the palace from 1679 to 1681[76] and then at its north end from 1685 to 1689.[18]
War and the resulting diminished funding slowed construction at Versailles for the rest of the 17th century.[64] TheNine Years' War, which began in 1688, stopped work altogether until 1698.[68] Three years later, however, the even more expensiveWar of the Spanish Succession began and,[77] combined with poor harvests in 1693–94 and 1709–10,[78][79] plunged France into crisis.[79][80] Louis XIV thus slashed funding and cancelled some of the work Hardouin-Mansart had planned in the 1680s, such as the remodelling of the courtyard façade in the Italianate style. Louis XIV and Hardouin-Mansart focused on a permanentpalace chapel,[64][81] the construction of which lasted from 1699 to 1710.[54][82]
Louis XIV's successors,Louis XV andLouis XVI, largely left Versailles as they inherited it and focused on the palace's interiors. Louis XV's modifications began in the 1730s, with the completion of theSalon d'Hercule, aballroom in the north wing, and the expansion of theking's private apartment,[83][84] which required the demolition of the Ambassadors' Staircase.[40] In 1748, Louis XV began construction of a palace theatre, theRoyal Opera of Versailles at the northernmost end of the palace,[85][86] but completion was delayed until 1770;[86][87] construction was interrupted in the 1740s by theWar of the Austrian Succession and then again in 1756 with the start of theSeven Years' War.[85][87] These wars emptied the royal treasury and thereafter construction was mostly funded byMadame du Barry, Louis XV's favourite mistress. In 1771, Louis XV had the northern Ministers' Wing rebuilt in Neoclassical style byAnge-Jacques Gabriel, his court architect, as it was in the process of falling down. That work was also stopped by financial constraints, and it remained incomplete when Louis XV died in 1774. In 1784, Louis XVI briefly moved the royal family to theChâteau de Saint-Cloud ahead of more renovations to the Palace of Versailles, but construction could not begin because of financial difficulty andpolitical crisis.[88] In 1789, theFrench Revolution swept the royal family and government out of Versailles forever.[54][89]
The Palace of Versailles was key to Louis XIV's politics, as an expression and concentration ofFrench art andculture, and for the centralization of royal power.[90][91] Louis XIV first used Versailles to promote himself with a series of nighttime festivals in its gardens in 1664, 1668, and 1674,[27] the events of which were disseminated throughout Europe by print and engravings.[92][93] As early as 1669,[47] but especially from 1678,[94] Louis XIV sought to make Versailles his seat of government, and he expanded the palace so as to fit the court within it.[95][96][97] The moving of the court to Versailles did not come until 1682,[97] however, and not officially, as opinion on Versailles was mixed among thenobility of France.[13][98]
Louis XIV died at Versailles on 1 September 1715 and was succeeded by his five-year-old great-grandson,Louis XV,[78][106] then theduke of Anjou,[107] who was moved to theChâteau de Vincennes and then to Paris by Louis XV's regent,Philippe II, Duke of Orléans.[106] Versailles was neglected until 1722,[18] when Philippe II removed the court to Versailles to escape the unpopularity of his regency,[108][109] and when Louis XV began his majority.[110] The 1715 move, however, broke the cultural power of Versailles,[111] and during the reign ofLouis XVI, courtiers spent their leisure in Paris, not Versailles.[18]
The 7-year-oldMozart during his stay at the palace
During Christmas 1763,Mozart and his family visited Versailles and dined with the King. The 7-year-oldWolfgang Amadeus Mozart played several works during his stay and later dedicated his first two harpsichord sonatas, published in 1764 in Paris, toMadame Victoria, daughter of Louis XV.[112]
In 1783, the palace was the site of the signing of the last two of the three treaties of thePeace of Paris (1783), which ended theAmerican Revolutionary War. On 3 September, British and American delegates, led byBenjamin Franklin, signed theTreaty of Paris at the Hôtel d'York (now 56 Rue Jacob) in Paris, granting the United States independence. On 4 September, Spain and France signed separate treaties with Britain at the Palace of Versailles, formally ending the war.[113]
The King and Queen learned of theStorming of the Bastille in Paris on 14 July 1789, while they were at the palace, and remained isolated there as theRevolution in Paris spread. The growing anger in Paris led to theWomen's March on Versailles on 5 October 1789. A crowd of several thousand men and women, protesting the high price and scarcity of bread, marched from the markets of Paris to Versailles. They took weapons from the city armoury, besieged the palace, and compelled the King and royal family and the members of theNational Constituent Assembly to return with them to Paris the following day.[114]
As soon as the royal family departed, the palace was closed. In 1792, theNational Convention, the new revolutionary government, ordered the transfer of all the paintings and sculptures from the palace to theLouvre. In 1793, the Convention declared the abolition of the monarchy and ordered all of the royal property in the palace to be sold at auction. The auction took place between 25 August 1793 and 11 August 1794. The furnishings and art of the palace, including the furniture, mirrors, baths, and kitchen equipment, were sold in seventeen thousand lots. All fleurs-de-lys and royal emblems on the buildings were chambered or chiselled off. The empty buildings were turned into a storehouse for furnishings, art and libraries confiscated from the nobility. The empty grand apartments were opened for tours beginning in 1793, and a small museum of French paintings and art school was opened in some of the empty rooms.[115]
By virtue of an order issued by the Versailles district directorate in August 1794, theRoyal Gate was destroyed, the Cour Royale was cleared and the Cour de Marbre lost its precious floor.[116][117]
19th century – history museum and government venue
WhenNapoleon became Emperor of the French in 1804, he considered making Versailles his residence but abandoned the idea because of the cost of the renovation. Prior to his marriage withMarie-Louise in 1810, he had theGrand Trianon restored and refurnished as a springtime residence for himself and his family, in the style of furnishing that it is seen today.[118]
In 1815, with the final downfall of Napoleon,Louis XVIII, the younger brother of Louis XVI, became king, and considered returning the royal residence to Versailles, where he had been born. He ordered the restoration of the royal apartments, but the task and cost was too great. Louis XVIII had the far end of the south wing of theCour Royale demolished and rebuilt (1814–1824) to match the Gabriel wing of 1780 opposite, which gave greater uniformity of appearance to the front entrance.[119] Neither he nor his successorCharles X lived at Versailles.[118]
TheFrench Revolution of 1830 brought a new monarch,Louis-Philippe to power, and a new ambition for Versailles. He did not reside at Versailles but began the creation of theMuseum of the History of France, dedicated to "all the glories of France", which had been used to house some members of the royal family. The museum was begun in 1833 and inaugurated on 30 June 1837. Its most famous room is theGalerie des Batailles (Hall of Battles), which lies on most of the length of the second floor of the south wing.[120] The museum project largely came to a halt when Louis Philippe was overthrown in 1848, though the paintings of French heroes and great battles still remain in the south wing.
During theFranco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, the palace was occupied by thegeneral staff of the victorious German Army. Parts of the château, including the Hall of Mirrors, were turned into a military hospital. The creation of theGerman Empire, combiningPrussia and the surrounding German states underWilliam I, was formallyproclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors on 18 January 1871. The Germans remained in the palace until the signing of the armistice in March 1871. In that month, the government of the newThird French Republic, which had departed Paris during the war forTours and thenBordeaux, moved into the palace. TheNational Assembly held its meetings in the Opera House.[122]
The uprising of theParis Commune in March 1871, prevented the French government, underAdolphe Thiers, from returning immediately to Paris. The military operation which suppressed the Commune at the end of May was directed from Versailles, and the prisoners of the Commune were marched there and put on trial in military courts. In 1875 a second parliamentary body, theFrench Senate, was created and held its meetings for the election of a President of the Republic in a new hall created in 1876 in the south wing of the palace. The French Senate and National Assembly continue to meet in the palace injoint session on special occasions, such as the amendment of theConstitution of France.[123]
The end of the 19th and the early 20th century saw the beginning of restoration efforts at the palace, first led byPierre de Nolhac, poet and scholar and the first conservator, who began his work in 1892. The conservation and restoration were interrupted by two world wars but have continued until the present day.[124]
The palace returned to the world stage in June 1919, when, after six months of negotiations, theTreaty of Versailles, formally ending the First World War, was signed in theHall of Mirrors. Between 1925 and 1928, the American philanthropist and multi-millionaireJohn D. Rockefeller, Jr. gave $2,166,000, the equivalent of about 38 million dollars in 2024, to restore and refurbish the palace.[125]
More work took place after World War II, with the restoration of theRoyal Opera of Versailles. The theatre was reopened in 1957, in the presence of QueenElizabeth II of the United Kingdom.[126]
Starting in the 1950s, when the museum of Versailles was under the directorship of Gérald van der Kemp, the objective was to restore the palace to its state – or as close to it as possible – in 1789 when the royal family left the palace. Among the early projects was the repair of the roof over the Hall of Mirrors; the publicity campaign brought international attention to the plight of post-war Versailles and garnered much foreign money including a grant from theRockefeller Foundation.
One of the more costly endeavours for the museum and theFrench Fifth Republic has been to repurchase as much of the original furnishings as possible. Consequently, because furniture with a royal provenance – and especially furniture that was made for Versailles – is a highly sought-after commodity on the international market, the museum has spent considerable funds on retrieving much of the palace's original furnishings.[128]
Modern Pentathlon Park for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
In 2003, a new restoration initiative – the "Grand Versailles" project – was started, which began with the replanting of the gardens, which had lost over 10,000 trees duringCyclone Lothar on 26 December 1999. One part of the initiative, the restoration of theHall of Mirrors, was completed in 2006.[129] Another major project was the further restoration of the backstage areas of theRoyal Opera of Versailles in 2007 to 2009.[86]
The palace was largely completed by the death of Louis XIV in 1715. The eastern facing palace has a U-shaped layout, with the corps de logis and symmetrical advancing secondary wings terminating with the Dufour Pavilion on the south and the Gabriel Pavilion to the north, creating an expansivecour d'honneur known as the Royal Court (Cour Royale). Flanking the Royal Court are two enormous asymmetrical wings that result in a façade of 402 metres (1,319 ft) in length.[134] Covered by around 10 hectares (1.1 million square feet) of roof, the palace has 2,143 windows, 1,252 chimneys, and 67 staircases.[135]
The construction in 1668–1671 ofLouis Le Vau'senveloppe around the outside ofLouis XIII's red brick and white stone château added state apartments for the king and the queen. The addition was known at the time as thechâteau neuf (new château). Thegrands appartements (Grand Apartments, also referred to as the State Apartments[141][142]) include thegrand appartement du roi and thegrand appartement de la reine. They occupied the main or principal floor of thechâteau neuf, with three rooms in each apartment facing the garden to the west and four facing the garden parterres to the north and south, respectively. The private apartments of the king (theappartement du roi and thepetit appartement du roi) and those of the queen (thepetit appartement de la reine) remained in thechâteau vieux (old château). Le Vau's design for the state apartments closely followed Italian models of the day, including the placement of the apartments on the main floor (thepiano nobile, the next floor up from the ground level), a convention the architect borrowed from Italian palace design.[143]
The king's State Apartment consisted of anenfilade of seven rooms, each dedicated to one of the knownplanets and their associated titularRoman deity. The queen's apartment formed a parallel enfilade with that of thegrand appartement du roi. After the addition of theHall of Mirrors (1678–1684) the king's apartment was reduced to five rooms (until the reign ofLouis XV, when two more rooms were added) and the queen's to four.
TheAmbassadors' Staircase [fr] (Escalier des Ambassadeurs) was animperial staircase built from 1674 to 1680 byFrançois d'Orbay. Until Louis XV had it demolished in 1752 to create a courtyard for his private apartments,[144] the staircase was the primary entrance into the Palace of Versailles and the royal apartments especially.[145] It was entered from thecourtyard via avestibule that, cramped and dark, contrasted greatly with the tall, open space of the staircase – famously lit naturally with askylight – so as to overawe visitors.[146][147]
The staircase and walls of the room that contained it were clad inpolychrome marble andgilded bronze,[148] with decor in the Ionic order.[149]Charles Le Brun painted the walls and ceiling of the room according to a festive theme to celebrate Louis XIV's victory in theFranco-Dutch War.[150] On the wall immediately above the staircase weretrompe-l'œil paintings of people from theFour Parts of the World looking into the staircase over a balustrade, a motif repeated on the ceiling fresco.[151][152] There they were joined by allegorical figures for the twelve months of the year and various Classical Greek figures such as theMuses.[153] A marble bust of Louis XIV, sculpted byJean Warin in 1665–66,[154] was placed in aniche above the first landing of the staircase.[148]
The construction of the Hall of Mirrors between 1678 and 1686 coincided with a major alteration to the State Apartments. They were originally intended as his residence, but the King transformed them into galleries for his finest paintings, and venues for his many receptions for courtiers. During the season fromAll-Saints Day in November untilEaster, these were usually held three times a week, from six to ten in the evening, with various entertainments.[155]
This was originally a chapel. It was rebuilt beginning in 1712 under the supervision of theFirst Architect to the King,Robert de Cotte, to showcase two paintings byPaolo Veronese,Eleazar and Rebecca andMeal at the House of Simon the Pharisee, which was a gift to Louis XIV from theRepublic of Venice in 1664. The painting on the ceiling,The Apotheosis of Hercules, byFrançois Lemoyne, was completed in 1736, and gave the room its name.[155][156]
The Salon of Abundance was the antechamber to the Cabinet of Curios (now the Games Room), which displayed Louis XIV's collection of precious jewels and rare objects. Some of the objects in the collection are depicted inRené-Antoine Houasse's paintingAbundance and Liberality (1683), located on the ceiling over the door opposite the windows.
This salon was used for serving light meals during evening receptions. The principal feature in this room isJean Warin's life-size statue of Louis XIV in the costume of a Roman emperor. On the ceiling in a gilded oval frame is another painting by Houasse,Venus subjugating the Gods and Powers (1672–1681).Trompe-l'œil paintings and sculpture around the ceiling illustrate mythological themes.[157]
The Salon of Mercury was the original State Bedchamber when Louis XIV officially moved the court and government to the palace in 1682. The bed is a replica of the original commissioned by KingLouis-Philippe in the 19th century when he turned the palace into a museum. The ceiling paintings by the Flemish artistJean Baptiste de Champaigne depict the godMercury in his chariot, drawn by a rooster, andAlexander the Great andPtolemy surrounded by scholars and philosophers. The Automaton Clock was made for the King by the royal clockmaker Antoine Morand in 1706. When it chimes the hour, figures of Louis XIV and Fame descend from a cloud.[158]
Salon of Mars
Ceiling in the Salon of Apollo, depicting the Sun Chariot ofApollo
The Salon of Mars was used by the royal guards until 1782, and was decorated on a military theme with helmets and trophies. It was turned into a concert room between 1684 and 1750, with galleries for musicians on either side. Portraits ofLouis XV and his Queen,Marie Leszczyńska, by the Flemish artistCarle Van Loo decorate the room today.
The Salon of Apollo was the royal throne room under Louis XIV, and was the setting for formal audiences. The eight-foot-high silver throne was melted down in 1689 to help pay the costs of an expensive war, and was replaced by a more modest throne of gilded wood. The central painting on the ceiling, byCharles de la Fosse, depicts the Sun Chariot ofApollo, the King's favourite emblem, pulled by four horses and surrounded by the four seasons.
The Salon of Diana was used by Louis XIV as a billiards room, and had galleries from which courtiers could watch him play. The decoration of the walls and ceiling depicts scenes from the life of the goddessDiana. The celebratedbust of Louis XIV by Bernini made during the famous sculptor's visit to France in 1665 is on display here.[159]
The apartments of the King were the heart of the château; they were in the same location as the rooms ofLouis XIII, the creator of the château, on the first floor (second floor US style). They were set aside for the personal use ofLouis XIV in 1683. He and his successorsLouis XV andLouis XVI used these rooms for official functions, such as the ceremoniallever ("waking up") and thecoucher ("going to bed") of the monarch, which was attended by a crowd of courtiers.
The King's apartment was accessed from the Hall of Mirrors from theOeil de Boeuf antechamber or from the Guardroom and theGrand Couvert, the ceremonial room where Louis XIV often took his evening meals, seated alone at a table in front of the fireplace. His spoon, fork, and knife were brought to him in a golden box. The courtiers could watch as he dined.[160]
The King's bedchamber had originally been a Drawing Room before Louis XIV transformed it into his own bedroom in 1701. He died there on 1 September 1715. Both Louis XV and Louis XVI continued to use the bedroom for their official awakening and going to bed. On 6 October 1789, from the balcony of this room Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, joined by theMarquis de Lafayette, looked down on thehostile crowd in the courtyard, shortly before the King was forced to return to Paris.[160]
The bed of the King is placed beneath a carved relief byNicolas Coustou entitled France watching over the sleeping King. The decoration includes several paintings set into the panelling, including a self-portrait ofAntony van Dyck.[160]
Thepetit appartement de la reine is a suite of rooms that were reserved for the personal use of the queen. Originally arranged for the use of theMaria Theresa of Spain, consort ofLouis XIV, the rooms were later modified for use byMarie Leszczyńska and finally forMarie Antoinette. The Queen's apartments and the King's Apartments were laid out on the same design, each suite having seven rooms. Both suites had ceilings painted with scenes from mythology; the King's ceilings featured male figures, the Queen's featured females.
TheHall of Mirrors is along gallery at the westernmost part of the palace that looks out onto the gardens.[161][162] The hall was built from 1678 to 1681 on the site of a terrace Le Vau built between the king and queen's suites.[69][161] The hall is clad in marble and decorated in a modified version of theCorinthian order, with 578 mirrors facing 17 windows and reflecting the light provided by them. The ceiling fresco, painted by Le Brun over the next four years,[163] embellishes the first 18 years of Louis XIV's reign in 30 scenes,[161] 17 of which are military victories over the Dutch.[164] The fresco depicts Louis XIV himself alongside Classical figures in the scenes celebrating moments in his reign such as the beginning of personal rule in 1661,[165] breaking from earlier frescoes at Versailles that used allegories derived from Classical and mythological scenes.[163][166]
TheSalon of War [fr] and theSalon of Peace [fr] bookend the Hall of Mirrors on its northern and southern ends respectively.[167][168] The Salon of War, constructed and decorated from 1678 to 1686, celebrates French victories in the Franco-Dutch War with marble panels, gilded bronze trophies of arms, and a stuccobas-relief of Louis XIV on horseback riding over his enemies. The Salon of Peace is decorated in the same fashion but according to its eponymous theme.[161]
Louis XIV commissioned the chapel, its sixth, from Hardouin-Mansart and Le Brun in 1683–84. It was the last building constructed at Versailles during Louis XIV's reign.[54][170][171] Construction was delayed until 1699, however,[54][170] and it was not completed until 1710.[170] The only major modification to the chapel since its completion was the removal of alantern from its roof in 1765. A full restoration of the chapel began in late 2017 and lasted into early 2021.[174]
The Royal Opera of Versailles was originally commissioned by Louis XIV in 1682 and was to be built at the end of the North Wing with a design by Hardouin-Mansart andCarlo Vigarani. However, due to the expense of the King's continental wars, the project was put aside. The idea was revived byLouis XV with a new design byAnge-Jacques Gabriel in 1748, but this was also temporarily put aside. The project was revived and rushed ahead for the planned celebration of the marriage of the Dauphin, the futureLouis XVI, andMarie Antoinette. For economy and speed, the new opera was built almost entirely of wood, which also gave it very high quality acoustics. The wood was painted to resemble marble, and the ceiling was decorated with a painting of the Apollo, the god of the arts, preparing crowns for illustrious artists, byLouis Jean-Jacques Durameau. The sculptorAugustin Pajou added statuary and reliefs to complete the decoration. The new Opera was inaugurated on 16 May 1770, as part of the celebration of the royal wedding.[175]
In October 1789, early in theFrench Revolution, the last banquet for the royal guardsmen was hosted by the King in the opera, before he departed for Paris. Following theFranco-German War in 1871 and then theParis Commune until 1875, the French National Assembly met in the opera, until the proclamation of theFrench Third Republic and the return of the government to Paris.[176]
Shortly after becoming king in 1830,Louis Philippe I decided to transform the palace into a museum devoted to "All the Glories of France," with paintings and sculpture depicting famous French victories and heroes. Most of the apartments of the palace were entirely demolished (in the main building, practically all of the apartments were annihilated, with only the apartments of the king and queen remaining almost intact), and turned into a series of several large rooms and galleries: the Coronation Room (whose original volume was left untouched by Louis-Philippe), which displays the celebrated painting of the coronation of Napoleon I byJacques-Louis David; the Hall of Battles; commemorating French victories with large-scale paintings; and the 1830 room, which celebrated Louis-Philippe's own coming to power in theFrench Revolution of 1830. Some paintings were brought from the Louvre, including works depicting events in French history byPhilippe de Champaigne,Pierre Mignard,Laurent de La Hyre,Charles Le Brun,Adam Frans van der Meulen,Nicolas de Largillière,Hyacinthe Rigaud,Jean-Antoine Houdon,Jean-Marc Nattier,Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun,Hubert Robert,Thomas Lawrence,Jacques-Louis David, andAntoine-Jean Gros. Others were commissioned especially for the museum by prominent artists of the early 19th century, includingEugène Delacroix, who paintedSaint Louis at the French victory over the British in theBattle of Taillebourg in 1242. Other painters featured includeHorace Vernet andFrançois Gérard. A monumental painting by Vernet features Louis Philippe himself, with his sons, posing in front of the gates of the palace.[177]
The overthrow of Louis Philippe in 1848 put an end to his grand plans for the museum, but the Gallery of Battles is still as it was, and is passed through by many visitors to the royal apartments and grand salons. Another set of rooms on the first floor has been made into galleries on Louis XIV and his court, displaying furniture, paintings, and sculptures. In recent years, eleven rooms on the ground floor between the Chapel and the Opera have been turned into a history of the palace, with audiovisual displays and models.[177]
The estate was established by Louis XIII as a hunting retreat,[5][187] with a park just to the west of his château.[17] From 1661, Louis XIV expanded the estate until,[188][189] at its greatest extent, the estate was made up by theGrand Parc [fr], a hunting ground of 15,000 hectares (150 km2; 37,000 acres),[187][179] and the gardens, called the Petit Parc,[179] which covered 1,700 hectares (17 km2; 4,200 acres). A 40-kilometre-long (25 mi), 3-metre-high (10 ft) wall with 24 gateways enclosed the estate.[187]
The landscape of the estate had to be created from the bog that surrounded Louis XIII's château using landscape architecture usually employed in fortress building.[190] The approach to the palace and the gardens were carefully laid out via the moving of earth and construction of terraces.[191][192] The water from the marsh was marshalled into a series of lakes and ponds around Versailles,[193] but these reservoirs were not sufficient for the palace, city, or gardens. Great lengths were taken to supply Versailles with water, such as the damming of the riverBièvre to create aninflow in the 1660s, the construction of anenormous pumping station at the riverSeine nearMarly-le-Roi in 1681, and an attempt to divert water from the riverEure witha canal in the later 1680s.[194][195]
View of the gardens of Versailles, looking northwest from the palace
The gardens of Versailles, as they have existed since the reign of Louis XIV, are the work ofAndré Le Nôtre. Le Nôtre's gardens were preceded by a simple garden laid out in the 1630s by landscape architectsJacques Boyceau and Jacques de Nemours,[196] which he rearranged along an east–west axis that,[197] because of Louis XIV's land purchases and the clearing of woodland,[44][190][179] were expanded literally as far as could be seen.[197] The resulting gardens were a collaboration between Le Nôtre, Le Brun, Colbert, and Louis XIV,[192] marked by rigid order, discipline,[44] and open space, with axial paths,flowerbeds,hedges, and ponds and lakes as motifs.[136] They became the epitome of theFrench formal garden style,[198] and have been very influential and widely imitated or reproduced.[136][179]
The first of the subsidiary structures of the Palace of Versailles was theVersailles Menagerie [fr],[199][200] built by Le Vau between the years 1662 and 1664,[200] at the southern end of the Grand Canal.[199] The apartments, overlooking the pens,[46][201] were renovated by Hardouin-Mansart from 1698 to 1700,[200] but the Menagerie fell into disuse in 1712.[199][d] After a long period of decay, it was demolished in 1801.[200] TheVersailles Orangery, just to the south of the palace,[203] was first built by Le Vau in 1663,[204] originally as part of the general moving of earth to create the Estate.[191] It was also modified by Mansart, who, from 1681 to 1685, totally rebuilt it and doubled its size.[205]
In late 1679,[206] Louis XIV commissioned Mansart to build theChâteau de Marly,[99] a retreat at the edge of Versailles's estate, about 8.0 kilometres (5 mi) from the palace.[207] The château consisted of a primary residential building and twelve pavilions, inPalladian style[208] placed in two rows on either side of the main building.[209] Construction was completed in 1686,[99][210] when Louis XIV spent his first night there.[206] The château was nationalized and sold in 1799,[209] and subsequently demolished and replaced with industrial buildings. These were themselves demolished in 1805,[211] and then in 1811 the estate was purchased by Napoleon.[209][211] On 1 June 2009, the grounds of the Château de Marly were ceded to the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles.[211]
La Lanterne, is a hunting lodge named after the lantern that topped the nearby Menagerie that was built in 1787 byPhilippe Louis de Noailles, then the palace governor. It has since 1960 been a state residence.[200]
In 1668,[212] Louis XIV purchased and demolished the hamlet of Trianon,[56] near the northern tip of the Grand Canal,[213] and in its place, he commissioned Le Vau to construct a retreat from court,[213][214] remembered as thePorcelain Trianon. Designed and built by Le Vau in 1670,[212][215] it was the first example ofChinoiserie (faux Chinese) architecture in Europe, though it was largely designed in French style.[216][217] The roof was clad not withporcelain but withdelftware,[212][213][216] and was thus prone to leaks,[218] so in 1687 Louis XIV ordered it demolished.[212] Nevertheless, the Porcelain Trianon was itself influential and copycats were built across Europe.[213][219]
To replace the Porcelain Trianon,[218] Louis XIV tasked Hardouin-Mansart with the construction in 1687 of theGrand Trianon, built from marble in three months.[212] The Grand Trianon has a single story, except for its attached service wing,[220][221] which was modified by Hardouin-Mansart in 1705–06.[222] The east façade has a courtyard while the west faces the gardens of the Grand Trianon, and between them aperistyle.[220][222] The interiors are mostly original,[223] and housed Louis XIV, the Madame de Maintenon, Marie Leszczyńska, and Napoleon, who ordered restorations to the building. UnderCharles de Gaulle, the north wing of the Grand Trianon became a residence of the President of France.[220]
The Petit Trianon, whose construction from 1762 to 1768[224] led to the advent of the names "Grand" and "Petit Trianon",[225] was constructed for Louis XV and the Madame du Barry in the Neoclassical style by Gabriel.[223][226] The building has apiano nobile, basement, and attic,[224] with five windows on each floor.[225] On becoming king, Louis XVI gave the Petit Trianon to Marie Antoinette, who remodeled it, relaid its gardens in the then-currentEnglish and Oriental styles,[225][227][228] and formed her own court there.[228]
Near the Trianons are the French pavilion, built by Gabriel in 1750 between the two residences, and theQueen's Theatre andQueen's Hamlet, built by architectRichard Mique in 1780 and from 1783 to 1785 respectively. These were both built at the behest of Marie Antoinette;[229] the theatre, hidden in the gardens, indulged her appreciation of opera and is absolutely original,[223] and the hamlet to extend her gardens with rustic amenities.[229][230][231] The building scheme of the Queen's Hamlet includes a farmhouse (the farm was to produce milk and eggs for the queen), a dairy, a dovecote, a boudoir, a barn that burned down during the French Revolution, a mill and a tower in the form of a lighthouse.
The palace still serves political functions. Heads of state are regaled in the Hall of Mirrors; the bicameralFrench Parliament—consisting of theSenate (Sénat) and theNational Assembly (Assemblée nationale)—meet in joint session (acongress of the French Parliament) in Versailles[232] torevise or otherwise amend theFrench Constitution, a tradition that came into effect with the promulgation of the 1875 Constitution.[234] For example, the Parliament met in joint session at Versailles to pass constitutional amendments in June 1999 (for domestic applicability ofInternational Criminal Court decisions and for gender equality in candidate lists), in January 2000 (ratifying theTreaty of Amsterdam), in March 2003 (specifying the "decentralized organization" of the French Republic),[232] and in March 2024 (to enshrine the freedom of women to have recourse to abortion).[235]
^The name "Versailles", first used in 1038,[9] from the Old French wordversail,[10] comes from the Latin wordvertere;[11] both mean "ploughed field".[10][11]
^At any given moment during Louis XIV's reign, about 5% of France's nobles were at court in Versailles. Bohanan places the exact number of persons normally present at Versailles as 5,000 nobles and an equal number of commoners,[101] while Blanning gives 1,000 nobles and 4,000 servants.[38]
^The animals of the Menagerie, abandoned after the Revolution, were moved to Paris and became the foundation of the menagerie of theJardin des Plantes, the second-oldest public zoo in the world.[202]
^"Palace and Park of Versailles".UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Retrieved9 October 2021.
^Georges Bergougnous,Presiding Officers of National Parliamentary Assemblies: A World Comparative Study (Inter-Parliamentary Union: Geneva, 1997), p. 39.
Blondel, Jacque-François (1752–1756).Architecture françoise, ou Recueil des plans, élévations, coupes et profils des églises, maisons royales, palais, hôtels & édifices les plus considérables de Paris. Vol. 4 vols. Paris: Charles-Antoine Jombert.
"Versailles, "capital" of the kingdom, 1682".en.chateauversailles.fr. Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. 22 November 2016. Retrieved18 June 2021.
"Reception of the Doge of Genoa, 1685".en.chateauversailles.fr. Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. 22 November 2016. Retrieved23 June 2021.
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"Reception of the Ambassadors of Persia, 1715".en.chateauversailles.fr. Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. 22 November 2016. Retrieved23 June 2021.
"Death of Louis XIV".en.chateauversailles.fr. Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. 23 November 2016. Retrieved22 June 2021.
"André Le Nôtre".en.chateauversailles.fr. Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. 2 November 2016. Retrieved8 July 2021.
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"The Estate".en.chateauversailles.fr. Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. 2 September 2016. Retrieved30 June 2021.
"The Royal Stables".en.chateauversailles.fr. Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. 17 October 2016. Retrieved17 June 2021.
"The Estate of Trianon".en.chateauversailles.fr. Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. 17 October 2016. Retrieved7 August 2021.
"The Grand Trianon".en.chateauversailles.fr. Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. 23 November 2016. Retrieved7 August 2021.
"The Petit Trianon".en.chateauversailles.fr. Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. 23 November 2016. Retrieved7 August 2021.
"The Queen's Hamlet".en.chateauversailles.fr. Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. 26 April 2018. Retrieved7 August 2021.
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"The Orangery".en.chateauversailles.fr. Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. 8 December 2016. Retrieved14 August 2021.
"The Grand Commun".en.chateauversailles.fr. Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. 2 August 2019. Retrieved18 June 2021.
"The Royal Chapel".en.chateauversailles.fr. Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. 24 October 2018. Retrieved5 September 2021.
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"Revitalising the Royal Palace".en.chateauversailles.fr. Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. 24 October 2018. Retrieved5 September 2021.
Saule, Béatrix."Ménagerie".sculpturesversailles.fr (in French). Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. Retrieved16 August 2021.
Mansel, Philip.King of the World: The Life of Louis XIV (2020) chapters 8, 13.
Maral, Alexandre (2010). "Chapelle royale". In Gady, Alexandre (ed.).Jules hardouin-Mansart 1646–1708. Paris: Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l'homme. pp. 215–228.ISBN9782735111879.
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