Adding History of the Palace of Versailles!
A brief #history
The village of Versailles is about twenty kilometers outside of #Paris. It occurs for the first time in the annals in 1038, when the name appears in a charter of the abbey of Saint-Père de Chartres. By the end of the eleventh century, Versailles was a rural village located around a castle and the church of St Julien. It was prosperous until the end of the 13th century, but the hundred-year war decimated the population to a handful.
Royal Presence
Statue of Louis XIV in Versailles
Statue
Louis XIV
In the 16th century, the Gondi family ruled Versailles. When King Louis XIII paid a visit, he became attached to the rural town and bought land in the area. Then in 1622 he built a small stone mansion there. Ten years later he became the lord of Versailles and started an extension of the house. Soon he bought more land around as well as the estate of the Gondi family.
The Sun King
In 1643 Louis XIII died. His successor, Louis XIV, began to take an interest in Versailles from 1662. Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King, mistrusted the Parisians and therefore did not want to keep the Louvre as a royal residence. The Louvre , located in the heart of Paris, was always in the midst of political turbulence. Consequently, the Sun King chose to move his residence to Versailles, far removed from the turbulent Paris.
Versailles, Royal Chapel
Royal Chapel
Louis XIV caused a huge expansion of the royal residence in Versailles to what we see today. He hired the architect Louis Le Vau and the artist Charles le Brun to create this baroque masterpiece that became the ultimate model for almost all palaces that were later built in #Europe. The renowned landscape architect André le Nôtre was responsible for the unrivaled garden of Versailles.
After the death of Le Vau, King Louis XIV commissioned architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart to triple the size of the palace. Under his leadership, the northern and southern wings, the Orangery, the Grand Trianon (a castle) and the royal chapel were built. Later, the Opera and the Petit Trianon were also added. This last building, a small castle, was built between 1761 and 1764 for Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour.
Thanks for the info @jessicagorter!
In the spirit of openness and promoting original content on Steemit, can you please add the source of the photo and text? Unless you own the photo and content yourself.
Thanks, Jaco.