The Hall of Mirrors (Galerie des Glaces), the most famous and emblematic room in the royal  Palace of Versailles, is located on the ground floor of the palace’s central body, facing west towards the Palace Gardens. Located besides the Palace Chapel, it is flanked, at the far ends, by the Salon of War (Salon de la Guerre) in the north and the Salon of Peace (Salon de la Paix) in the south, respectively. The Hall of Mirror connects to the two salons, which were assigned to and incorporated into the king’s apartments (grand appartement du roi) in the north and the queen’s apartments (grand appartement de la reine) in the south.

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Hall of Mirrors

It was built, during the palace’s third building stage (between 1678 and 1684), to replace a large rooftop terrace designed by the architect Louis Le Vau, which originally stood between the King’s Apartments to the north and the Queen’s to the south and opened onto the garden. The terrace was awkward (it was considered to be a rather misplaced architectural element) and, above all, especially exposed to bad weather (which reduced its utility) and it was not long before the decision was made to quickly condemn and demolish it.

Some of the 17 large, arcaded windows

Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Le Vau’s successor, produced a more suitable design that replaced the terrace with the grand, Baroque-style Hall of Mirrors. He appropriated three rooms each from the King and the Queen’s apartment as well as the terrace that separated the two apartments.

The hall pays tribute to the political, economic and artistic success of France. The 30 painted compositions on the vaulted ceiling by artist Charles Le Brun (who created the interior decorative apparatus), illustrate the political successes by depicting the glorious history of Louis XIV during the first 18 years of his reign, starting with the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659) to the Treaty of Nijmegen (1678–1679).

Some of the 17 sets of mirrors between Rouge de Rance marble pilasters

The allegories from Antiquity illustrate the military and diplomatic victories and reforms, with a view to reorganizing the kingdom. The number and size of the 357 mirrors (which, in the 17th century, were an expensive luxury product that could only be produced with great effort) bedecking the 17 arches opposite the windows, demonstrated that the new French manufacture, by the Manufacture royale de glaces de miroirs (later Compagnie de Saint-Gobain), a glass factory founded by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, could rival the Venetian monopoly on mirror manufacturing in Europe, thus revealing economic prosperity. 

According to legend, the government of the Venetian Republic, in order to keep its monopoly, sent agents to France to poison the workers whom Colbert had brought to France.

The Rouge de Rance marble pilasters, topped with gilded bronze capitals  based on a new design (which was referred to as “the French style”) and created by Le Brun upon the request of Colbert, showed artistic success.

Statue of Urania

The design, incorporating the national emblems, featured a fleur-de-lis  topped by a royal sun between two Gallic roosters (the Latin word for rooster was gallus) or cockerels. Adorning the green marble Pier glasses are gilded bronze trophies manufactured by goldsmith Pierre Ladoyreau. In its heyday, over 3,000 candles were used to light the Hall of Mirrors.

Some of the 24 crystal chandeliers

Work on the Hall of Mirrors started in 1678 and ended in 1684, at which time it was pressed into use for court and state functions. Upon its completion, it served as a kind of covered promenade for Louis XIV’s visit to the chapel.

Statue of Nemesis

At least once a day, he entered the gallery and, from 1701, the king’s bedroom lay behind the middle wall of the gallery. Courtiers and visitors crossed the Hall of Mirrors daily and assembled there to watch the King walk from his apartments to the chapel with members of the royal family.  Sometimes, they took the occasion to present him with requests.

A sculptured gueridon

In the successive reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI, family and court functions, embassies, and births were held in this room. It also served as a place for waiting and meeting.  On rare occasions, the central location and size of Hall of Mirrors was used, for an extra dash of lavishness and for entertainment, for ceremonies such as full-dress and masked balls and royal weddings.  They include:

• The wedding of Louis Ferdinand and Maria Theresa of Spain(1645)
• The wedding of the Duke of Burgundy with Marie Adélaïde of Savoy (December 11 and 14, 1697)
• The wedding of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette (May 16, 1770)
• The celebrated Yew Tree Ball (February 25, 1745) – during this costume ball, Louis XV (who was dressed as a yewtree) met Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson d’Étiolles (who was costumed as Diana, goddess of the hunt). Jeanne-Antoinette, better known to history as the Marquise de Pompadour, became Louis XV’s mistress.

Rarely has the show of power reached such a level of ostentation than during this time. Foreign audiences, under the scrutiny of the French Court (seated to either side on tiered seating), were granted here and dignitaries and ambassadors had to cross the full length of this gallery before they could reach the king.

Statue of Venus de Troas

During diplomatic receptions, the silver throne (usually located in the Salon of Apollo) was placed on a platform at the end of the hall near the Salon of Peace, whose arch was closed off. The audiences that transpired in this room include the following:

• The Doge of Genoa (1685)
• The Siamese Embassy (1685 to 1686) – the most opulent audience of them all. At this time, the Hall of Mirrors and the grand appartements were still decorated with its original silver furniture.
• Mehemet Reza Bey, ambassador of the Shah of Persia (February 1715)
• The embassy of King Mahmud I of Turkey (1742)

One of the largest rooms in the palace, the Hall of Mirrors is 73 m. (240 ft.) long, 10.50 m. (34.4 ft.) deep with a height of 12.30 m. (40.4 ft.) reaching to the Attic floor of the Corps de Logis.

Ceiling painting by Le Brun

The principal feature of this Mirror Hall is the 17 mirror-clad arches that reflect the 17 equally large, arcaded windows that overlook the gardens. The mirrors, composed of 357 individual mirror surfaces, aesthetically mirror the image of the garden and the exterior of the castle into the interior of the building. The square windows on the upper floor, which can be seen from the outside, only serve aesthetic purposes as there are no rooms inside. 

According to a contemporary anecdote: the mirror surface furnishings of such large areas as the 17 arches has been the idea of architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart, who wanted to prevent Le Brun from having even more opportunities to impress Louis with his work.

The original solid silver furniture by LeBrun, famous at the time, was soon lost, particularly the large, gilded  silver guéridons (tables) lining the hall which were, in 1689, melted down and coined by order of Louis XIV to finance the War of the League of Augsburg.

Those on display today were made in 1770 for the marriage of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, based on the moldings of earlier silver versions made that had been melted down. The 24 crystal chandeliers were hung only for special occasions.  The Hall of Mirrors’ furniture was manufactured during the 19th century as most of the original furnishings were lost during the French Revolution

Besides the mirrors, the Hall’s grandeur is best perceived through the majesty of its vault whose nine large and numerous smaller ceiling paintings, by Charles Le Brun (the most prestigious scenes were painted on strengthened canvas and glued to the vault by Le Brun himself), are dedicated to the idolization of the Sun King, praising the political policies and military successes of the first 20 years of his reign.

Funeral and honorific statue of Marcellus, represented as Hermes

The claim to absolute power is highlighted by the painting The King Governs Himself (Le roi gouverne par lui-même) which alludes to the establishment of the personal reign of Louis XIV in 1661.

Replica of Statue of Diana of Versailles

It shows Louis XIV, facing the powers of Europe and turning away from his pleasures, to accept a crown of immortality from Glory, with the encouragement of Mars. Further topics include the Peace of Nijmegen and the Conquest of the Franche-Comté.

Bust of Emperor Caligula

On display here are marble and porphyry busts of eight Roman emperors (Julius Caesar, Caligula, Claudius, etc.) plus statues of Greek and Roman deities and Muses, such as Bacchus, Venus of Troas, Modesty, Hermes, Urania, Nemesis and  Diana of Versailles.

Bust of Emperor Claudius

The latter is just a copy.  The original, moved to the Louvre in 1798, was replaced by a Diana sculpted by René Frémin for the gardens of the Château de Marly. Upon the restoration of the Hall of Mirrors during 2004 to 2007 it was, in turn, replaced by a copy of the original Diana.

Bust of Julius Caesar

On a number of occasions, the Hall of Mirrors has been the scene of events of great historic significance. They include:

• On January 18, 1871, in a deeply humiliating ceremony at the conclusion of the Franco-Prussian War, Prussian king William I, led by Otto von Bismarck, was declared German emperor (thus establishing the German Empire) in the Hall of Mirrors by the assembled German princes and lords. The event greatly contributed to the further accretion of the Franco-German enmity.
• O June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles, officially ending the World War I, was signed here by French Prime Minister Clemenceau to dismantle the German Empire.

Since then, the Hall of Mirrors remains reserved for official ceremonies and presidents of the French Republic have continued to receive official guests here. Among them were:

• The reception of US-President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his wife by Charles De Gaulle
• The reception of the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi by Valéry Giscard d’Estaing in 1974
• The invitation of representatives of the Group of Seven summit by President François Mitterrand from June 4 to 6, 1982.

Statue of Bacchus

Hall of Mirrors: 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

Salon of Mercury

The State Apartments of the King, a prestigious series of seven rooms (Salon of Hercules, Salon of Diana, Salon of Abundance, Salon of Venus, Salon of Mars, Salon of Mercury and Salon of Apollo), was used as a parade apartment for hosting the sovereign’s official acts. Bedecked with lavish Italian-style decoration much admired by the king at the time, it was composed of marble panelling and painted ceilings.

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The author at the Salon of Hercules

During the day, the State Apartment was open to all who wished to see the king and the royal family passing through on their way to the chapel. Several times a week, during the reign of Louis XIV, evening gatherings were held here.

Salon of Abundance

The State Apartments were originally intended as the King’s residence. The construction of the Hall of Mirrors, between 1678 and 1686, coincided with a major alteration to the State Apartment and the King transformed them into galleries for his finest paintings, and venues for his many receptions for courtiers usually held three times a week, from six to ten in the evening, with various entertainments during the season from All-Saints Day in November until Easter.

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The Salon of Hercules

From the Royal Chapel, we entered a vestibule that led us to the Salon of Hercules, the last room to be built by Louis XIV at the end of his reign.  Originally a chapel covering two floors, it served until 1710 when it was replaced by the current Royal Chapel.  Beginning in 1712, it was rebuilt, under the supervision of the First Architect of the King, Robert de Cotte.

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Jandy at the Salon of Hercules

To create a new room, a floor was laid but the decoration was not finished until the reign of Louis XV who, in 1730, brought the huge painting by Paolo Veronese, The Meal in the House of Simon the Pharisee, to Paris from the Gobelins, where it had been stored since its arrival in France as a gift from the Republic of Venice to Louis XIV in 1664.

Rebecca at the Well (Paolo Veronese, second half of the 16th century)

In 1736, work on the Hercules Room was completed when The Apotheosis of Hercules (after whom the room was named), a ceiling painting by François Lemoyne was finished.

Apotheosis of Hercules (François Le Moyne)

This vast, impressive and allegorical work, considered at par with masterpieces by Italian fresco painters, depicted no fewer than 142 persons and was created using the marouflage technique wherein the scenes were painted on canvas and then stuck onto the ceiling.

Meal in the House of Simon the Pharisee (Paolo Veronese, 1570)

In return for his work, Lemoyne was made First Painter to the King by Louis XV but he committed suicide a year later, in 1737, exhausted by this huge project which had taken four years to complete.

Salon of Abundance

The Salon of Abundance, a refreshment room where coffee, wines and liqueurs were served on an elegant tables and gilded chairs lined with green velvet during evening soirées, was also the antechamber to the Cabinet of Curios or Room of Rare Objects (now the Games Room of the King or le salon de jeux du roi) which could be entered through the end door.

Goddesses of Abundance and Liberality (René-Antoine Houasse, 1683)

It displayed Louis XIV’s collection of precious jewels, silverware vases, medallions and other rare objects (of which nothing remains) which he liked to show his privileged guests.  The room was restored in 1955.

The Duke of Burgundy (Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1704)

Portrait of King Louis XV (Hyacinthe Rigaud)

These served as a source of inspiration for the decoration of René-Antoine Houasse‘s painting Goddesses of Abundance and Liberality (1683) located on the ceiling over the door opposite the windows. It includes a depiction of the King’s Vessel over the door.

Portrait of King Philip V(left) and Portrait of Louis of France, Dauphin (right), both done by Hyacinthe Rigaud.

The precious King’s Vessel,  in the form of a mastless ship which was placed on the king’s table during important occasions or on the sideboard,  contained the sovereign’s serviette and was a symbol of power which had to be hailed by everyone who passed by.

Salon of Venus

Along with the Salon of Diana, the Salon of Venus, because it was at the top of the great staircase known as the “Ambassadors’ Staircase,” is one of the main entrances used by courtiers to get to the King and Queen’s Grand Apartments. Prior to it being destroyed in 1752 to make more room, the Ambassador’s Staircase ended here. Like some of the other rooms, this room was named after a planet, following a running theme linked to sun mythology which inspired the decoration in Versailles during the 1670s.

Statue of Louis XiV (Jean Warin)

The Salon of Venus was used during so-called “evening soirees” (social gatherings for specially invited courtiers) when the salon was lit by two very large chandeliers and eight smaller chandeliers of crystal and filled with small tables, chairs lined with green velvet and laced with gold, and either huge bouquets of flowers or pyramids of rare, exotic fruit such as oranges and lemons. Sometimes, light meals such as marzipan and crystallized fruit were served.

Ceiling frescos

Featuring the highest level of the Baroque style of all the state apartments, it is the only place where Charles Le Brun created dialogue between the architecture, sculptures and paintings (sometimes real and sometimes fake) such as the marble pilasters and columns created through perspective paintings by Jacques Rousseau, and the two trompe l’oeil , life-size statues of Louis XIV (in the costume of a Roman emperor) near the windows, by Jean Warin.

Venus Subjugating the Gods and Powers (René-Antoine Houasse)

On the ceiling in a gilded oval frame, is Venus Subjugating the Gods and Powers (1672-1681), another painting by René-Antoine Houasse, featuring the planet Venus along with symbols associated with the Goddess of Love (same name in Greek mythology).

Around the ceiling are trompe l’oeil paintings and sculpture illustrating mythological themes. The paintings decorating the arches and moldings show great men or heroes from the Antiquity, some of them related to Venus while others to Louis XIV himself, whose actions, inspired by the goddess, often alluded, more or less obviously, to the deeds of Louis XIV. For example, the arch depicting Alexander the Great, marrying Roxana, evokes the king’s own wedding while the arch illustrating Emperor Augustus, watching Roman circus games, refers to the carousel held in honor of Queen Maria Theresa in 1662.

Salon of Diana

Like the Salon of Venus, the Salon of Diana served as a vestibule to the King’s State Apartment. Used by Louis XIV as a billiards room, it had galleries, with two tiers of seating installed, from which courtiers could watch the king, who was very skilled, play. On display here is the celebrated bust of Louis XIV by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, made during the famous sculptor’s visit to France in 1665.

Bust of Louis XIV (Gian Lorenzo Bernini, at center)

The decoration of the walls and ceiling depicts scenes from the life of the goddess Diana who, in ancient Greek mythology, was the goddess of the hunt, the sister of Apollo (the sun god), and was also associated with the moon. The ceiling’s central section, painted by Gabriel Blanchard, depicts goddess watching over navigation and hunting scenes.

Fireplace

The arches, also illustrating the themes of navigation and hunting, celebrates Louis XIV’s cynegetic taste; hunting with Cyrus Hunting the Wild Boar by Claude Audran the Younger and Alexander Hunting the Lion, by Charles de La Fosse;  and  navigation by making allusions to the royal navy, which was undergoing considerable expansion by Colbert at the time, with Julius Cesar Sending Roman settlers to Carthage by Claude Audran the Younger and Jason and the Argonautes, by Charles de La Fosse.

Diana and Endymion (Gabriel Blanchard)

The painting The Sacrifice of Iphigenia (1680), by Charles de La Fosse, over the fireplace shows the last-minute intervention by Diana.  Opposite, above the console, is Diana and Endymion, a painting by Gabriel Blanchard.

One of the busts from the collection of Cardinal Mazarin

The ancient busts are from collections belonging to Cardinal Mazarin which were bequeathed to Louis XIV.

Salon of Mars

The Salon of Mars, used by the royal guards until 1782, was decorated on a military theme with helmets and trophies, making its dedication to the god of war highly appropriate. Between 1684 and 1750, it was turned into a concert room, with galleries for musicians on either side. Decorating the room today are portraits of Louis XV and his Queen, Marie Leszczinska, by the Flemish artist Carle Van Loo.

Ceiling painting of Mars on a chariot by Claude Audran the Younger

The Salon of Mars, followed on from the two previous rooms, marked the start of the King’s Apartment. A painting by Claude Audran the Younger, in the center of the ceiling, depicts Mars on a chariot pulled by wolves. Two other compositions, on either side of the work, are Victory supported by Hercules and followed by Abundance and Felicity by Jean Jouvenet, to the east, and Terror, Fury and Horror take possession of the powers of the earth, by René-Antoine Houasse, to the west.

Portrait of King Louis XV (Carle van Loo)

The arches, decorated using gold camaieu, celebrate war victories by sovereigns from Antiquity, which naturally correspond to the military triumphs of the king, evoked in the gilded stucco spandrels by the Gaspard and Balthazard Marsy (Balthazar and Gaspard).

Portrait of Marie Leszcynska (Carle van Loo)

The decoration on the cornice, composed of a variety of helmets and military headgear, highlights the military character of the room.

The Family of Darius before Alexander (Charles Le Brun)

The Family of Darius before Alexander (to the left of the chimney) by Charles Le Brun, and The Pilgrims of Emmaus (to the right), in the style of Paolo Veronese, were hung as a pair, upon the king’s request, to demonstrate the desire to show that French painters could rival the greatest Italian masters.

The Pilgrims of Emmaus (Paolo Veronese)

Up until 1750, the room was used for music and dancing during evening gatherings and there were two platforms, on either side of the fireplace (where the two paintings now hang), which were for the musicians.

The fireplace

Two state portraits of Louis XV and Marie Leszczyńska, both painted by Carle Van Loo, are mounted on the side walls, while over the door are four paintings from Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye by Simon Vouet, illustrating the royal virtues of Temperance, Prudence, Justice and Strength.

Salon of Mercury

The Salon of Mercury, the original Chamber of Bed and House (La chambre du Lit et abritera), the State Bedchamber when Louis XIV officially moved the court and government to the Palace in 1682, has a bed that is a replica of the original commissioned by King Louis-Philippe I in the 19th century when he turned the palace into a museum. During winter, the bed was removed to make room for games tables.

Ceiling painting with Mercury on his chariot in the center

When the Salon of Mercury actually served as a bedchamber (referred to as the “bedroom”), the Duke of Anjou (the grandson of Louis XIV) slept here for three weeks before travelling to Spain where he was proclaimed King of Spain on November 16, 1700. From September 2 to 10, 1715, the coffin containing the body of Louis XIV was also displayed in this room.

Portrait of Louis XV (Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1730)

Its walls, ceilings and fireplace were once decorated with tables, mirrors, andirons and magnificently chased chandeliers (made in solid silver by the Gobelins silversmiths).  However, in 1689, Louis XIV had to melt them down to finance the War of the League of Augsburg.

Portrait of Queen Marie Leszczynska (Tocque)

The silver alcove (separated from the rest of the room by a silver balustrade) and magnificent tapestries of brocades (fabric made using gold and silver thread) which once hung from the walls and bed were later used, in their turn, to support the War of Spanish Succession. Since the original furniture was lost during the French Revolution, the remaining furniture in the room has been recreated after the Versailles inventory list.

Tapestry

The ceiling paintings, by the Flemish artist Jean Baptiste de Champaigne, depicts the god Mercury (the patron god of trade, arts and sciences and, as the gods’ messenger, of ambassadors) in his chariot, drawn by a rooster, and Alexander the Great and Ptolemy surrounded by scholars and philosophers.

Saint John the Evangelist on Patmos, (Innocenzo da Imola)

In the arches in the ceiling, these themes are also depicted in scenes that evoke events from the reign of Louis XIV such as the reception of ambassadors from far-off countries (Augustus receiving Indian ambassadors and Alexander the Great receiving Ethiopian ambassadors), development of the royal library (Ptolemy Philadelphus talking with wise men in the library of Alexandria), and the publication of Histoire Naturelle by Claude Perrault in the collection in the King’s Cabinet in 1671 (Alexander the Great bringing various foreign animals to Aristotle to allow him to write his Natural History).

Bronze and crystal chandelier

On either side are two paintings that Louis XIV was particularly fond of, and which he hung in his bedroom – David Playing the Harp by Domenico Zampieri, and Saint John the Evangelist on Patmos, attributed to Innocenzo da Imola.

Automaton Clock (Antoine Morand)

One can see through the mechanism of the large Automaton Clock, made by Antoine Morand, the royal clockmaker, for the King in 1706.  When it chimes the hour, the miniature figures of Louis XIV and Fame descend from a cloud.

Ceiling painting at Salon of Apollo

The Salon of Apollo, the Ceremonial Room (royal throne room) under Louis XIV, was the setting for formal audiences. The famous and extraordinary 2.6 m. (8-ft.) high throne (a huge wooden armchair covered with silver plaques and sculptures) once stood here on a platform beneath a baldachin but it was melted down in 1689 to help pay the costs of the expensive War of the League of Augsburg  and was replaced by a succession of more modest thrones of gilded wood in styles that varied according to the period.

The painting on the center of the ceiling, by Charles de la Fosse, dedicated to the Sun King, the arts and peace, depicts the Sun Chariot of Apollo (the King’s favorite emblem), pulled by four horses and surrounded by allegorical figures such as the Four Seasons.

Painting of Apollo pulled by four horses

The arches, illustrating the king’s magnificence and magnanimity, is seen  though various examples from Antiquity – Vespasian building the Colosseum; Augustus building the port of Miseno, Porus before Alexander and Coriolan entreated by his wife and mother to spare Rome.

Portrait of King Louis XIV in Ceremonial Dress (Hyacinthe Rigaud)

The copy (made in 1702) of most famous portrait of Louis XIV, by Hyacinthe Rigaud, hangs over the fireplace. The original portrait, made in 1701 (upon a personal request by the king who wanted to give it to his grandson who had recently become king of Spain), hangs in the Musée du Louvre.

Chandelier

State Apartments of  the King: 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

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.

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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.

Palace of Versailles (Chateau de Versailles) seen from the Place d’Armes

After a 10-min. walk from the Versailles Château – Rive Gauche train station, we finally at the Place d’Armes, the roughly fan-shaped square with its equestrian statue of Louis XIV in the center and the Grande Écurie and the Petite Écurie (Royal Stables) to the east.  We entered the  Palace of Versailles via the  royal gate into the Court of Honor (cour d’honneur), the courtyard in front of the palace.

Place d’Armes, facing the La Grand Ecurie and Petite Ecurie

The original Baroque-style steel gate, designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, was torn down during the French Revolution.

The recreated Royal Gate

The new 80 m. high, recreated steel gate, decorated with 100,000 gold leaves, was unveiled last February 4, 2008 after two years of painstaking work by legions of top craftsmen and history experts with private donors contributing five million euros (eight million dollars) to ensure an exact replica would be produced.  As we had already bought our tickets online, we entered the palace via Entrance A.

The bronze equestrian Statue of Louis XIV designed by Pierre Cartellier. The rider is the work of Louis Petitot, son-in-law of Cartelier, and the whole was cast in bronze by Charles Crozatier in 1838. The proportions of the statues of the horse and the king are slightly different. Previously located in the Cour d’Honneur, it was relocated to the Place d’Armes in 2009.

The royal court of Versailles, home of the French nobility and a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime, was the center of political power in France from 1682 (when Louis XIV moved from Paris) until October 1789, after the beginning of the French Revolution, when the royal family was forced to return to the capital.

The Court of Honor. L-R: the author, Kyle, Cheska, Grace and Jandy

Here is the historical timeline of the palace:

• From 1661–1678, the first phase of the expansion into a royal palace by Louis XIV, designed and supervised by the architect Louis Le Vau, culminated in the addition of three new wings of stone (the enveloppe), which surrounded Louis XIII’s original building on the north, south, and west (the garden side). As a result of Le Vau’s enveloppe of Louis XIII’s château, the king and the queen had new apartments in the new addition (known at the time as the château neuf).  Charles Le Brun designed and supervised the elaborate interior decoration. André Le Nôtre (who landscaped the extensive Gardens of Versailles) and Le Brun (who supervised the design and installation of countless statues) collaborated on the numerous fountains.
• In 1670, after Le Vau’s death, the work was taken over and completed by his assistant, François d’Orbay.
• From 1678–1715, during the second phase of expansion, two enormous wings north and south of the wings flanking the Royal Court (Cour Royale) of the main château were added by the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart who also replaced Le Vau’s large terrace on the west (garden) front with what became the most famous room of the palace, the Hall of Mirrors. Mansart also built the stables (Petites Écuries and Grandes Écuries), on the opposite (east) side of the Place d’Armes, in front of the palace and the château known as the Grand Trianon (or Marble Trianon), replacing Le Vau’s 1668 Trianon de Porcelaine in the northern section of the palace park.
• By 1682, work was sufficiently advanced that Louis XIV was able to proclaim Versailles his principal residence and the governmental center of France, and to give rooms in the palace to almost all of his courtiers.
• In 1683, after the death of his consort Maria Theresa of Spain, Louis XIV undertook the enlargement and remodeling of the royal apartments in the oldest part of the palace, the château built by his father.
• In 1688, the Royal Chapel of Versailles, located at the south end of the north wing, was begun by Mansart.
• In 1710, after Mansart’s death in 1708, work on the Royal Chapel was completed by his assistant Robert de Cotte .
• In 1738, Louis XV remodeled the king’s petit appartement on the north side of the Cour de Marbre (Marble Court), originally the entrance court of the old château.
• In 1768, the Petit Trianon, a pavilion in the palace park designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, was finished.
• In 1770, the Opéra, a theater at the north end of the north wing designed by Gabriel, was completed in time for the marriage of the Dauphin (the future Louis XVI), Louis XV‘s grandson, and Marie Antoinette.
• After he became king in 1774, Louis XVI made only a few changes to the main palace, primarily to their private apartments. Marie Antoinette made extensive changes to the interior of the Petit Trianon as well as its gardens, including adding her private Théâtre de la Reine and the Hameau.
• In 1783, the three treaties of the Peace of Paris (1783), in which the United Kingdom recognized the independence of the United States, where signed in the Palace.
• On October 5, 1789, growing anger in Paris led to the Women’s March on Versailles wherein a crowd of several thousand men and women, protesting the high price and scarcity of bread, marched from the markets of Paris to Versailles. Taking weapons from the city armory, they besieged the Palace and compelled the King and Royal family and the members of the National Assembly to return with them to Paris the following day.
• In 1792, the Convention (the new revolutionary government), ordered the transfer of all the paintings and sculptures from the Palace to the Louvre.
• Between 25 August 1793 and 11 August 1794, auction of furniture, mirrors, baths and kitchen equipment, were sold in seventeen thousand lots. All fleurs-de-lis and royal emblems on the buildings were chambered or chiseled off. The empty buildings were turned into a storehouse for furnishings, art and libraries confiscated from the nobility.
• Beginning in 1793, the empty grand apartments were opened for tours and a small museum of French paintings and art school was opened in some of the empty rooms.
• In 1810, Napoleon Bonaparte, prior to his marriage with Marie-Louise, he had the Grand Trianon restored and refurnished as a springtime residence for himself and his family, in the style of furnishing that it is seen today.
• In 1820, Louis XVIII ordered the restoration of the royal apartments, but the task and cost was too great.
• In 1833, Louis-Philippe initiated effort to restore and maintain Versailles when he changed the palace when he began renovation the south wing of the Palace, which had been used to house some members of the royal family, to convert them into the Museum of the History of France, including the Galerie des Batailles (Hall of Battles) which lies on most of the length of the second floor. To give greater uniformity of appearance to the front entrance, the far end of the south wing of the Cour Royale was demolished and rebuilt to match the Gabriel wing of 1780 opposite.
• On June 30, 1837, the museum was inaugurated.
• During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, the general staff of the victorious German Army occupied the Palace and parts of the chateau, including the Gallery of Mirrors, were turned into a military hospital.
• On January 18, 1871, the creation of the German Empire, combining Prussia and the surrounding German states under William I, was formally proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors.
• In March 1871, until the signing of the armistice with the Germans, the government of the new Third French Republic moved into the Palace. The National Assembly held its meetings in the Opera House.
• In 1892, Pierre de Nolhac, poet and scholar and the first conservator, began restoration efforts at the Palace. Though interrupted by two world wars, the conservation and restoration work still continues until the present day.
• In June 1919, the Treaty of Versailles, formally ending the First World War, was signed in the Hall of Mirrors.
• Between 1925 and 1928, American philanthropist and multi-millionaire John D. Rockefeller gave $2,166,000 (the equivalent of about thirty million dollars today), to restore and refurnish the palace.
• On April 9, 1957, further restoration of the backstage areas of Royal Opera of Versailles was completed and the Royal Opera of Versailles was reopened in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
• In 1978, parts of the Palace were heavily damaged in a bombing committed by Breton terrorists.
• In 1979, the palace and its garden were inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
• In 2003, the “Grand Versailles” project, a new restoration initiative, was started. It began with the replanting of the gardens which, on December 26, 1999, had lost over 10,000 trees during Hurricane Lothar .
• In 2006, the restoration of the Hall of Mirrors was completed. 

Check out “Versailles Palace – Royal Chapel,” “Versailles Palace – State Apartments of the King,” “Versailles Palace – Gallery of Great Battles” and “Versailles Palace – Hall of Mirrors”

Here are some interesting trivia regarding the palace:

• The palace was originally a hunting lodge built in brick and stone by King Louis XIII in 1623.
• The land on which the palace was built on was situated on a narrow plateau with many swamps around it and not fit for the construction. For the project to happen, they needed to restructure the whole area by drying the swamps up and fill the area around the plateau with soil and stones. Earthwork and leveling were also essential for the construction to begin.
• The Palace of Versailles is the second-most visited monument in the Île-de-France region (7,700,000 visitors in 2017), just behind the Louvre and ahead of the Eiffel Tower.
• Versailles was one of the few castles in France that wasn’t located near a river so artificial ponds were created and aerial and underground aqueducts built to supply water for the Palace’s fountains and all the surrounding waters were redirected to it. They also pumped the water out of the Seine River using new techniques and hydraulic methods. A revolutionary pumping machine, built for this project, drew water from the river and, for it to reach the aqueducts that would lead the water to the Palace, drove it through pipes more than one hundred meters above the Seine level.
• The Palace was not restricted only for the King and his court and though everyone could freely visit the Palace and walk its gardens, elegance was essential in the Palace of Versailles and visitors needed to be well-dressed to be allowed to walk the Palace. Those who did not have a proper outfit, could rent one at the entrance of the Palace.

Check out “Eiffel Tower“

The palace, enthusiastically promoted as one of France’s foremost tourist attractions by the Fifth Republic, still serves political functions.  Heads of state are regaled in the Hall of Mirrors and the French Senate (Sénat) and the National Assembly (Assemblée nationale) meet, in congress, in Versailles to revise or otherwise amend the French Constitution, a tradition that came into effect with the promulgation of the 1875 Constitution.

The Marble Court (made with contrasting red brick, white stone and grey slate highlighted with god decoration) and the facade of the first chateau built by King Louis XIII

The Grand Apartments (grands appartements), known respectively as the King’s Grand Apartment (grand appartement du roi), consisting of an enfilade of seven rooms, and the Queen’s Grand Apartment (grand appartement de la reine) forming a parallel enfilade with that of the grand appartement du roi, occupied the main or principal floor of the New Palace (château neuf).

Check out “Versailles Palace – State Apartments of the King” and “Versailles Palace – Queen’s Grand Apartment”

The Royal Chapel

Le Vau’s design for the state apartments, closely following Italian models of the day, is evidenced by the piano nobile (a convention the architect borrowed from 16th- and 17th-century Italian palace design), the  placement of the apartments on the next floor up from the ground level.

Gabriel Pavilion

Owned by the French state, the Palace of Versailles’ formal title is the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles and, since 1995, has been run as a Public Establishment, with an independent administration and management supervised by the French Ministry of Culture.

Offering a visual history of French architecture from the 17th century to the end of the 18th century, the Palace of Versailles began with the original château, with the brick and stone and sloping slate (from Angers) Mansard roofs of the Louis XIII style, used by architect Philibert Le Roy. With the addition of the colonnades and flat roofs of the new royal apartments, done in the French Classical or Louis XIV style, as designed by Louis Le Vau and, later, by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, it then became grander and more monumental. In 1768, it concluded in the lighter and more graceful Neo-Classical Louis XVI style of the Petit Trianon, completed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel.

Dufour Pavilion

Largely completed by the death of Louis XIV in 1715, the eastern part of the palace has a U-shaped layout, surrounding a black-and-white marble courtyard, 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 expansive cour d’honneur known as the Cour Royale (Royal Court).

The North Wing

Two enormous asymmetrical wings, flanking the Royal Court, results in a 402 m. (1,319 ft.) long facade. The palace, covered by around a million sq. ft. (10 hectares) of roof, has 2,143 windows, 1,252 chimneys, and 67 staircases.

The Princes’ Staircase overlooking the Gallery of Great Battles

The façade of Louis XIII’s original château, preserved on the entrance front, was built of red brick and cut stone embellishments. In the center of the courtyard is a 3-storey avant-corps fronted with eight red marble columns, supporting a gilded wrought-iron balcony and surmounted with a triangle of lead statuary surrounding a large clock (its hands stopped upon the death of Louis XIV).

Questel Staircase, located at the North Wing, was named after architect Charles-Aususte Questel.  It replaced the one built by Questel’s predecessor, Frédéric Nepveu, during the July Monarchy.

Columns, painted and gilded wrought-iron balconies plus dozens of stone tables decorated with consoles (holding marble busts of Roman emperors) completes the rest of the façade while atop the slate Mansard roof, are elaborate dormer windows and gilt lead roof dressings, added by Hardouin-Mansart in 1679–1681.

The garden front and wings, inspired by the architecture of Baroque-style Italian villas but executed in the French Classical style, were encased in enveloppe (white cut ashlar stone from L’Oise) by Le Vau in 1668-1671 and modified by Hardouin-Mansart in 1678–1679.

The exterior features an arcaded, rusticated ground floor, supporting a main floor with round-headed windows divided by reliefs and pilasters or columns, while the attic storey, with square windows and pilasters, is crowned by a balustrade bearing sculptured trophies and flame pots dissimulating a flat roof.

Angel and Lion Statue

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.