Versailles

Culture

The palace of Versailles was originally intended by Louis XIII as a hunting lodge, and it served as such until about 1660 when Louis XIV (the Sun King) decided to make it his new palace away from the danger and disorder of Paris. It is said that the young Louis XIV once walked into his father's bedchamber only to find and scare away an assassin, and ever since that experience Louis did not trust the environment of Paris as a safe place to conduct his court (Moore, ed, 154). Our tour guide told us that during the year of greatest work upon the palace and its gardens, it cost France half of its GNP, and by 1682 it was sufficiently prepared for the transfer of the seat of the French government. We found out while we were there that the choice of Versailles for the place of royal residence was very impractical, because the village did not have an adequate water supply, or sufficient means of transportation and communication to attract such an occupation. So all necessary goods, as well as all those demanded by the presence of the royalty, had to be brought into the town from outside of it (often all the way from Paris). An example of this is that a river had to be diverted to meet the demand that the 600 fountains created for water (Birnbaum and Birnbaum, eds, 1038). Once Louis XIV got settled down in the palace at Versailles he found that there was still too much going on at the palace for his sensibilities, so he built the smaller palaces of the Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon in the recesses of the gardens in an effort to get away from all of the activity of the main palace (Moore 156). An interesting part of the palace, the opera, was finished just in time for the wedding of Marie-Antoinette and Dauphin (Babel Translations 243). Marie Antoinette, the famous wife of Louis XVI, added to the constructions of the gardens with her mock-peasant village called Le Hameau (Birnbaum and Birnbaum, eds., 1038). She had grown up in a rural peasant family, and even though she was the queen and had access to all of the royalties that she could have desired, what she really wanted was to return to the simple way of life of her past. So she had this small village erected at the edge of the gardens, and she hired a farmer to perform "rural tasks," so that she could return to "nature" (Babel Translations 245). Her dream-world came crashing down upon her in the throes of the French Revolution though, and she and Louis XVI were carried off from the palace by the angry mob that later occupied it. The sophisticated gardens, that encompass more than 250 acres of countryside, were designed by the famous French architect and landscaper Andre Le Notre (Michelin: Ile-de-France 176). The decoration and crafting of the interiors of the palace were mainly supervised by the famous artist Le Brun. The last part of the palace, the chapel, was not finished until Louis XIV was 72 years old (Michelin: Ile-de-France 177). The palace has not served as the royal residence since revolutionaries forced them to return to Paris in 1789 (Michelin: Ile-de-France 177). Since then many important agreements and pacts have been signed at Versailles such as; the formation of the French National Assembly, the declaration of the Third Republic, and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Yet, today it is flooded by tourists wishing to see Europe's largest and most spectacular palace. There is a lot to see at Versailles, and it is a feat of endurance to tour the palace, the gardens, and the two Trianons in one day.

Impressions

Versailles

It is no wonder that the economy of the French Empire was almost ruined by the cost of the building of the palace at Versailles. From the parking lot, the palace seems to reach out to enclose you in its grasp, and the buildings on either side of the entrance reminded me of the Acropolis. Even the cobblestones are claimed to be the largest ones in France, and some of them still have little grooves from the many carriages that used to fill the royal court.
-Nick Neises

Versailles Gardens

The palace of Versailles is said to have cost the French half of their GNP in its main year of construction, and after seeing it, I believe that. The palace has its own chapel, its own opera house, and the famed Hall of Mirrors where all of Europe's most influential people seem to have loitered at some time. Yet I was most impressed with the huge gardens that extend for miles beyond the palace. We happened to receive a sunny afternoon for our tour of them, and my American conception of what a garden is was not sufficient for my experience there. We spent all afternoon discovering the many paths, and it was very enjoyable to just stroll around to see what grand constructions awaited us in the recesses of the royal gardens. Many French people apparently thought the same thing, because the gardens were more populated with natives that Sunday than with tourists.
-Nick Neises