Chateau de Versailles: France

The Chateau de Versailles is one of the largest castles in the world .The Chateau de Versailles has … more than 2,000 windows, 700 rooms, 1250 fireplaces, 67 staircases and more than 1,800 acres of park. The paintings, tapestries , sculptures ,furniture of this fabulous castle , have been executed by the best Italian and French artists of the time .

In 1623, King Louis XIII - father of Louis XIV , the Sun King , built a hunting lodge, a little chateau of brick, stone, and slate . The king liked so much this little castle in the middle of such a good hunting park, that he soon had it enlarged by Philibert Le Roy .

From 1661 the young King Louis XIV had his architects, Louis Le Vau and Jules Hardouin Mansart embellish the early Versailles castle. . From 1668 to 1670 was built a second building enveloping the old Versailles castle with new even style stone façades. After Le Vau’s death in 1670 , François d’Orbay finished the work.

In 1682, the Chateau de Versailles became the official residence of the Sun King and his Court , replacing the Louvre and Saint-Germain Castles.When the king moved into the Versailles castle in 1682 ,before the construction was finished, he insisted that the castle was for the people, and that his home be open to one and all. Gates of the Chateau stayed open all day long, and guards only checked for guns that could endanger the king. From 1678 to 1684, the terrace of the new chateau was transformed into the Hall of Mirrors, symbolizing the power of the Sun King .The construction of North and South castle’s Wings, the Orangery, the Stables ,the Royal Chapel was supervised by royal architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart .The last construction started during the reign of Louis XIV is the Royal Chapel .It was completed in 1710 by Robert de Cotte.

Around 1770, during the reign of King Louis XV, the famous architect Gabriel built the Royal Opera of Versailles. He also transformed some of the facades of the Versailles Chateau on town side, in line with the rules of Classical Architecture and created a new colonnaded building. Finally, in 1820,a symmetrical pavilion was erected on the other side of the Great Courtyard of the Versailles castle.

Mansart also built during the reign of Louis XIV, in the place where was the former village of Trianon , a marble Castle called The “Grand Trianon” or “Marble Trianon”…Louis XV ordered to

Gabriel a small castle : the “Petit Trianon”. In fact the “Petit Trianon” was offered to the Queen Marie Antoinette by the King Louis XVI when he acceded to the throne…Marie Antoinette also wanted a “village” of her own in the style of Normandy Cottages , the Queens Hamlet in a romantic English Garden .

Financial difficulties and the French Revolution stopped the building works in the Versailles Estate. The “King of the French” Louis Philippe, transformed in 1837 the Chateau de Versailles in a museum dedicated to “all the glories of France”. Chateau of Versailles’ history galleries are the largest History Museum in the world (18,000 square meters) The history of France is told through paintings and sculptures .Many of them have been commissioned for this educational purpose to the artists of the time.

Versailles ‘ fabulous gardens and park are almost as spectacular as the castle. Le Notre designed this Versailles garden including fountains,jets , waterfalls ,statues ,water parterres, formal gardens, Grand Perspective and Grand Canal, to set off the Castle’s architecture …

Nowadays, about eight million visitors discover this architectural and cultural masterpiece every year! The visit of Chateau de Versailles and of the Loire Valley Castles, Chambord , Amboise, Blois, Chenonceau…is an absolute must, when touring France.