From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007)

Palace and Park of Versailles*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State Party	France
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, vi
Reference	83
Region†	Europe
Inscription History
Inscription	1979  (3rd Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO.

The Château de Versailles, or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles, France.

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

Contents 1 The first château 2 Expansion under the rule of Louis XIV 3 Evolution of Versailles 3.1 1st building campaign 3.2 2nd building campaign 3.3 3rd building campaign 3.4 4th building campaign 4 Features 4.1 Grand Appartement du Roi 4.2 Grand Appartement de la Reine 4.3 Appartement du Roi (King's Private Apartments) 4.4 Le petit appartement du Roi; l’appartement interieur du Roi 4.5 Le petit appartement de la Reine 4.6 Galerie des Glaces 4.7 Chapels of Versailles 4.8 L’Opéra 5 Social History 5.1 The politics of display 5.2 Court etiquette 6 Park and garden 6.1 Outbuildings 7 Cost 8 War uses 9 Post-royal: the monument-museum 10 Buildings inspired by Versailles 11 Musical Events 12 The Palace in pop culture 13 See also 14 Notes 15 Further reading 16 External links

The earliest mention of the village of Versailles is found in a document dated 1038, the “Charte de l'abbaye Saint-Père de Chartres” (Charter of the Abbey of Saint-Père de Chartres). Of the signatories of the charter was one Hugo de Versailles, hence the name of the village. During this period, the village of Versailles centered on a small castle and church and the area was controlled by a local lord. The village's location on the road from Paris to Dreux and Normandy brought some prosperity to the village, but following the Black Death and the Hundred Years War, the village was largely destroyed and its population severely diminished.^[1][2]

In 1575, Albert de Gondi, a Florentine, purchased the seigneury of Versailles. Gondi had arrived in France with Catherine de' Medici and his family became influential in the French Parliament. In the early decades of the 17th century, Gondi invited Louis XIII on several hunting trips in the forests of Versailles. Following this initial introduction to the area, Louis XIII ordered the construction of a hunting chateau in 1624. Designed by Philibert Le Roy, the structure was constructed of stone and red brick with a slate roof.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Soon after the crushing defeat of the War of the League of Augsburg (1688-1697) and owing possibly to the pious influence of Madame de Maintenon, Louis XIV undertook his last building campaign at Versailles. The fourth building campaign (1701-1710) concentrated almost exclusively on construction of the Chapel Royal, designed by Mansart and finished by Robert de Cotte and his team of decorative designers. There were also some modifications in the king’s Petit Appartement, namely the construction of the Salon de l’Oeil de Boeuf and the King’s Bedchamber. With the completion of the chapel in 1710, virtually all construction at Versailles ceased; building would not be resumed at Versailles until some 20 years later during the reign of Louis XV.^[3]

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

Le Vau’s plan called for an enfilade of seven rooms, each dedicated to one of the then-known planets and their associated titular Roman deity. LeVau’s plan was bold as he designed a heliocentric system that centered on the salon d’Apollon (Salon of Apollo). The salon d’Apollon originally was designed as the king’s bedchamber, but served as a throne room.^[4] The original arrangement of the enfilade of rooms was thus:

• Salon de Diane (Diana, Roman goddess of the hunt; associated with the Moon)^[5]
• Salon de Mars (Mars, Roman god of war; associated with the planet Mars)
• Salon de Mercure (Mercury, Roman god of trade, commerce, and the Liberal Arts; associated with the planet Mercury)
• Salon d’Apollon (Apollo, Roman god of the Fine Arts; associated with the Sun)
• Salon de Jupiter (Jupiter, Roman god of law and order; associated with the planet Jupiter)
• Salon de Saturne (Saturn, Roman god of agriculture and harvest)
• Salon de Vénus (Venus, Roman goddess of love; associated with the planet Venus)

The configuration of the grand appartement du roi conformed to contemporary conventions in palace design.^[6] However, owing to Louis XIV’s personal tastes^[7] the grand appartement du roi was reserved for court functions — such as the thrice-weekly appartement evenings given by Louis XIV.

The rooms were decorated by Charles LeBrun and demonstrated Italian influences (LeBrun met and studied with the famed Tuscan artist Pietro da Cortona, whose decorative style of the Pitti Palace in Florence LeBrun adapted for use at Versailles). The quadratura style of the ceilings evoke Cortona’s sale dei planeti at the Pitti, but LeBrun’s decorative schema is more complex. In his 1674 publication about the grand appartement du roi, André Félibien described the scenes depicted in the coves of the ceilings of the rooms as allegories depicting the “heroic actions of the king.”^[8] Accordingly, one finds scenes of the exploits of Augustus, Alexander the Great, and Cyrus alluding to the deeds of Louis XIV. For example, in the salon d’Apollon, the cove painting “Augustus building the port of Misenum”^[9] alludes to the construction of the port at La Rochelle; or, depicted in the south cove of the salon de Mercure is “Ptolemy II Philadelphus in his Library”, which alludes to Ptolemy’s construction of the Great Library of Alexandria and which accordingly serves as an allegory to Louis XIV’s expansion of the Bibliothèque du roi.^[10][11] Complementing the rooms’ decors were pieces of massive silver furniture. Regrettably, owing to the War of the League of Augsburg, in 1689 Louis XIV ordered all of this silver furniture to be sent to the mint, to be melted down to help defray the cost of the war.

LeVau’s original plan for the grand appartement du roi was short-lived. With the inauguration of the 2nd building campaign, which suppressed the terrace linking the king and queen’s apartments and the salons of Jupiter, Saturn and Venus for the construction of the Hall of Mirrors, the configuration of the grand appartement du roi was altered. The decor of the salon de Jupiter was removed and reused in the decoration of the salle des gardes de la reine; and elements of the decoration of the first salon de Vénus, which opened onto the terrace, were reused in the salon de Vénus that we see today.^[12]

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

• Salon de Vénus: buffet tables were arranged to display food and drink for the king’s guests.
• Salon de Diane: served as a billiard room.
• Salon de Mars: served as a ballroom.
• Salon de Mercure: served as a gaming (cards) room.
• Salon d’Apollon: served as a concert or music room.

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

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

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

• Chapel — which was pendant with the salon de Diane in the grand appartement du roi^[13]
• Salle de gardes — which was pendant with the salon de Mars in the grand appartement du roi
• Antichambre — which was pendant with the salon de Mercure in the grand appartement du roi
• Chambre — which was pendant with the salon d’Apollon in the grand apartment du roi
• Grand cabinet — which was pendant with the salon de Jupiter in the grand appartement du roi
• Oratory — which was pendant with the salon de Saturne in the grand appartement du roi
• Petit cabinet — which was pendant with the salon de Vénus in the grand appartement du roi^[14]

As with the decoration of the ceiling in the grand appartement du roi, which depicted the heroic actions of Louis XIV as allegories from events taken from the antique past, the decoration of the grand appartement de la reine likewise depicted heroines from the antique past and harmonized with the general theme of a particular room’s decor.^[15]

With the construction of the Hall of Mirrors, which began in 1678, the configuration of the grand appartement de la reine changed. The chapel was transformed into the salle des gardes de la reine and it was in this room that the decorations from the salon de Jupiter were reused.^[16] The salle des gardes de la reine communicates with a loggia that issues from the escalier de la reine, which formed a parallel pendant (albeit a smaller, though similarly-decorated example) with the escalier des ambassadeurs in the grand appartement du roi. The loggia also provides access to the appartement du roi, the suite of rooms in which Louis XIV lived. Toward the end of Louis XIV’s reign, the escalier de la reine became the principal entrance to the château, with the escalier des ambassadeurs used on rare state occasions. After the destruction of the escalier des ambassadeurs in 1752, the escalier de la reine became the main entrance to the château.

From 1682, the grand appartement de la reine included:

• Salle des gardes de la reine
• Antichambre (formerly the salle des gardes)
• Grand cabinet
• Chambre de la reine

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

To commemorate the birth of his only son and heir, Louis-Ferdinand, in 1729, Louis XV ordered a complete redecoration of the room. Elements of the chamber de la reine as it had been used by Marie-Thérèse and Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie were removed and a new, more modern decor was installed.^[17]

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

• Salle des gardes de la reine — this room remained virtually unchanged by Marie-Antoinette.^[18]
• Antichambre — this room was transformed into the antichambre du grand couvert. It was in this room that the king, queen, and members of the royal family dined in public. Occasionally, this room served as a theater for the château.
• Grand cabinet — this room was transformed into the salon des nobles. Following the tradition established by her predecessor, Marie-Antoinette would hold formal audiences in this room. When not used for formal audiences, the salon des nobles served as an antechamber to the queen’s bedroom.
• Chambre de la reine — this room was used as the queen’s bedroom, and was of exceptional splendor. On the night of 6/7 October 1789, Marie-Antoinette fled from the Paris mob by escaping through a private corridor that connected her apartment with that of the king.

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

• Salle des gardes — this room served as a guard room for the king’s body guard (this room issued from the loggia and landing of the Queen’s Staircase).
• Première antichambre or antichambre du grand couvert — in this room, Louis XIV ate in public, a ceremony known as the grand couvert. Additionally, once a week Louis XIV would personally accept petitions from his subjects.
• Antichambre des Bassans — this room took its name from the collection of paintings by the 16th century Venetian master Jacop Bassano that were displayed in this room.
• Chambre du roi — this was the king’s bedchamber, until 1701.
• Salon du Roi — located in the center of the château, this room served for the king’s grand levé — the daily morning ritual in which the king was dressed in public.
• Cabinet du roi — the room served as a council room for Louis XIV.
• Cabinet des termes — this room was thus named owing to its decoration; it served, however, as the room in which Louis XIV’s wigs —- more than 500 — were kept.

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

• The salle des gardes remained unchanged.
• Première antichambre or antichambre du grand couvert — this room likewise remained unchanged.
• The antichambre des Bassans and the chamber du roi were combined to form the seconde antichambre — better known as the salon de l’oeil de boeuf.
• The salon du roi was converted into the chamber du roi.
• The cabinet du roi and cabinet des termes remained until 1755 at which time Louis XV combined them to create the cabinet du conseil.

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

• le Salon ovale
• le cabinet aux tableaux
• le cabinet aux coquilles
• le cabinet aux médailles
• la petite galerie (with its two salons)^[19]
• le cabinet du billard

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

• Large vases garnished with gold and diamonds
• Antique busts
• A nef (a vessel used at meals in which a damp napkin was kept to wipe one's fingers — these types of vessels were common before the practice of eating with a fork became popular) garnished with diamonds and rubies (this nef, which was stripped of its gems and melted down during the French Revolution, was, nevertheless, depicted in the ceiling of the salon de l’Abondance.)
• Chinese and Japanese porcelains
• Vases carved from various semi-precious stones
• Paintings^[20]

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

• La nouvelle chambre — this room was constructed on the site of Louis XIV's billiard room.
• Le cabinet de la Pendule — this room was created by surpassing the staircase of Louis XIII and combining it with the cabinet aux tableaux. The room, which served as a gaming room, derives its name from the astronomical clock built by Passemant and Dauthia (the gilt-bronze case of the clock is by Caffieri).
• Le cabinet des Chiens — this room was reserved for Louis XV’s hunting dogs.
• La salle à manger des retours de chasse — this was a small dining room used by Louis XV to entertain his friends after hunting.^[21]
• Le cabinet intérieur du roi — was constructed in 1755 and was used as a private workroom for Louis XV. The room’s main feature is the roll-top desk by Oeben and Riesener, which by turning one key opens the roll-top and the drawers of the desk. This is the only piece of furniture original to Versailles that was neither sold during the Revolution nor removed from the château.
• La pièce de la vaisselle d'or or le Cabinet de Mme Adélaïde — constructed in 1752, after the destruction of the escalier des ambassadeurs (this room was originally one of the two salons of the petite gallerie), this room served as the room in which Louis XV’s gold tableware was displayed and where his daughter, Mme Adélaïde, had her music room.^[22]
• La Bibliothèque — dating from 1774, the library, which occupies the site of the petite gallerie — was to be Louis XVI’s most significant contribution to Versailles.
• La salle à manger aux salles neuves — also known as the salle des porcelains, it was in this room that the royal family dined in private during the reign of Louis XVI. Every year during the Christmas season, samples of that year’s production from the porcelain factory at Sèvres would be displayed here. This room originally was one of the two salons of the petite gallerie.
• La salle de Billard and le salon des Jeux were built in 1795 and occupy space in what was part of Mme de Montespan’s apartment. The rooms issue from the salle à manger aux salles neuves and were used by the royal family for evening entertainment.

These rooms, situated behind the grand appartement de la reine, and which now open onto two interior courtyards, were the private domain of the queens of France, Marie-Thérèse, Marie Leszczyska, and Marie-Antoinette. Evolving with the building campaigns of Louis XIV, the petit appartement de la reine^[23], likewise evolved.

Marie-Thérèse

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

Marie Leszczyska

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

• oratory
• annex to the oratory
• boudoir
• grand cabinet
• bathroom
• laboratory (Marie-Leszczyska was known to have had a strong interest in science.)

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

Marie-Antoinette

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

• cabinet doré (former grand cabinet of Marie Leszczyska)
• library
• annex to the library^[24]
• billiard room
• cabinet de la méridienne
• bathroom
• toilette à l’anglaise^[25]
• various service rooms
• fun rooms

During Marie-Antoinette's day, these rooms served the queen’s daily private life. For example, in the morning, the cabinet de la méridienne, which was decorated by Richard Mique to commemorate the birth of the dauphin, was the room in which Marie-Antoinette would choose the clothing she would wear that day.^[26]

Of all the features of the petit appartement de la reine, the so-called secret passage that links the grand appartement de la reine with the appartement du roi must be cited. The passage actually dates from the time of Marie-Thérèse, and had always served as a private means by which the king and queen could communicate with each other.^[27] It is true, however, that Marie-Antoinette, who was sleeping in the chambre de la reine in the grande appartement de reine, escaped from the Paris mob on the night of 6/7 October 1789 by using this route. The entrance to the so-called secret passage is through a door located on the west side of the north wall of the chambre de la reine.

As the central and most remarkable feature of Louis XIV’s third building campaign, construction of the galerie des glaces — The Hall of Mirrors — began in 1678. To provide for the galerie des glaces as well as the salon de la guerre and the salon de la paix, which connect the grand appartement du roi with the grand appartement de la reine, architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart appropriated three rooms from each apartment.^[28] as well as the terrace that separated their two domains within the palace. The principal feature of this famous galerie is the seventeen mirror-clad arches that reflect the seventeen arcaded windows that overlook the gardens. Each arch contains twenty-one mirrors with a total complement of 357 used in the decoration of the galerie des glaces. The arches themselves are fixed upon marble pilasters whose capitals depict the symbols of France. These gilded bronze capitals include the fleur-de-lys and the Gallic cockerel or rooster. Many of the other attributes of the Hall of Mirrors were lost to war for financial purposes. Items such as the silver table pieces and lamp holders were melted by order of Louis XIV himself to provide monetary provisions for the war.

In the 17th century, mirrors were one of the most expensive items to possess and at the time, the Venetian Republic held the monopoly on the manufacture of mirrors. In order to maintain the integrity of his philosophy of mercantilism, which required that all items used in the decoration of Versailles be made in France, Jean-Baptiste Colbert enticed several workers from Venice to make mirrors at the Gobelins Factory^[29]

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

During the 17th century, the galerie des glaces was used daily by Louis XIV when he walked from his private apartment to the chapel. At this time, courtiers assembled to watch the king and members of the royal family pass, and might make a particular request by intoning: “Sire, Marly?”^[30] However, of all the events that transpired in this room during the reign of Louis XIV, the Siamese Embassy of 1685-1686 must be cited as the most opulent. At this time, the galerie des glaces and the grands appartements were still appointed with silver furniture. In February 1715, Louis XIV held his last embassy — which could be regarded as the swan song for his absolutism — in the galerie des glaces, one in which he received Mohamed Reza Beg, ambassador of the Shah of Persia. It was later revealed that the ambassador was bogus, and that the entire ceremony was orchestrated for the benefit of Louis XIV (who died in September of the same year).

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

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

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

1st Chapel
The château’s first chapel dated from the time of Louis XIII and was located in detached pavilion at the northeast of the château (today, La pièce de la vaisselle d'or or le Cabinet de Mme Adélaïde occupies the approximate site). This chapel, which followed the palatine model,^[31]: a chapel of two floors, the upper floor reserved for the monarch and members of the royal family (corresponding with the main floor of the royal residence, so that the king would not be obligated to negotiate a stairway in order hear an ordinary mass), and the lower floor at ground level used by members of the court and the royal household. The king himself only descended to the lower floor of his chapels on rare and important occasions. Versailles' first chapel was destroyed in 1665 when the Grotto de Thétis was built.

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

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

4th Chapel
With the construction of the aile Nord, a new palatine model chapel was built. Construction of the North wing necessitated the destruction of the Grotto de Thétis; it was on this site that the new chapel was built in 1682.^[32] This chapel remained in use by the king and court until 1710,^[33]

5th Chapel

As the focal point of Louis XIV's fourth (and last) building campaign, the final chapel of the château of Versailles is an unreserved masterpiece. Begun in 1689, construction was halted due to the War of the League of Augsburg; Jules Hardouin-Mansart resumed construction in 1699. Hardouin-Mansart continued working on the project until his death in 1708, at which time his brother-in-law, Robert de Cotte, finished the project. It was to become the largest of the royal chapels at Versailles, and in fact the height of its vaulting alone was allowed to disturb the rather severe horizontality everywhere else apparent in the palace's roof-line, leading to the design being badly treated by some contemporaries at the time (most notably perhaps by the memoirist Saint-Simon, who considered it an "enormous catalfalque"). Nevertheless, the magnificent interior has been widely admired to the present day.

Dedicated to Saint Louis, patron saint of the Bourbons, the chapel was consecrated in 1710. The palatine model is of course traditional; however, the Corinthian colonnade of the tribune level is of a classic style that anticipates the neo-classicism of the late-18th century, although its contrivance here is of remarkable virtuosity. The tribune level is accessed by a vestibule that was constructed at the same time as the chapel^[34] The floor of the chapel itself is inlaid with multi-colored marbles, and at the foot of the steps leading to the altar is Louis XIV’s crowned monogram of an interlaced double “L”. Adhering to ecclesiastical themes, the chapel’s decoration refers to both the Old and New Testaments: the ceiling of the nave represents “God the Father in His Glory Bringing to the World the Promise of Redemption” and was painted by Antoine Coypel; the half-dome of the apse is decorated with Charles de LaFosse’s “The Resurrection of Christ”; and, above the royal tribune is Jean Jouvenet’s “The Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Virgin and the Apostles.”

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

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

Since the time of Louis XIV, the château of Versailles had wanted — and needed — a permanent theater. Before the construction of l’Opéra, temporary theaters were constructed either in the gardens or in the château — grands appartements, escalier des ambassadeurs, aile de Midi — where the salle de spectacle of Louis XIV was short-lived — la grande écurie, la cour de marbre, etc. However, in 1740, Louis XV ordered Jacques-Anges Gabriel to build a permanent theater at the northern end of the aile de Nord, on the site that had been that chosen by Louis XIV^[35] The project required some thirty years to complete based on financial restraints rising from the Seven Years War and relocating residents from the northern end of the aile de nobles. Construction work on the Opéra began in earnest in 1765 and was completed in 1770; at the time, it represented the finest example in theater design — having 712 seats, it was the largest theater in Europe at the time — and today remains one of the few theaters to survive the 18th century. Lully’s Persée inaugurated the Opéra on 16 May 1770 in celebration of the marriage of the dauphin — the future Louis XVI — with Marie-Antoinette.

Gabriel’s design for the Opéra was unique for the time as it featured an oval plan. As an economy measure, the floor of the orchestra level can be raised to the level the stage, thus doubling the floor space. It was planned that the Opéra should serve not only as a theater, but as ballroom or banqueting hall as well.^[36] Built entirely of wood, which is painted in faux marbre to represent stone, the Opéra has excellent acoustics and represents one of the finest examples of neo-classical decoration. The theme of the decoration is related to Apollo and the Olympian deities. The decoration of the Opéra was directed by Augustin Pajou, who executed the bas-reliefs panels that decorate the front of the loges. The ceiling features a canvas by Louis Jean Jacques Durameau in which Apollo and the Muses are depicted.

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

When the royal family left Versailles in October 1789, the château and the Opéra were closed. While the château did see some activity under Napoléon I (redecoration of the parts of the queen’s apartment for the empress Marie-Louise) and Louis XVIII, the Opéra did not reopen again until 1837, when Louis-Philippe redecorated the theater and presented Molière’s Le Misanthrope. In 1872, during the Commune de Paris, the Opéra was converted by Edmond de Joly for use by the Assemblée nationale, who used the Opéra until 1876; between 1876 and 1879, the Sénat convened here.^[37] 1952-1957 witnessed major restoration of the Opéra when it was restored to its 1770 state. The Opéra officially reopened 9 April 1957 in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, with a presentation of Act II of Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes. Since its restoration, the Opéra has been pressed into service for state functions as well as a variety of operatic and musical events.

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

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

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

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

1. People who wanted to speak to the king could not knock on his door. Instead, using the left little finger, they had to gently scratch on the door, until they were granted permission to enter. As a result, many courtiers grew that fingernail longer than the others;
2. A lady never held hands or linked arms with a gentleman. Besides being in bad taste, this practice would have been impossible because a woman’s hooped skirts were so wide. Instead, she was to place her hand on top of the gentleman’s bent arm as they strolled through the gardens and chambers of Versailles. It is also mentioned that the ladies were only allowed to touch fingertips with the men.
3. When a gentleman sat down, he slid his left foot in front of the other, placed his hands on the sides of the chair and gently lowered himself into the chair. There was a very practical reason for this procedure. If a gentleman sat too fast, his tight trousers might split;
4. Women and men were not allowed to cross their legs in public;
5. When a gentleman passed an acquaintance on the street, he was to raise his hat high off his head until the other person passed;
6. A gentleman was to do no work except writing letters, giving speeches, practising fencing, or dancing. For pleasure he engaged in hawking, archery, indoor tennis, or hunting. A gentleman would also take part in battle and would sometimes serve as a public officer, paying the soldiers;
7. Ladies’ clothing did not allow them to do much besides sit and walk. However, they passed the time sewing, knitting, writing letters, painting, making their own lace, and creating their own cosmetics and perfumes.[2]

In addition, etiquette ordained the order of prominence at court, limited or extended access based on rank or favor, rigidly maintained complex customs of address, and even who could sit or stand under what circumstances in the royal presence or that of the great nobles.

The grounds of Versailles contain one of the largest formal gardens ever created, with extensive parterres, fountains and canals, designed by André Le Nôtre. Le Nôtre modified the original gardens by expanding them and giving them a sense of openness and scale. He created a plan centered around the central axis of the Grand Canal. The gardens are centered on the south front of the palace, which is set on a long terrace to give a grand view of the gardens. At the foot of the steps the Fountain of Latona is located. This fountain tells a story taken from Ovid's poem Metamorphoses and served — and still serves — as an allegory of the Fronde. Next, is the Royal Avenue or the Tapis Vert. Surrounding this to the sides are the formal gardens. Beyond this is the Fountain of Apollo. This fountain symbolizes the regime of Louis XIV, or, the "Sun King". Beyond the Fountain lies the massive Grand Canal. The wide central axis rises on the far side. Even farther into the distance lie the dense woods of the King's hunting grounds.

Several smaller buildings were added to the park of Versailles, starting with the Ménagerie, which was built between 1663 and 1665 and modified in the 1690s for the use of Louis XIV's granddaughter, the duchesse de Bourgogne (of which almost nothing remains today), followed by the Grand Trianon (originally the Porcelain Trianon), continuing with additions by Louis XV and Louis XVI including the Petit Trianon, and the Hamlet of Marie Antoinette known as the le Hameau.

Adjacent to the palace or in its vicinity, many subsidiary facilities were put up in the town as well, since the burden of accommodating support services gradually overan available space within the royal residence itself. The stables were displaced into the town on rue de la Pompe, in a structure built in 1672 by Jacques Gabriel IV. In due course even these would prove insufficient, and would be set aside for the exclusive use of the queen's household. Thereafter, the horses and equipages required by the king's official and private uses were housed in two great stables built by Jules Hardouin-Mansart in 1679. What became known as the Large and Small Stables occupied both sides of the principal approach to Versailles, facing the Place d'Armes. The skillfull adaptation of these two semi-circular buildings within the triangular building sites, and the quality of their execution and ornamentation was widely admired throughout Europe. 1682 saw the construction of the Grand Commun in front of the Southern Wing; the Large Kennels behind the Stables in 1685, and the Tennis Court of 1686 (which would figure prominently in the opening days of the Revolution a little over a hundred years later). Other permanent government buildings were completed during the reign of Louis XV, as well as temporary accommodations that housed various departments of the royal household or of the government until the final departure of his successor and the royal family for Paris in October of 1789.

Versailles was grand, luxurious, and expensive to maintain. It has been estimated that upkeep and maintenance, including the care and feeding of staff and the royal family, consumed as much as 25 percent of the total income of France^{[citation needed]}. Although at first glance this may seem extraordinarily large, the Palace of Versailles was the centre of government as well as the royal residence. Additionally, the 25 percent figure is disputed by some historians who believe the number has been exaggerated by those who would exaggerate the role of royals' extravagance as causation for the French Revolution. Recent estimates suggest a number closer to 6 percent.^{[citation needed]}

The book, World History: Patterns of Interactions (Mcdougal Littell/Houghton Mifflin, 2001) places the value at approximately US$2 billion (1994). This valuation is regarded by many as a gross underestimate.^{[citation needed]} Surviving government records from the period mention 65 million golden livres. It is unclear whether this "golden" livre references the standard livre, or the Louis d'Or (a gold coin then valued at 24 livres). If accurate, using today's values for gold (US$600 per ounce, 2006) and silver (US$12 per ounce, 2006), the value of the Versailles estate soars to a staggering US$300 billion.

Another way to look at this controversy over the costs of Versailles, is to consider the benefits that France drew from this royal palace. Versailles, by locking the nobles into a golden cage, effectively ended the periodical aristocratic groups and rebellions that had plagued France for centuries. It also destroyed aristocratic power in the provinces, and enabled a centralization of the state, for which a majority of modern Frenchmen are still thankful to Louis XIV, although French centralization, as further developed during the French Revolution, and later the Third Republic, is currently the subject of much debate and overhauling. Versailles also had a tremendous influence on French architecture and arts, and indeed on European architecture and arts, as the court tastes and culture elaborated in Versailles influenced most of Europe. From the start, Versailles was conceived as much as a showcase of French arts and craftsmanship organized in the royal workshops of the Gobelins manufactory, as a home for a king or a monument to absolutism. Modern Frenchmen, even the least sympathetic to the former monarchy, are still generally quite proud of the lasting influence that French arts developed in Versailles have had in the world.^{[citation needed]}

After the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, with the Siege of Paris dragging on, the palace was the main headquarters of the Prussian army from 5 October 1870 until 13 March 1871. On 18 January 1871, Prussian King Wilhelm I was proclaimed German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors, and the German Empire was founded.

After First World War, it hosted the opening of the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, also on 18 January. Germany was blamed for causing the First World War in the Treaty of Versailles which had to be signed in the same room on 28th June 1919.

The ravages of war and neglect over the centuries left their mark on the palace and its huge park. Modern French governments of the post-World War II era have sought to repair these damages. They have on the whole been successful, but some of the more costly items, such as the vast array of fountains, have yet to be put back completely in service. As spectacular as they might seem now, they were even more extensive in the 18th century. The 18th-century waterworks at Marly— the machine de Marly that fed the fountains— was probably the biggest mechanical system of its time. The water came in from afar on monumental stone aqueducts, which have long ago fallen in disrepair or been torn down. Some aqueducts were never completed for want of resources or due to the exigencies of war. The search for sufficient supplies of water was in fact never fully realised even during the apogee of Versailles' glory as the seat of government, as the fountains could not be operated together satisfactorily for any significant periods of time.

After the Revolution the paintings and sculpture, like the crown jewels, were consigned to the new Musée du Louvre as part of the cultural patrimony of France. Other contents went to serve a new and moral public role: books and medals went to the Bibliothèque Nationale, clocks and scientific instruments (Louis XVI was a connoisseur of science) to the École des Arts et Métiers. Versailles was still the most richly-appointed royal palace of Europe until a long series of auction sales took place on the premises, which unrolled for months during the Revolution, emptying Versailles slowly of every shred of amenity, at derisory prices, mostly to professional brocanteurs. The immediate purpose was to raise desperately-needed funds for the armies of the people, but the long-range strategy was to ensure that there was no Versailles for any king ever to come back to. The strategy worked. Though Versailles was declared an imperial palace, Napoleon never spent a summer's night there.

Versailles remained both royal and unused through the Restoration. In 1830, the politic Louis Philippe, the "Citizen King" declared the château a museum dedicated to "all the glories of France," raising it for the first time above a Bourbon dynastic monument. At the same time, boiseries from the private apartments of princes and courtiers were removed and found their way, without provenance, into the incipient art market in Paris and London for such panelling. What remained were 120 rooms, the modern "Galeries Historiques".[3] The curator Pierre de Nohlac began the conservation of the palace in the 1880s, but did not have the necessary funding until John D. Rockefeller's gift of 60 million francs in 1924-1936. Its promotion as a tourist site started in the 1930s and accelerated in the 1950s and 1960s.^[38]

In the 1960s, Pierre Verlet, the greatest writer on the history of French furniture managed to get some royal furnishings returned from the museums and ministries and ambassadors' residences where they had become scattered from the central warehouses of the Mobilier National. He conceived the bold scheme of refurnishing Versailles, and the refurnished royal Appartements that tourists view today are due to Verlet's successful initiative, in which textiles were even rewoven to refurbish the state beds.

As the centralizing organization of modern national government formulated by Richelieu was perfected by Louis XIV and his advisors, other European states hastened to copy it. As they followed the French model in administration and particularly in military affairs (which is why some American government and military vocabulary, such as bureau, personnel, and materiel, are still French), most princes had to construct new buildings to house the new bureaucracies. Because government in those days was still centered on the household of the prince, Versailles ignited a competitive spate of building palaces in fountain-filled gardens among the power elite of Europe.

Ironically, the most direct homage to Versailles came when the age of feudal governments ended at the end of the nineteenth century. Ludwig II of Bavaria, a constitutional monarch, further constrained by doctors because of his incipient insanity, commissioned a nearly identical copy of Versailles, Herrenchiemsee, to be built on an island on the bucolic Chiemsee lake in the countryside of Bavaria. His funds ran out too soon, but the central portion was finished, along with its own hall of mirrors, and formal French gardens were planted around it.

But during the Baroque period the great palaces and their dependencies housed working governments. When Peter I of Russia structured a new, Western-style government for Russia, he visited Versailles in a "Grand Embassy" and later decided to build a residence in the outskirts of Saint Petersburg. He had the Peterhof complex of buildings, gardens, and parks built.

Efforts in England, where power during the period centered on Parliament and particularly on politically powerful nobles rather than on the monarchy, were limited. They included renovations at Hampton Court, and the all-but-royal Chatsworth. The direct British answer to Versailles is Blenheim Palace, built as a national monument for Louis' nemesis, the Duke of Marlborough.

In the courts of Germany, several Versailles-like palaces were constructed, including Schloss Wilhelmshöhe at Kassel, Schloss Augustusburg in Brühl, Ludwigsburg, Schloss Schleissheim and the Residenz in Würzburg. Many others still stand, tiny and often exquisite little palaces that once ruled their postage-stamp principalities.

In Sweden, there is Drottningholm; in Austria Schönbrunn, and in Hungary Eszterháza, the administrative center of the vast estates of a princely family rather than that of a monarch.

In Italy, there are Caserta Palace, the Ducal Palace of Colorno and the Palazzina di Stupinigi.

In the Iberian peninsula two competitors for Versailles stand out: La Granja near Madrid, and Queluz in Portugal.

In Kapurthala, Punjab, India the famous Jagatjit Palace is also based on this building made by the last Maharajah of the princly state of Kapurthala and designed by a French architect M. Marcel.

Poland, with an elected king having less power than monarchs of other countries, had few opportunities for royal construction, and really nothing along the lines of Versailles was possible. However, the last king of Poland did construct Łazienki, essentially an exceptionally large pavilion like those built by French courtiers as weekend residences away from Versailles. The most developed baroque palace complex there, the Branicki Palace in Białystok, was built by a powerful noble.

In Ireland Mervyn Wingfield, 7th Viscount Powerscourt took inspiration from the Palace when building the Powerscourt House in Enniskerry in Co. Wicklow.

On record, Versailles has held two musical events.

In 1988 on June 21st and 22nd, its courtyard played host to Pink Floyd during their "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" European Tour which was filmed. "The Great Gig in the Sky" footage from the show was used on the "Delicate Sound Of Thunder" DVD.

On July 2nd 2005, the French Live 8 was held in the courtyard.

The Palace of Versailles was used as an area in the Sega Genesis video game Castlevania: Bloodlines, especially the Hall of Mirrors.

In 2006, the French Government gave permission to American director Sofia Coppola to film her movie, Marie Antoinette, in the Palace of Versailles. This included the Hall of Mirrors for the wedding ball scenes, even though it was being renovated at the time.

Singer-songwriter Al Stewart released a song entitled "The Palace of Versailles", a song detailing the French Revolution, The Terror, and the military coup of Napoleon Bonaparte, from the perspective of "the lonely Palace of Versailles".

Rapper Jay-Z refers to the hall of mirrors in the song titled "Sweet," from his album American Gangster. "I can walk down the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles, and be so satisisfied when I look myself in the eyes."

• Bureau du Roi
• French Baroque and Classicism
• French Rococo and Neoclassicism
• Menagerie

• Thompson, Ian. The Sun King's Garden: Louis XIV, André Le Nôtre And the Creation of the Gardens of Versailles. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN 1-58234-631-3).
  • Reviewed by Peter Parker in the Telegraph, October 1, 2006.
  • Reviewed by John Adamson in the Telegraph, 2006.

• Official Site
• Photos of Palace and Gardens of Versailles
• Photos of Versailles
• Extensive photo gallery of Versailles
• Palace of Versailles Independent study article with photographs
• The Story of Versailles by Francis Loring Payne, from Project Gutenberg
• French The Hall of Mirrors Restoration
• French