Versailles, Palace

Versailles, Palace of

Baroque palace southwest of Paris built chiefly under Louis XIV. It was the principal residence of the French kings and the seat of government from 1682 to 1789, with some 1,000 courtiers and 4,000 attendants residing there. Originally a hunting lodge, it was enlarged by Louis XIII and Louis XIV. Louis Le Vau (1612–70), with Charles Le Brun and André Le Nôtre, began work on the palace in the 1660s. A masterpiece of formal grandeur intended as the visible expression of the glory of France, Versailles became the palatial ideal throughout Europe and the Americas. Le Nôtre's inventive arrangement of earth forms, plantings, and fountains created vistas, terraces, formal gardens, and wooded areas that celebrated the delights of both open and intimate space. After Le Vau's death, Jules Hardouin-Mansart (1646–1708) was commissioned to triple the size of the palace and built the northern and southern wings, the Orangerie, and the Grand Trianon. Later additions include the Classically restrained Petit Trianon, built 1761–64 for Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour. The first scenes of the French Revolution were enacted at Versailles, which had become a symbol of royal extravagance. In 1837 Louis-Philippe restored the palace and turned it into a museum.