VERSAILLES CASTLE

After several articles dedicated to Trianon and the gardens, it was about time to evoke the flagship of the royal domain of Versailles – I named the main castle. I was going to write “the official castle” because it is really a question of power within these walls, which is ultimately quite ironic when you know its prime history – you will quickly understand why.

“Official castle” because unlike the more modest buildings of the royal domain of Versailles which are the Grand Trianon – built by Louis XIV to hide his love affairs with Madame de Montespan and Madame de Maintenon and the Petit Trianon where Marie-Antoinette escaped the rigid etiquette of the official castle – the palace of Versailles was in no way dedicated to pleasures: on the contrary, it always illustrated the grandeur and power of the Sun King over his nobility, over his people and over Europe.

Louis XIV’s Court hosted 3,000 courtesans, foreign ambassadors and people of all conditions hoping to see the divine sovereign. In a word, the palace was open to anyone and a diverse crowd of 10,000 people flocked there daily to experience and admire royalty in all its splendid exercise.

And it is exactly how the castle was built and inhabited by the Sun King, who wanted to concentrate his power in a place that he would have designed himself, unlike the pre-existing royal residences of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Chambord, Rambouillet or Fontainebleau – and where the Court would settle with him permanently from 1682, unlike its predecessors whose itinerant Court navigated between the different royal residences according to the weather and the hunting seasons.

And it is hunting that presided over the destiny of what will become the Palace of Versailles – this is where the irony comes in.

Before the young Sun King fell in love with the place, his father Louis XIII had a hunting lodge built there to which he regularly retreated with a few friends. His wife Queen Anne of Austria, with whom relations were distant and marked by mistrust, was never invited – and when she was, it would be much later by her son Louis XIV.

This small, modest hunting lodge, a bit medieval, designed by the father for solitude and retirement, would become under the aegis of the son the palace of all splendors, where the most modern arts would flourish. It would be permanently inhabited by an incessant crowd whose days would be punctuated by an etiquette which would become more and more rigid over the following decades. From the small hunting lodge of Louis XIII, the East facade remains, all of stone and red brick which welcomes the contemporary visitor who arrives in the black and white checkerboard marble courtyard.

Very respectful of the memory of Louis XIII, Louis XIV transformed the building at the start of his reign in 1660 with the team of craftsmen and artists from Vaux-le-Vicomte, and the works lasted nearly fifty years. The castle was in fact a permanent construction site until his death in 1715.

The developments and works will continue under the reign of his successors – mainly Louis XV since the Palace of Versailles was the permanent seat of power from 1682 to 1789 (apart from the Regency years from 1715 to 1723).

Not much remains of Louis XIV’s castle.

The monumental Ambassadors’ staircase, the incredible Baths apartment, and in the gardens the enchanting Labyrinth and the marvelous Grotto of Thétis no longer exist – we can only imagine them through the few engravings or paintings that survive from the period.

What remains is the Hall of Mirrors which was until 1678 a terrace opening onto the gardens which very inconveniently connected the King’s Apartments to the Queen’s Apartments and which was completed in 1684.

What remains is the King’s Chamber, fitted out as such in 1701 – this was before the King’s Salon in which the ambassadors were invited and in which the Sun King died.

Louis XV will carry out numerous interior improvements within the palace. The most beautiful of his additions will be, in my opinion, the Royal Opera – which Louis XIV had renounced, preferring the construction of the royal chapel at the end of a more religious reign.

King Louis-Philippe will show his interest in the palace in 1833 and will want to make Versailles a museum dedicated to all the glories of France. From a royal residence, the palace will become a museum. In fact, the historical galleries, which present sculptures and paintings, retrace the national narrative through in particular the Hall of the Crusades, the Gallery of Battles, the Empire Rooms, the Coronation Room. Napoleon III will continue the work of King Louis-Philippe until the disaster of Sedan battle.

Today, the Palace of Versailles still offers these two faces of royal residence and museum. This Palace of Versailles is an astonishing maze.

NRDL. If you happen to visit Versailles, you will want to download the “Château de Versailles” app which will guide you throughout your wanderings. This is obviously not a sponsored article.