France: Paris: Versailles

If you're planning on going to the Domaine de Versailles, the enormous palace "domain" on the outskirts of Paris, be sure to plan for a whole day.  We arrived at 8:30 am and stayed until after 7 pm, and there were still many part of the palace and grounds I wish we'd had time to see.  In fact, the complex is made up of 3 separate castles: the main palace (of which only about 30% is open to the public), le Grand Trianon and le Petit Trianon.  In addition, there are acres of parks, woods, gardens and lakes, and le Hameau de la reine, Marie Antoinette's private village and farm.

The present palace, built on the site of a former royal hunting lodge, was built by Louis XIV in 1668.  Previous to this the royal family lived in the Louvre, but after attacks on the palace by a mob during his childhood, "The Sun King" relocated his court to his country estate at Versailles, where he could keep a closer eye on his courtiers and a greater distance from the fickle mob.  This is where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were captured during the Revolution, and where the  Treaty of Versailles was signed between the Allies and Germany in 1919, ending the First World War. 

Approaching the palace from the Versailles train station (about a 10 minute walk).  

 

They were in the process of erecting this giant rust-colored monstrosity of a sculpture in front of the palace.

The main palace - an enormous series of buildings, many of which you can't see in this picture.

 

The gilded palace gates.

"To all the glories of France".

View of the palace gates from the central courtyard, just before sunset.

 

The gilded roofing of the main palace.

As we were studying in France for longer than 3 months, we were entitled to free admission to the palace, as well as to the Louvre and many other sites in Paris.  We spent about 3 hours wandering through the public rooms of the palace, which encompass only about 30% of the building.  There were several busloads of tourists, so this area was fairly crowded. I can only imagine what it must be like in the summer.  Thankfully they stuck to the main rooms and the rest were fairly empty. The tour route includes the King's and the Queen's apartments, the State Apartments, the Hall of Mirrors, and the Dauphin's suite.  The title of Dauphin is a kind of funny - it's the French term for the Crown Prince, but the literal translation of the word is "Dolphin".  So you would be referring to the Crown Prince as a fish-eating sea creature.  The title comes from the fact that, similar to the Prince of Wales, the Crown Prince was given a region, in this case the Dauphiné area of France, and someone from Dauphiné is called a Dauphin.

The two-story Chapelle Royale.  The first floor, shown in this picture, was reserved for the royal family - the courtiers were restricted to the ground floor. 

This gallery is lined with statues of dozens of French kings.  

 

Another beautiful gallery. There are several galleries in the "War Rooms" that are lined with giant paintings commemorating French military victories, and busts of celebrated generals.

The rooms are sumptuously decorated, as you would expect.

There are huge, floor-to-ceiling windows in all of the rooms, with spectacular views of the gardens that stretch beyond the horizon.

The Hall of Mirrors. Great state occasions, such as the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, were held in this 233 ft long hall.  The desk and chair at which this treaty was signed, ending WWI, are still there.  The interior wall is covered almost entirely in mirrors, which were very expensive and a sign of immense wealth.  The other wall offers beautiful views of the gardens through the enormous windows.  

   

View of the gardens from the Hall of Mirrors.

These walls are made of marble.

The Opéra.

The Queen's bedroom.  This is where the queens of France gave birth to their children in public view.  During Louis XIV's reign, everything the monarch did was in public, including certain bodily functions, which were then inspected by the Royal Physician.  Louis XV sought to establish a boundary between his public and private life, and designed a wing of the palace that was accessible only by his immediate family or by invitation.  This area and the Opéra are normally closed to the public, but we opted to go on one of the 5 € guided tours, that take you to areas not included in the general audio guide tour.  Another tour I would have liked to have gone on was through the servant's area of the palace, to see how such a large house was run. 

The enormous formal gardens, fields and wooded parks of Versailles are too much to see all in one day.  We explored the main formal gardens, designed by Le Nôtre, who also planned the Tuileries gardens.  Geometric paths, statues and shrubberies define this area, which was still stunning even in November.

View from the main palace.

View of the main palace, from the formal garden entrance.

The palace was too big to fit into one shot. Less than half of this facade would fit into the frame.

Beautiful tree-lined avenues connect the three palaces of Versailles.

People enjoying the late-fall sunshine in a rented rowboat on the Grand Canal, the setting for royal boating parties. 

Teenage rowers in training on the canal.

Enjoying a Saturday in the park. The grounds are free to visit, and a popular sports and leisure area for locals. 

The second palace at Versailles is the more modestly sized Grand Trianon, originally a retreat for the Louis XIV and his maitraisse en titre, the Marquise de Montespan, with whom he had 7 children.  Courtiers would also be invited for a casual meal here, away from the strict protocols of of the main palace.   Much of the interior is styled in the Empire fashion, and was used as a residence by Napoleon and his second wife, Marie Louise of Austria. 

The gardens of le Grand Trianon.

The furnishings are more restrained compared to the opulence of the baroque main palace, yet still lots of fine furniture and floor-to-ceiling mirrors.

Empire-style furnishings.

The Petit Trianon is a small chateau even further away from the main palace than the Grand Trianon, in relative isolation.  It was commissioned by Louis XV for his mistress, Madame de Pompadour, but she died before it was completed, and it was occupied by her successor, Madame du Barry.  Louis XVI gave it to his 19-year-old queen Marie Antoinette for her exclusive use.  Not even her husband, the king, was allowed to visit here without a personal invitation.  It is simple, yet elegant, and was an escape from the formality and expectations of court life and her royal responsibilities. 

Le Petit Trianon.

Marie Antoinette's bedroom, very different from the oppressive opulence and public display of the main palace.

Marie Antoinette's other throne.

The courtyard of the Petit Trainon.

Garden tools used by Marie Antoinette.  She loved to play at gardening and farming, which alienated her from the people who saw it as a mockery and a sign of her disconnectedness from their living circumstances.  I doubt most farmers had tasseled rakes.

Within view of the Petit Trianon is le Temple de l'Amour (temple of love), a beautiful pavilion set on an island in the informal gardens that surround the chateau.

Le Temple de l'Amour.

My favorite part of the Domain of Versialles was the Hameau de la reine, the Queen's hamlet. This was part of her private domain of the Petit Trainon, and like the chateau was accessible only by invitation. An entire village, inspired by the hamlets of Normandy, was built for her, as at that time "play farms" were all the rage.  It was a fully-functioning farm, providing milk, eggs, fruit and vegetables for the royal family's table.  Animals brought specially from Switzerland were meticulously cleaned for the Queen, who with her ladies liked to dress as a peasant in a muslin dress and straw hat and milk the cows, using specially designed Sèvres porcelain buckets.  The hamlet, centered around a stream-fed pond, contained a grotto, farmhouse, dairy, dovecote, boudoir, a barn, a mill, and a lighthouse tower.  It is still an active farm today, and we saw sheep, cows, geese and horses over the vast area surrounding the farm.  Each building also had its own garden (where vegetables are still grown) or orchard.  It was a wonderful place to go for a stroll, and it took at least 30 minutes to walk from the hamlet back to the main palace.  

L'hameau de la reine.

Lots of fish in the pond!

The sun was setting by the time we started heading back to the palace.  There are many narrow paths through the fields and woods to get back to the Grand Canal, and for most of the way we were completely alone, all the better to enjoy the isolated atmosphere of the place. What a great day for taking sunset photographs.  This was by far my favorite day in Paris, and my favorite "royal domain" (although Windsor is still my favorite castle). 

Sunset over the rowboats on the Grand Canal.

The Grand Canal.