The Palace of Versailles
Versailles Palace is sixty times bigger than Mayslake Peabody Estate and Mayslake is three hundred acres. Versailles covers more than 30 square miles. There are more than 1,400 fountains and pools throughout the gardens and forests.
Louis the XIV was the first to stay in the palace. Versailles lies ten miles to the southwest of Paris. Before it became a palace, it was Louis XIII’s hunting lodge. When he took the throne, Louis XIV decided to make this lodge into a large palace.
Born in 1638, Louis XIV was his parent’s first child. His father died when he was four years old. At that time, in France, the oldest son became king. The queen ruled until Louis grew up. Then at age 21, Louis took the throne and at twenty-two he got married. He planned to show everyone that he was a powerful ruler.
Louis XIV was selfish and spoiled and didn’t care what people thought of him. He spent his country’s money on himself and his palace. In the beginning, he had plenty of money to spend, because his army had won many wars. His son and grandson, also named Louis, continued the work on Versailles, adding buildings and gardens.
It was a stunning palace, but the French people looked at it as something that caused them to be poorer and less heard. The extravagances of the palace led the peasant class to lose food, money, homes, and even their families, because it took one hundred years and a great deal of tax money to build. It was partly the reason for the French Revolution and the loss of many lives and King Louis XVI’s head.
Versailles, which is capable of holding up to twenty thousand people, has seven hundred rooms, more than two thousand windows, one thousand two hundred fifty chimneys, and sixty seven 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.
The effects were the work of engineers whose machines made Versailles a hydraulic as much as an artistic wonder. West of the palace there is a garden shaped like a star with pressurized fountains capable of launching water high into the air. There was a Royal stable which would hold twenty Lusitanian horses.
As I said there are seven hundred rooms in the palace so I will only talk about the most celebrated room which is The Hall of Mirrors. Constructed in 1678, the architect was Jules Hardouin-Mansart. It has seventeen mirrors facing the windows.
When Versailles was built it was a country village, and then housed the political power from 1682 until The French Revolution, in 1789. During the French Revolution the palace held six thousand people. After The French Revolution in 1789, it was no longer royal residents.
The Grand Apartments was a six bedroom suite. The Hercules Salon was the nicest, it had the largest fireplace. King Louis XIV was put on display there after his death. There are very nice paintings on the ceiling.
The Palace of Versailles has some of the most beautiful gardens and rooms in the world. It is also in the top ten most beautiful palaces in the world. I personally think that Versailles would be a very stunning place to visit.
