Sights in Versailles
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Château de Versailles
This splendid and enormous palace was built in the mid-17th century during the reign of Louis XIV – the Roi Soleil (Sun King) – to project the absolute power of the French monarchy, which was then at the height of its glory. Its scale and decor also reflect Louis XIV's taste for profligate luxury and his boundless appetite for self-glorification. Some 30,000 workers and soldiers toiled on the structure, the bills for which all but emptied the kingdom's coffers. The château has undergone relatively few alterations since its construction, though almost all the interior furnishings disappeared during the Revolution and many of the rooms were rebuilt by Louis-Philippe (r 1830…
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Potager du Roi
The Potager du Roi was laid out on nine hectares of land in the late 17th century to meet the enormous catering requirements of the court. It retains its original patch divisions and many old apple and pear orchards, producing 70 tonnes of vegetables and fruit a year.
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Salle du Jeu de Paume
The Salle du Jeu de Paume was built in 1686 and played a pivotal role in the Revolution a century later. It was in Versailles that Louis XVI convened the États-Généraux made up of more than 1000 deputies representing the nobility, clergy and the so-called Third Estate (i.e the middle classes) in May 1789 in a bid to deal with national debt and to moderate dissent by reforming the tax system. But when the Third Estate’s reps were denied entry, they met separately on the tennis court, formed a National Assembly and took the famous Serment du Jeu de Paume (Tennis Court Oath), swearing not to dissolve it until Louis XVI had accepted a new constitution. This act of defiance sp…
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Académie du Spectacle Équestre
The attractive town of Versailles, crisscrossed by wide boulevards, is another Louis XIV creation. In the late 17th century the three wide thoroughfares that fan out eastwards from place d’Armes in front of the château – av de St-Cloud, av de Paris and av de Sceaux – were separated by two vast stable blocks. One stable block called the Grandes Écuries (Big Stables) is the stage for the prestigious Académie du Spectacle Équestre. The crowds dash here. In addition to its 45-minute morning training sessions, the academy presents spectacular Reprises Musicales, for which tickets sell out weeks in advance; call for information and reservations. Training sessions and …
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Château de Versailles Gardens & Park
The Hall of Mirrors peeps over part of the Château de Versailles gardens & park, laid out in the formal French style between 1661 and 1700. Famed for their geometrically aligned terraces, flowerbeds, tree-lined paths, ponds and fountains, they are studded with 400 marble, bronze and lead statues sculpted by the most talented sculptors of the period – winter visitors won’t get to see them, as these are covered at this time of year. Meandering, sheltered paths snake through the more pastoral English-style Jardins du Petit Trianon.
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Grand Canal
In the gardens, the Grand Canal, 1.6km long and 62m wide, is oriented to reflect the setting sun. It is traversed by the 1km-long Petit Canal, creating a cross-shaped body of water with a perimeter of more than 5.5km. Louis XIV used to hold boating parties here. In season, you too can paddle around the Grand Canal in four-person rowing boats; board them at the canal's eastern end.
The Orangerie, built under the Parterre du Midi (flowerbed) on the southwestern side of the palace, is used to store tropical plants in winter.
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Grands Appartements
Versailles' Grands Appartements , the main section of the palace that can be visited without a guided tour, include the Galerie des Glaces (the famously opulent Hall of Mirrors), the Appartement de la Reine (Queen's Chamber) and several other sights. Tickets are on sale at Entrée A (Entrance A), which is off to the right of the equestrian statue of Louis XIV as you approach the palace. If you have a Carte Musées-Monuments, you don't have to wait in the queue - go straight to Entrée B2.
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Bassin de Neptune
The chateau gardens' largest fountains are the 17th-century Bassin de Neptune, 300m north of the palace, whose straight side abuts a small pond graced by a winged dragon (Grille du Dragon), and the Bassin d'Apollon, at the eastern end of the Grand Canal, in the centre of which Apollo's chariot, pulled by rearing horses, emerges from the water. Try to time your visit for the Grande Perspective and Grandes Eaux Musicales fountain displays. On the same days the Bassin de Neptune flows for 10 minutes.
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Musée Lambinet
To the northeast of Château de Versailles, just around the corner from the Versailles–Rive Droite train station, and housed in a lovely 18th-century residence, the Musée Lambinet displays 18th-century furnishings (ceramics, sculpture, paintings and furniture) and objects connected with the history of Versailles, including the all-important Revolutionary period.
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Grand Trianon
In the middle of the park, approximately 1.5km northwest of the main building, are Versailles' two smaller palaces, each of which is surrounded by neatly tended flowerbeds. The pink-colonnaded Grand Trianon was built in 1687 for Louis XIV and his family as a place of escape from the rigid etiquette of the court. Napoleon I had it redone in the Empire style.
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Cathédrale St-Louis
One of Versailles’ prettiest, the neo-classical Cathédrale St-Louis is a harmonious if austere work built between 1743 and 1754, which was made a cathedral in 1802. It is known for its 3636-pipe Cliquot organ and is decorated with some interesting paintings and stained-glass panels.
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Petit Trianon
Much smaller than the Grand Trianon, the much smaller, ochre-coloured Petit Trianon , built in the 1760s, was redecorated in 1867 by Empress Eugénie, the consort of Napoleon III, who added Louis XVI-style furnishings similar to the uninspiring pieces that now fill its 1st-floor rooms.
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Hameau de la Reine
This mock village of thatched cottages, a pond and photogenic mill was constructed from 1775 to 1784 for the amusement of Marie-Antoinette, who liked to play milkmaid here.
Be advised that high-season tickets cover admission to the Grand and Petit Trianon, the Hameau de la Reine, Marie-Antoinette's dairy, the theatre, the English garden and so on; low-season tickets, which cost €6 for adults, only cover the Grand Trianon, Petit Trianon and gardens.
History and/or art buffs keen to delve deeper into life at court, music, Louis XV and Louis XVI's private apartments and so on can sign up for an informative lecture tour, some in English, at the main ticket office.
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Domaine de Marie-Antoinette
In the middle of the vast 90-hectare park of Château de Versailles, about 1.5km north-west of the main palace, is the Domaine de Marie-Antoinette.
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