Palace History Gallery
As a prologue to our visit to the State Apartments of the King, we first entered the Palace History Gallery (Galerie de l’Histoire du Château) located on the ground floor of the North Wing.
Check out “Versailles Palace” and “Versailles Palace – State Apartments of the King“
A partnership of the Palace of Versailles with Google, the gallery opened last June 14, 2012. Chronologically presenting the construction history of the Palace, it, in parallel, also evoked images of the Bourbon reign.
The author beside a bronze equestrian statue of Louis XIV. Behind is the painting “King Louis-Philippe and his five sons leaving the Palace of Versailles” (Horace Vernet, 1846)
Devoted to the château’s history, it presents a thematic and chronological collection representing milestones of the palace’s creation, from the transformation of Louis XIII’s hunting lodge to the grandiose Baroque château all the way to its renovation by Louis-Philippe I, who founded the Museum of the History of France within Versailles in the 19th century. The collection includes films that explain each stage of the château’s history.
In the foreground is the painting “Portrait of Louis XII of France” (Studio of Simon Vouet)
A series of eleven rooms, with a total area of 700 sq. m. (a little over 7,500 sq. ft.), explained to us the richly varied functions of the places we were about to explore.
Portrait of Louis Philippe I in the uniform of a General Officer (Franz Xaver Winterhalter, oil on canvas, 1839)
Our visit combined the presentation of the collections of Versailles, currently comprising approximately 7,000 paintings (5,000 portraits, about 2,000 historical scenes) and 1,500 sculptures (mainly portraits), with physical scale models and striking 3D reconstructions.
Scaled Model of Chateau de Versailles
The new Château de Versailles History Gallery was designed by the Paris-based Projectiles architectural studio, winner in a contest organized between February and April 2010, creating an interior with emphasis on geometric shapes in modern materials that is in complete contrast with the rest of the palace.
View of Versailles from Place de Armas (Pierre Denis Martin, oil on canvas, 1722)
CREA Diffusion, an internationally renowned fabrication firm based in Sologne (France), was hired to handle the fabrication and installation of the 16,000 sq. ft. of solid DuPont Corian surfacing used for the monolithic chandeliers and interior elements. Even the wall paneling are covered with engraved DuPont Corian techno surfaces.
Fountain of Apollo Gardens of Versailles (Hubert Robert, 1774)
Palace History Gallery: Ground Floor, North Wing, Chateau De Versailles, Place d’Armes, 78000 Versailles, France. Tel: +33 1 30 83 78 00. Website: www.chateauversailles.fr. Open daily (except on Mondays and May 1), from 9:00 AM to 6:30 PM. Last admission is 6 PM while the ticket office closes at 5.45 PM. The estate of Trianon and the Coach Gallery only open in the afternoon while the Park (7 AM to 8:30 PM) and Gardens (8 AM to 8.30 PM, last admission: 7 PM) are open every day. Access to the Gardens is free except on days of fountains shows. You can access the estate of Trianon through the Gardens or through the city. The Petit Trianon is only possible via the Grand Trianon.
Admission: 27 € for Passport with Timed Entry (days with Musical Fountains Shows or Musical Gardens), 20 € for Passport with Timed Entry (without musical fountains show or musical gardens), 12 € for Estate of Trianon ticket(without Musical Fountains Show or Musical Gardens), 10 € for Passport with Timed Entry (free admission, days with Musical Fountains Show or Musical Gardens), 9,50 € for Musical Fountains Show ticket, 8,50 € for Musical Gardens ticket, 28 € for the Fountains Night Show.
How to Get There: The cheapest option for reaching Versailles is by train. There are three train stations in Versailles. RER line C arrives at Versailles Château – Rive Gauche train station, the closest one of the Palace (just 10 minutes’ walk to the Palace). SNCF trains from Gare Montparnasse arrive at Versailles Chantiers train station, which is 18 minutes on foot to the Palace. SNCF trains from Gare Saint Lazare arrive at Versailles Rive Droite train station, 17 minutes on foot to the Palace. RER C and SNCF train times are available on www.transilien.com.