Palace of the Sun King

Marble Courtyard

Today we made our first expedition using French public transport and caught the train out to Versailles (35mins journey).

Hall of Mirrors

Although there had been a small lodge onsite for centuries, King Louis XIV was responsible for the most of buildings there today. Known for his belief in absolute power, he moved the royal court to Versailles in 1682 so he could keep them all close to him (‘keep your friends close, your enemies closer’) and therefore powerless. He kept them preoccupied with his glorious palace and its many wonders. Walking through the State apartments you can see how they were won over!

The Hall of Mirrors was filled with light and everything shone, reflecting light throughout. There are hidden doors behind some of the mirrors leading to the Kings bedchamber - where French royalty conducted important state business (seriously, no innuendo). There are over 700 rooms in the palace and while you can’t see them all, we did see a lot, including the Queens study complete with hidden doors which Marie-Antoinette escaped through during the revolution.

We wandered through the massive park that surrounds the palace – nearly 800 hectares of gardens, lakes and fountains. We made our way up to the Grand Trianon (a smaller palace where King Louis XIV went to relax) and the Petit Trianon (Marie-Antoinette’s personal palace).

You can see how the French people got sick of the Kings spending while they starved. The palace is full of gold gilding, marble statues and paintings to say nothing of the furniture. As an example a single silver balustrade for the kings bedroom is recorded as costing 560,000 livres which translates to enough money to feed and provide power for about a 1,000 people for a year. Eventually the public got sick of the monarchy and revolutionaries took over Versailles, liberating all the furniture – everything in the palace is from other sites or reconstructions.

Gardens of Versailles