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France is a magnificent place that holds the world’s most beautiful art pieces and landmarks. Last summer I had the opportunity to travel within Europe and I decide to go to the fashion capital of the world Paris. My top destination was to visit a landmark located outside of Paris which was the Palace of Versailles. “It is located in the city of Versailles, Yvelines département, Île-de-France region, northern France, 10 miles (16 km) west-southwest of Paris.”. Before this became a famous landmark that is visited from all over the world, it used to be home to a royal man named Louis XIV. This landmark is filled with beautiful architecture and the building itself is guarded by beautiful golden gates. This paper will go on to further discuss the history that is behind this magnificent landmark.
In 1629 king Louis XII had built a hunting lounge that was then later reconstructed by king Louis XIII 14th inherited this building and transformed it into a lavish chateau (Marin,1991). But in 1666, even bigger changes were made and in the span of 50 years king Louis XIV had completely transformed the area into a landmark that contained multiple buildings with lavish architecture which now presently known as the Palace of Versailles (hallard, 2008). But to build what he desired Louis XIV needed to build his capacity and he had realized he needed to take away the power of the noble people. They were administering their spaces without requesting a contribution from the king and they wanted to still be able to the last bit of freedom they had but the king didn’t allow it.
For him to have the option to make these lavish and obnoxious changes to be done at the Versailles he needed to obtain funds to do all of this. So, he depended on state assets just as his private riches to assemble such an extravagant palace. The royal residence cost as much as two billion dollars to develop. The greater part of the cost was in materials of gold, silver marble, and different beautiful stones that gave the lavish ambiance within and outside the palace. Louis XIV expanded his capacity by building the royal residence and was perceived by the state for building such a delightful milestone.
But this lavish spending and careless lifestyle of the King and queen did come at a deadly cost. The economy went downhill as the royals spent frivolously on materialistic wants and the cost of the Versailles being at 200,000,000,000 dollars that had drastically affected the economy (hallard, 2008). This caused an outrage and had angered the people and they started to protest against the royals for misusing their fortunes while the peasants were going through great suffering and struggling to provide for their families with basic essentials such as food and water.
Within in the building king, Louis had created separate areas within the building which were designated for the king and queen that had overlooked the beautiful garden and fountains. He then later extended the place for the royal family and then created another building where over thousands of staff lived which include the cooks and maids(Riding,2007). Also in 1710, Louis XIV built a royal chapel that had beautiful architectural detail (Riding,2007). The architecture that took place in the Palace of Versailles was led by Louis the XIV and the main building was constructed with brick stones. The time period in which the place was being constructed was during the time period of the Italian renaissance. The Italian renaissance was highly influenced by the rebirth of classical culture in the 15th century(Riding,2007). The architecture was influenced by order and the different styles of columns and circular arches. But instead, King Louis XIV had taken influence from the baroque period which was derived from the 16th and 17th century. It was known to be a time period that was inspired by lavish and extravagant detailing. “The Baroque style is characterized by exaggerated motion and clear detail used to produce drama, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance, and music” ( Boundless, n.d.) What had made the baroque style unique was the intense emotions and passion that radiated within its work. The whole place had been constructed with its priority. The placement of rooms and buildings were all beautifully strategized so the royal family was able to be placed in the center of the place which had a view of the entire landmark.
According to PBS, “Versailles, which is capable of holding up to 20,000 people, has 700 rooms, more than 2,000 windows, 1,250 chimneys, and 67 staircases. Not only did the immediate royal family reside there, but the palace also housed many members of the French nobility, as well as all official government offices” (Grubin,2006). This shows how massive the structure is and how many people it’s able to withhold. This large place had different areas that were for different people or events. There were multiple sections that were significant within the place which will be further discussed within the piece.
The queen’s apartment was located in the northern end of the place. The queen’s apartment was sectioned into the bed chamber, the noble’s room, the royal table antechamber, and the guard’s room. This was owned by the famously known Marie Antoinette who was married to King Louis XIV and was the last queen of France before the revolution. Her main room was called the chamber which was her bedroom where she had given birth to her first child Marie Therese Charlotte in 1778. This bedroom was filled with a floral design which was embedded within the bedroom walls and furniture. She had later renovated her bedroom which had resembled an opulent style, which was looked at as highly luxurious and elaborate.
From the time, this bedroom was built is had been occupied by their different queens who consisted of Marie Therese, Maria leszechynska, and Marie Antoinette. During different time periods, these women were married to King Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI. An interesting fact about his bedroom was that 19 children were born within the time 3 queens had occupied the room (Goubert, 1970). Another beautiful aspect about the room was the gold detailing present within the ceiling and the furniture which gave it a lavish appearance.
The room before entering the apartment itself was known as the guard room. This was an area where there would be 12 guards always on duty to protect the queen at all times and this room had been the only room known to be preserved within her apartment. The other section of the apartment was known as the royal table antechamber. This was used as a place where the queen and fellow royal family members would enjoy their lavish dinners while at her request had music playing as they were fine dining. The last section of the queen’s apartment consisted of the noble’s room. This is where the queen would hold ceremonial events and have discussions amongst the royal women.
The king’s apartment was on the opposite side of the queen’s apartment which was located in the southern part of the palace. His apartment included 7 rooms which were the Hercules room, the room of abundance, the Venus room, the Diana room, the mars room, the mercury room, and the Apollo room (The King’s State Apartment, 2020) Comparing the king to the queen’s apartment she seemed to have much more of a modest apartment compared to the kings lavish Italian style apartment that was filled with different sculptures. One of the most beautiful rooms within the king’s apartment was the room of abundance that was filled from ceiling to flooring with marble. It had a beautiful fireplace centered in the middle of the room and this is where the king would hold events. This was an area where people joined one another and were able to chat as they were able to have a drink. Another beautiful room was the Apollo room which catches the eyes of many due to its royal red color that is printed with the walls and the gold crown molding lines the entire room. The purpose of the room was to be used as ceremonial room “The celling was dedicated to the Sun King, the arts and peace. The symbol of the sun, adopted early on by Louis XIV, is illustrated through the image of Apollo on his chariot surrounded by allegorical figures (The King’s State Apartment, 2020)
Another important part of the palace is the hall of mirrors. The hall of mirrors contained 3 different sections the first being the hall of mirrors, the second being the peace room and the last being the war room (Velde, 2013). This is the most well-known part of the place do to its beautiful ambiance and gorgeous detailing across the massive room. “Following on from the victory over the three united powers, depicted in the War Room, the whole length of the Hall of Mirrors pays tribute to the political, economic and artistic success of France” (Bériou, 2020). The ceilings were painted beautifully and inspired by Louis XIV and his time as the king of France. According to Riding, this hall contained 357 mirrors, 17 glass doors, marble walls, chandeliers, and ceiling paintings, it remains — as was the Sun King’s intent — a sight breathtaking in its majesty” (Riding, 2007). Overall the room’s impeccable architecture and detailing make it the most famous room within the palace.
Lastly, one of my most favorite spots within the palace is the beautiful Gardens of Versailles. The landscaping within this palace is truly magnificent and it was created by the world-renowned artist named Andre Le Notre. This garden was French inspired “The embroidery parterre, or a formal flowerbed garden is a theme specific to French gardening that harks back to a veritable tradition. This type of garden is geometric in nature and traces symmetric, arabesque lawns in front of buildings” (Paris City Visions, 2019 ). He had created such an astounding work of art that can be not matched by anyone for its time.
This beautiful landmark is a vastly known destination that people seek all over the world to visit and explore its beauty. the history behind this extravagant palace is surreal that someone was able to build something far beyond its time and looking back at this structure knowing someone had called this their home is quite impeccable. The way that this developed from a hunting lodge to a full-blown palace where there can fit up to thousands of people is just another thought to add to this unreal structure. Overall this shows that the frivolous spending habits come to a cost where they were later on killed due to the unlawful crimes they committed while being in power.
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