I am back in London for a couple of days before heading back to the grand USA and Virginia! I will spend the next couple of days doing some London sightseeing that I didn't get to see when I was here in 2011.
Here is the rest of my trip to Paris.......
Thursday, I went to Versailles to see the Palais of Versailles. It was amazing. I took over 100 pictures inside the palace and in the gardens. Every inch of the building is covered with paintings and ornate design.
Entrance to Palais de Versailles
Palais de Versailles
Here is the rest of my trip to Paris.......
Thursday, I went to Versailles to see the Palais of Versailles. It was amazing. I took over 100 pictures inside the palace and in the gardens. Every inch of the building is covered with paintings and ornate design.
King Louis XIII
Louis XIII first built a hunting lodge at Versailles but it was ridiculed to be too small. He then commissioned his architect to build a vast lordly residence, it was still far from royal. It remained unchanged until his death in 1643. It was by chance that the future Louis XIV discovered Versailles for the first time in 1641. He and his brother were sent there to escape a smallpox epidemic. He returned to Paris 10 years later as the King. He loved Versailles and although Louis XIII had a hunting lodge with its own gardens , it was Louis XIV who truly created Versailles.
King Louis XIV
In an absolute monarchy, all power comes from the King. In Versailles, Louis XIV was Master of his own house just as he was Master of the kingdom that he governed. He made Versailles the seat of the affairs of government where he dispensed favors: land, titles, pensions, etc. Life there was founded on prestige and appearances; luxury compulsory, life extravagant. The number of servants assembled in the King's House had to be the greatest and his Court had to be attended by the most people; between 3,000 and 10,000 courtiers, depending on the day. On the death of Louis XIV in 1715, the court left Versailles for Paris. Until Louis XV was able to rule, the palace suffered from lack of care. Louis XV and Louis XVI were both burdened with this heritage and were required to reproduce the same customs as their forefather. The Revolution emptied the Chateau of its furnishings but spared the building itself. All of the art went to the Louvre and the furniture was sold. After years of neglect it was first restored by Napoleon I, and then by Kings Louis XVIII and Charles X, both brothers of Louis XVI. It was no longer the seat of government and nobody knew what to do with it, even demolition was considered. It was ultimately saved by King Louis-Philippe and opened in 1837 as a monument to France's history.
Here are some pictures of the interior:
Ceiling of The Mars Drawing Room
The Abundance Drawing Room
Ceiling of The Diana Drawing Room
The Grand Gallery
- my picture - the next one is a wiki pic which does the room justice!
The Grand Gallery (wikipedia)
The Chapel
The Opera
The Coronation Room with a painting by Jacques Louis David of the Coronation of Emperor Napoleon I and of Josephine at Notre-Dame de Paris, 2 December 1804, 1808.
Bedchamber for Louis XIV, XV, and XVI
The Queen's Bedchamber
It was in this room, in public, that the Queen gave birth to the heirs for the throne. In her Memoirs, Madame Campan, who was Marie-Antoinette's First Woman of the Bedchamber, described what such a birth could be like: "the moment that Vermont the accoucheur announced 'The Queen is about to give birth', the crowds of spectators who rushed into her room were so numerous and disorderly that one thought the Queen would perish....Two Savoyards got up on the furniture the more easily to see the Queen, who was facing the fireplace on a bed got ready for her labour"..... The births of my four children seem very calm in retrospect!!! An accoucheur is a male-midwife. A Savoyard is someone from Savoy!
The Queen's Bed
The South Parterre
- Its arrangement of box trees is landscaped in arabesques beneath the windows of the Queen's apartment
The South Parterre close up (Wikipedia)
Back in Paris, I walked down the Champs Elysees and saw this mime!
Louis XIII first built a hunting lodge at Versailles but it was ridiculed to be too small. He then commissioned his architect to build a vast lordly residence, it was still far from royal. It remained unchanged until his death in 1643. It was by chance that the future Louis XIV discovered Versailles for the first time in 1641. He and his brother were sent there to escape a smallpox epidemic. He returned to Paris 10 years later as the King. He loved Versailles and although Louis XIII had a hunting lodge with its own gardens , it was Louis XIV who truly created Versailles.
In an absolute monarchy, all power comes from the King. In Versailles, Louis XIV was Master of his own house just as he was Master of the kingdom that he governed. He made Versailles the seat of the affairs of government where he dispensed favors: land, titles, pensions, etc. Life there was founded on prestige and appearances; luxury compulsory, life extravagant. The number of servants assembled in the King's House had to be the greatest and his Court had to be attended by the most people; between 3,000 and 10,000 courtiers, depending on the day. On the death of Louis XIV in 1715, the court left Versailles for Paris. Until Louis XV was able to rule, the palace suffered from lack of care. Louis XV and Louis XVI were both burdened with this heritage and were required to reproduce the same customs as their forefather. The Revolution emptied the Chateau of its furnishings but spared the building itself. All of the art went to the Louvre and the furniture was sold. After years of neglect it was first restored by Napoleon I, and then by Kings Louis XVIII and Charles X, both brothers of Louis XVI. It was no longer the seat of government and nobody knew what to do with it, even demolition was considered. It was ultimately saved by King Louis-Philippe and opened in 1837 as a monument to France's history.
Here are some pictures of the interior:
- my picture - the next one is a wiki pic which does the room justice!
It was in this room, in public, that the Queen gave birth to the heirs for the throne. In her Memoirs, Madame Campan, who was Marie-Antoinette's First Woman of the Bedchamber, described what such a birth could be like: "the moment that Vermont the accoucheur announced 'The Queen is about to give birth', the crowds of spectators who rushed into her room were so numerous and disorderly that one thought the Queen would perish....Two Savoyards got up on the furniture the more easily to see the Queen, who was facing the fireplace on a bed got ready for her labour"..... The births of my four children seem very calm in retrospect!!! An accoucheur is a male-midwife. A Savoyard is someone from Savoy!
Marie-Antoinette of Lorraine-Habsbourg, Queen of France and her children, 1789
- Its arrangement of box trees is landscaped in arabesques beneath the windows of the Queen's apartment
The Orangeries and the Pond of Swiss
- is tucked away on a level below the Chateau. It houses 1,080 delicate trees, all of which are planted in boxes: orange trees from Portugal and Italy, lemon trees and pomegranate trees (some of which are over 200 years old), oleanders, and palm trees. The trees produce little fruit since they are pruned into a decorative spherical form
The Eiffel Tower at night
The Seine at night
Back to London......
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