Versailles

When Louis came to the throne at the age of five he was under Cardinal Mazarine, living the luxuries pal’ roual. But while in the palace he was forced to live in bare, cramped quarters with clothes that didn’t fit him. Ever since then he had intended to build a palace away from the one in Paris

At age twenty-one he ruled France himself. Not long after her attended a party at the Boule vie cont, which belonged to his minister of finance Nicolas Fouquet. While Louis was originally impressed by its splendor, these feelings quickly turned to jealousy and anger. He had heard rumors that Fouquet had been embezzling funds from the government and now he was certain they were true. Fouquet was dealt with harshly and Louis began his plans for Versailles, despite pleas for him to attend the Louvre. The same men who had built Fouquet’s palace were hired for Versailles: Louis le voa the architect, Char le Brou the artist, Andre le Not the landscape designer.

Versailles, which was originally a small town and the location of Louis XIII’s hunting lodge, is twelve miles outside of Paris. It was a marshland filled with woods and game, but it was without much water, soil, or beauty. The choice of location may be from Louis’s fond memories he had of visiting the area as a child.

The soil of the town of Versailles was made of unstable sand, which the advisors claimed would never hold a building as large as Versailles. Not to mention there would never be enough water for the fountains. Yet work began in 1661 and the king continued to work on it for another fifty years as well as spend half of his yearly revenue on it every year.

Over thirty-six thousand men were needed to build the palace. Workers died everyday from malaria and other hazards. Louis’s indifference towards the rate at which is workers were dying is often taken as showing his lack of connection with the people.

=LIVING IN THE PALACE=

On May 6, 1682 Versailles became habitable and Louis and his court moved from Paris to Versailles. The city would become the large city of Versailles and the palace would be the largest building in Europe. French kings continued to beautify it long after Louis XIV's death and it remained the center of power until 1789. There were roughly one thousand lords and ladies, five thousand servants, and nine thousand soldiers living there when it was first occupied. The most beautiful ladies were chosen to live in court, as were the extremely clever or witty. Everyday Versailles’s halls were filled with ceremonies and splendor, all centered on Louis. The entertainment provided not only entertainment and allowed nobles to waste their money on gambling and staying in fashion, but distracted them from schemes against the king

There were thousands of little rules that had to be followed while in court. One must scratch at a door with a finger instead of knocking, bow when the king’s food came by, and speak in formal French—rather than informal French—when the king was in the room. These rules made courtiers nervous and self-conscious about themselves rather than thinking about ways to gain more power. Yet Versailles remained the height of fashion and it was the only place one could move up socially or politically. Banishment from the palace was, to some, a fate worse than death.

At Versailles, the king’s day were planned out to the smallest detail. He ate meals surrounded by courtiers. The ceremonies of dressing and undressing were held at eight am and midnight—where privileged nobles stood behind a balustrade and held the king’s robes—and, as a Catholic, Louis attended church each day at noon. The church was also became a major location for gossip. After mass, Louis would spend time with his mistress until two and then go hunting. Even when he grew older and couldn’t ride a horse any more, he was carried in a chair.

=THE ROOMS AND GARDENS=

The Grand Apartments of the King and Queen, which are most well-known for the Hall of Mirrors, designed by Mansart, was built in the 1670s. The Apartments was were Louis meant to put his most prominent display of power, namely art, so as to impress visitors. The Chapel and Opera were, however, built later, guided by Louis XV.

The queen’s bedroom was the main room of her apartment. The queen’s room was connected to the king’s by the hall of mirrors. The queen’s children were born in her room, with the greatest courtiers in Versailles present. This way the child could not be switched at birth.

At night three thousand candles lit Versailles. The palace was made from marble, coated in gold leaf, frothing with chandeliers, and adorned with frescos on almost every ceiling. Carpets and tapestries lining the halls took months to make. Thousands of pieces of art were bought, painted and sculpted, with many of the mythological sculptures fashioned after Louis’s mistresses.

At a younger age Louis had taken many years of ballet and was a beautiful dancer. He also acted in several of the plays, acting out the sun at one point in the ballet The Night, which ran for thirteen hours. Because of Louis’s association with the sun, Apollo was pictured throughout the palace.

As a refuge, Louis built the grand trinon out in the gardens. In the garden four hundred workers were constantly at work, replanting flowers—such as tulips, which could be transplanted three times a day so as to be the appropriate color for the occasion. There were as many as fourteen hundred fountains in the gardens. Of course they couldn’t all be supplied water, so the fountains would be turned on when the king arrived and off when he left.

Because of the water, the air around Versailles was often unhealthy. It bred mosquitoes and one August everyone at court, except Louis, got sick. Another problem was the lack of chamber pots and water to clean them, so most guests or residents improvised, using stairways, corners, and the garden.

Works Referenced
Chambers, Mortimer; Grew, Raymond; Herlihy, David; Rabb, Theodore K.; Woloch, Isser. _The Western Experience: Sixth Edition_. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991. Russell, George H., prod. Versailles. Educational Network Videos. Videocassette. "Chateau de Verslles." __The Palace of Versailles__. [].