Palace of Versailles
| Palace and Park of Versailles* | |
|---|---|
| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
| |
| State Party |  France
|
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | i, ii, vi |
| Reference | 83 |
| Region** | Europe and North America |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 1979 (3rd Session) |
| * Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. ** Region as classified by UNESCO. | |
The Château de Versailles, or Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles, France. In English it is often referred to as the Palace of Versailles. When the château was built, Versailles was a country village, but it is now a suburb of Paris. From 1682, when King Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in 1789, the Court of Versailles was the center of power in Ancien Régime France.
In 1660, Louis XIV was approaching majority and the assumption of full royal powers from the advisors, who had governed France during his minority. He casting about for a site near Paris, but away from the tumults and diseases of the crowded city. He had grown up in the disorders of the civil war between rival factions of aristocrats called the Fronde and wanted a site where he could organize and completely control a government of France by absolute personal rule. He settled on the royal hunting lodge at Versailles, and over the following decades had it expanded into the largest palace in the world. Versailles is famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy which Louis XIV espoused.
The first château
The earliest mention of the village of Versailles is found in a document dated 1038, the “Charte de l'abbaye Saint-Père de Chartres” (Charter of the Abbey of Saint-Père de Chartres). Of the signatories of the charter was one Hugo de Versailles, hence the name of the village. During this period, the village of Versailles centered on a small castle and church and the area was controlled by a local lord. The village's location on the road from Paris to Dreux and Normandy brought some prosperity to the village but following the Black Plague and the Hundred Years War, the village was largely destroyed and its population severely diminished
In 1575, Albert de Gondi, a Florentine, purchased the seigneury of Versailles. Gondi had arrived in France with Catherine de Medici and his family became influential in the French Parliament. In the early decades of the seventeenth century, Gondi invited Louis XIII on several hunting trips in the forests of Versailles. Following this initial introduction to the area, Louis XIII ordered the construction of a hunting chateau in 1624. Designed by Philibert Le Roy, the structure was constructed of stone and red brick with a slate roof. Eight years later, in 1632, Louis obtained the seignury of Versailles from the Gondi family and began to make enlargements to the château.
Expansion under Louis XIV
Louis's successor, Louis XIV, took a great interest in Versailles. Beginning in 1661, the architect, Louis Le Vau, and the landscape architect, André Le Nôtre, began a major upgrade of the château. It was Louis XIV's hope to create a center for the royal court. Following the Treaty of Nijmegen in 1678, the court and French government began to be moved to Versailles. The court was officially established there on May 6, 1682.
Louis's reasoning for moving the court and seat of the French government to Versailles was that he could effectively control everything single-handedly if it was in one place. All the power of France emanated from this center: there were government offices here; as well as the homes of thousands of courtiers, their retinues and all the attendant functionaries of court. By requiring that nobles of a certain rank and position spend time each year at Versailles, Louis prevented them from developing their own regional power at the expense of his own and kept them from countering his efforts to centralize the French government in an absolute monarchy. The meticulous and stilted court etiquette that Louis XIV established, which overwhelmed his heirs with its petty boredoms, was epitomized in the elaborate procedures accompanying his rising in the morning, known as the Lever, divided into a petit lever for the most important and a grand lever for the whole court; like other French court manners, it was quickly imitated in other European courts.
Evolution of Versailles
Upon the death of Jules Cardinal Mazarin in 1661, who had served as co-regent during the minority of Louis XIV, Louis XIV (born, September 5, 1638 at Saint-Germain-en-Laye; died, September 1, 1715 at Versailles; reigned, May 14, 1642 – September 1, 1715) began his personal reign by vowing to be his own prime minister. From this point, construction and expansion at Versailles became synonymous with the absolutism of Louis XIV.
After the disgrace of Nicolas Fouquet in 1661 — the finance minister had embezzled from the crown to build his château at Vaux-le-Vicomte — Louis XIV, after confiscation of Fouquet’s estate, employed the talents of architect Louis Le Vau, gardener André Le Nôtre, and painter/decorator Charles Le Brun for his building campaigns at Versailles and elsewhere. For Versailles, there were four distinct building campaigns (after minor alterations and enlargements had be executed on the château and the gardens in 1662-1663), all of which corresponded to Louis XIV’s wars.
First Building Campaign
Commencing with the Plaisirs de l’Île enchantée of 1664 (a party that was held between and May 7-13, 1664 ostensibly to celebrate the two queens of France — Anne of Austria, the Queen Mother and Marie-Thérèse, Louis XIV’s wife, but in reality was given to celebrate the king’s mistress, Louise de La Vallière. The fête of the Plaisirs de l’Île enchantée is often regarded as prelude to the War of Devolution, which Louis XIV waged against Spain — both the Queen Marie and Marie-Thérèse were Spanish by birth — from 1667 to 1668), the First Building Campaign (1664-1668) saw alterations in the château and gardens in order to accommodate the 600 guests invited to the party.
Second Building Campaign
The Second Building Campaign (1669-1672) was inaugurated with the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (the treaty that ended the War of Devolution). During this campaign, the château began to assume much of the appearance that it has today. The most important modification of the château was Louis LeVau’s enveloppe of Louis XIII’s hunting lodge. The enveloppe — often referred to as the château neuf to distinguish it from the older structure of Louis XIII — enveloped the hunting lodge on the north, west, and south. The new structure provided new lodgings for members of the king and his family. The first floor — the piano nobile — of the château neuf was given over entirely to two apartments, one for the king and one for the queen. The Grand appartement du roi occupied the northern part of the château neuf and Grand appartement de la reine occupied the southern part. The western part of the enveloppe was given over almost entirely to a terrace, which was later destroyed for construction of the Hall of Mirrors (Galerie des glaces). The ground floor of the northern part of the château neuf was occupied by the appartement des bains, which included a sunken octagonal tub with hot and cold running water. The king’s brother and sister-in-law, the duc and duchesse d’Orléans occupied apartments on the ground floor of the southern part of the château neuf. The upper story of the château neuf was reserved for private rooms for the king to the north and rooms for the king’s children above the queen’s apartment to the south.
Significant to the design and construction of the grands appartements is that the rooms of both apartments are of the same configuration and dimensions — a hitherto unprecedented feature in French palace design. In his monograph “Il n’y plus des Pyrenées: the Iconography of the first Versailles of Louis XIV,” Kevin Olin Johnson posited the hypothesis that the unprecedented similarity to the king and queen’s apartments represented Louis XIV’s wish to establish his wife as queen of Spain. In doing so, a dual monarchy of sorts would have been created. Louis XIV’s rationale for the joining of the two kingdoms was seen largely as recompense for Philip IV's failure to pay his daughter Marie-Thérèse’s dowry, which was among the terms of capitulation to which Spain agreed with the spreading influence of the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659, ending the war between Spain and France that had been waged since 1635). Louis XIV’s regarded is father-in-law’s act as breach of the treaty and consequently engaged in the War of Devolution.
Third Building Campaign
With the signing of the Treaty of Nijmegen (1678, which ended the Dutch War of 1672-1678), the Third Building Campaign at Versailles began (1678-1684). Under the direction of the architect, Jules Hardouin Mansart, the palace of Versailles acquired much of the look that it has today. In addition to the Hall of Mirrors, Mansart designed the north and south wings (which were used by the nobility and Princes of the Blood, respectively), and the Orangerie. Charles Le Brun was occupied not only with the interior decoration of the new additions of the palace he also collaborated with André Le Notre in landscaping the palace gardens. As symbol of France’s new prominence as a European super-power, Louis XIV officially installed his court at Versailles in May of 1682.
Fourth building campaign
Soon after the crushing defeat of the War of the League of Augsburg (1688-1697) and owing possibly to the pious influence of Madame de Maintenon, Louis XIV undertook his last building campaign at Versailles. The fourth building campaign (1701-1710) concentrated almost exclusively on construction of the Chapel Royal, designed by Mansart and finished by Robert de Cotte and his team of decorative designers. There were also some modifications in the king’s Petit Appartement, namely the construction of the Salon de l’Oeil de Boeuf and the King’s Bedchamber. With the completion of the chapel in 1710, virtually all construction at Versailles ceased; building would not be resumed at Versailles until some 20 years later during the reign of Louis XV.[1]
Features
The Château
Here are some of the areas open to the public at the Château.
Grand Appartement du Roi
As of result of Louis LeVau’s enveloppe of Louis XIII’s château, the new addition — known at the time as the château neuf — the king and queen had new apartments. The State Apartments, which are known respectively as the grand appartement du roi and the grand apartment de la reine, occupied the first floor of the château neuf. LeVau’s design for the state apartments closely followed Italian models of the day, as evidenced by the placement of the apartments on the first floor — the piano nobile — a convention the architect borrowed from sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Italian palace design.
Le Vau’s plan called for an enfilade of seven rooms, each dedicated to one of the then-known planets and their associated titular Roman deity. LeVau’s plan was bold as he designed a heliocentric system that centered on the salon d’Apollon (Salon of Apollo). The salon d’Apollon originally was designed as the king’s bedchamber, but served as a throne room. The configuration of the grand appartement du roi conformed to contemporary conventions in palace design. However, owing to Louis XIV’s personal tastes,Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag Accordingly, one finds scenes of the exploits of Augustus, Alexander the Great, and Cyrus alluding to the deeds of Louis XIV. For example, in the salon d’Apollon, the cove painting “Augustus building the port of Misenum”Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag as well as the terrace that separated the two apartments. The principal feature of the room is the seventeen mirror-clad arches that reflect the seventeen arcaded windows that overlook the gardens. Each arch contains twenty-one mirrors with a total complement of 357 used in the decoration of the galerie des glaces.
In the 17th century, mirrors were one of the most expensive items to possess and at the time, the Venetian Republic held the monopoly on the manufacture of mirrors. In order to maintain the integrity of his philosophy of mercantilism, which required that all items used in the decoration of Versailles be made in France, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, enticed several workers from Venice to make mirrors at the Gobelins Factory[2] for use in Versailles.[3]
The galerie des glaces’ dimensions are 73.0 m × 10.5 m × 12.3 m (239.5 ft × 34.4 ft × 40.4 ft) and is flanked by the salon de la guerre (north) and the salon de la paix (south). Construction on the galerie and its two salons continued until 1684, at which time it was pressed into use for court and state functions. The ceiling decoration is dedicated to the military victories of Louis XIV. The present decorative schema represents the last of three that were presented to Louis XIV. The original decorative plan was to have depicted exploits of Apollo — which was consistent with the imagery associated with the Sun-King, Louis XIV. However, when the king learned that his brother, Philippe d’Orléans, had commissioned Pierre Mignard to decorate the ceiling of the grand galerie of his brother’s residence at the château of Saint-Cloud, Louis XIV rejected the plan. The next decorative plan was one in which the exploits of Hercules — as allegories to the actions of Louis XIV — were to be depicted. Again, as with the first plan, the Hercules theme was rejected by the king. The final plan represents military victories of Louis XIV starting with the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659) to the Treaty of Nijmegen (1678-1679). In a departure form the decoration of the ceilings in the grand appartement du roi, LeBrun has depicted Louis XIV and has ceased to refer to the king in allegorical guises. In this way, themes such as good governance are rendered with Louis XIV as the key figure.
Chapels of Versailles
One of the more curious aspects of Versailles is the chapels. The reign of Louis XIV, Versailles saw no fewer than five chapels.
1st Chapel
The château’s first chapel dated from the time of Louis XIII and was located in detached pavilion at the northeast of the château (today, La pièce de la vaisselle d'or or le Cabinet de Mme Adélaïde occupies the approximate site). This chapel, which followed the palatine model[4] — a chapel of two floors, the upper floor reserved for the monarch and members of the royal family, the lower floor used by members of the court and the royal household — was destroyed in 1665 when the Grotto de Thétis was built.
2nd Chapel
The château’s second chapel was created during Louis XIV’s second building campaign. When the enveloppe of Louis LeVau was completed, the chapel was situated in the grand apartment de la reine (it formed the symmetrical pendant with the salon de Diane in the grand appartement du roi). This palatine model chapel was short-lived. When Louis XIV began his third building campaign, this chapel was converted to the salle des gardes de la reine.
3rd Chapel
Located next to the new salle des gardes de la reine, this chapel was transitory. Soon after its construction, Louis XIV found it inconvenient and impractical for his needs as well as those of his court. In 1682, this room was converted into the grande salles des gardes de la reine (known also as la salle du sacre).
4th Chapel
With the construction of the aile Nord, a new palatine model chapel was built. Construction of the North wing necessitated the destruction of the Grotto de Thétis; it was on this site that the new chapel was built in 1682.[5] This chapel remained in use by the king and court until 1710.[6]
5th Chapel
As the focal point of Louis XIV fourth building campaign, the final chapel of the château of Versailles is a masterpiece. Began in 1689, construction was halted due to the War of the League of Augsburg; Jules Hardouin-Mansart resumed construction in 1699. Hardouin-Mansart continued working on the project until his death in 1708, at which time his brother-in-law, Robert de Cotte, finished the project.
Dedicated to Saint Louis, the chapel was consecrated in 1710. The palatine model of the chapel is traditionally; however, the Corinthian colonnade of the tribune level is of a classic style that anticipates the neo-classicism of the late-18th century. The tribune level is accessed by vestibule that was constructed at the same time as the chapel[7] The floor of the chapel is inlaid with multi-colored marbles and at the foot of steps leading to the altar is Louis XIV’s crowned monogram of interlaced “L.” Adhering to ecclesiastical decoration, the chapel’s decoration refers to both the Old Testament and the New Testament: the ceiling of the nave represents “God the Father in his glory bring to the world the promise of redemption” and was painted by Antoine Coypel; the half-dome of the apse is decorated with Charles de LaFosse’s “The Resurrection of Christ”; and, above the royal tribune is Jean Jouvenet’s “The Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Virgin and the Apostles.”
During the 18th century, the chapel witnessed many court events. Te Deums were sung to celebrate military victories and the births of children born to the king and queen; marriages were also celebrated in this chapel, such as the wedding of the dauphin — later Louis XVI — to Marie-Antoinette in 1770. However, of all the ceremonies held in the chapel, those associated the Order of Holy Spirit were among the most elaborate.
Today the chapel, which has been re-consecrated, serves a venue for chamber concerts.
L’Opéra
Since the time of Louis XIV, the château of Versailles has wanted — and needed — a permanent theater. Before the construction of l’Opéra, temporary theaters were constructed either in the gardens or in the château — grands appartements, escalier des ambassadeurs, aile de Midi — where the salle de spectacle of Louis XIV was short-lived — la grande écurie, la cour de marbre, etc. However, in 1740, Louis XV ordered Jacques-Anges Gabriel to build a permanent theater at the northern end of the aile de Nord, on the site that had been that chosen by Louis XIV[8] The project required some thirty years to complete based on financial restraints rising from the Seven Years War and relocating residents from the northern end of the aile de nobles. Construction work on the Opéra began in earnest in 1765 and was completed in 1770; at the time, it represented the finest example in theater design — having 712 seats, it was the largest theater in Europe at the time — and today remains one of the few theaters to survive the 18th century. Lully’s Persée inaugurated the Opéra on 16 May 1770 in celebration of the marriage of the dauphin — the future Louis XVI — with Marie-Antoinette.
Gabriel’s design for the Opéra was unique for the time as it featured an oval plan. As an economy measure, the floor the orchestra level can be raised to the level the stage, thus doubling the floor space. It was planned that the Opéra serve not only as a theater, but also as ballroom or banqueting hall.[9] Built entirely of wood, which is painted in faux marbre to represent stone, the Opéra has excellent acoustics and represents one of the finest examples of neo-classical decoration. The theme of the decoration is related to Apollo and the Olympian deities. The decoration of the Opéra was directed by Augustin Pajou, who executed the bas-reliefs panels that decorate the front of the loges. The ceiling features a canvas by Louis Jean Jacques Durameau in which Apollo and the Muses are depicted.
Social History
The politics of display
Versailles became the home of the French nobility and the location of the royal court - thus becoming the center of French government. Louis XIV himself lived there, and symbolically the central room of the long extensive symmetrical range of buildings was the King's Bedchamber (La Chambre du Roi), which itself was centered on the lavish and symbolic state bed, set behind a rich railing not unlike a communion rail. All the power of France emanated from this centre: there were government offices here; as well as the homes of thousands of courtiers, their retinues and all the attendant functionaries of court. By requiring that nobles of a certain rank and position spend time each year at Versailles, Louis prevented them from developing their own regional power at the expense of his own and kept them from countering his efforts to centralize the French government in an absolute monarchy.
At various periods before Louis XIV established absolute rule, France like the Holy Roman Empire lacked central authority and was not the unified state it was to become during the proceeding centuries. During the Middle Ages some local nobles were at times more powerful than the French King and, although technically loyal to the King, they possessed their own provincial seats of power and government, culturally influential courts and armies loyal to them not the King and the right to levy their own taxes on their subjects. Some families were so powerful, they achieved international prominence and contracted marriage alliances with foreign royal houses to further their own political ambitions. Although nominally Kings of France, de facto royal power had at times been limited purely to the region around Paris.
Park and garden
The grounds of Versailles contain one of the largest formal gardens ever created, with extensive parterres, fountains and canals, designed by André Le Nôtre. Le Nôtre modified the original gardens by expanding them and giving them a sense of openness and scale. He also liked to enjoy sunbathing in his wonderful work of art. He created a plan centered around the central axis of the Grand Canal. The gardens are centered on the south front of the palace, which is set on a long terrace to give a grand view of the gardens. At the foot of the steps the Fountain of Latona is located. This fountain tells a story taken from Ovid's poem Metamorphoses and served — and still serves — as an allegory of the Fronde. Next, is the Royal Avenue or the Tapis Vert. Surrounding this to the sides are the formal gardens. Beyond this is the Fountain of Apollo. This fountain symbolizes the regime of Louis XIV, or, the "Sun King." Beyond the Fountain lies the massive Grand Canal. The wide central axis rises on the far side. Even farther into the distance lie the dense woods of the King's hunting grounds.
Outbuildings
Several smaller buildings were added to the park of Versailles, starting with the Ménagerie, which was built between 1663 and 1665 and modified in the 1690s for the use of Louis XIV's granddaughter, the duchess de Bourgogne, followed by the Grand Trianon (originally the Porcelain Trianon), continuing with additions by Louis XV and Louis XVI including the Petit Trianon, and the Hamlet of Marie Antoinette known as the le Hameau.
Cost
The book, World History: Patterns of Interactions (Mcdougal Littell/Houghton Mifflin, 2001) places the value at approximately US$2 billion (1994). Surviving government records from the period mention 65 million golden livres. It is unclear whether this "golden" livre references the standard livre, or the Louis d'Or (a gold coin then valued at 24 livres). If accurate, using today's values for gold (US$600 per ounce, 2006) and silver (US$12 per ounce, 2006), the value of the Versailles estate soars to a staggering US$13-US$30 billion.
Another way to look at this controversy over the costs of Versailles, is to consider the benefits that France drew from this royal palace. Versailles, by locking the nobles into a golden cage, effectively ended the periodical aristocratic groups and rebellions that had plagued France for centuries. It also destroyed aristocratic power in the provinces, and enabled a centralization of the state, for which a majority of modern Frenchmen are still thankful to Louis XIV, although French centralization, as further developed during the French Revolution, and later the Third Republic, is currently the subject of much debate and overhauling. Versailles also had a tremendous influence on French architecture and arts, and indeed on European architecture and arts, as the court tastes and culture elaborated in Versailles influenced most of Europe. From the start, Versailles was conceived as much as a showcase of French arts and craftsmanship organized in the royal workshops of the Gobelins manufactory, as a home for a king. Modern Frenchmen, even the least sympathetic to the former monarchy, are still generally quite proud of the lasting influence that French arts developed in Versailles have had in the world.
War uses
After the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the palace was the main headquarters of the German army from 5 October 1870 until 13 March 1871, and hosted the opening of the Paris Peace Conference on 18 January 1919.
The German Empire was declared in the Hall of Mirrors in 1871, with Wilhelm I being crowned the first German Emperor, whilst Germany was ironically punished for causing the First World War in the same room on 28th June 1919.
The ravages of war and neglect over the centuries left their mark on the palace and its huge bushes. Modern French governments of the post-World War II era have sought to repair these damages. They have on the whole been successful, but some of the more costly items, such as the vast array of fountains, have yet to be put back completely in service. As spectacular as they might seem now, they were even more extensive in the 18th century. The 18th-century waterworks at Marly— the machine de Marly that fed the fountains— was probably the biggest mechanical system of its time. The water came in from afar on monumental stone aqueducts, which have long ago fallen in disrepair or been torn down.
Post-royal: the monument-museum
After the Revolution the paintings and sculpture, like the crown jewels, were consigned to the new Musée du Louvre as part of the cultural patrimony of France. Other contents went to serve a new and moral public role: books and medals went to the Bibliothèque Nationale, clocks and scientific instruments (Louis XVI was a connoisseur of science) to the École des Arts et Métiers. Versailles was still the most richly-appointed royal palace of Europe until a long series of auction sales on the premises, which unrolled for months during the Revolution, emptying Versailles slowly of every shred of amenity, at derisory prices, mostly to professional brocanteurs. The immediate purpose was to raise desperately-needed funds for the armies of the people, but the long-range strategy was to ensure that there was no Versailles for any king ever to come back to. The strategy worked. Though Versailles was declared an imperial palace, Napoleon never spent a summer's night there.
Versailles remained both royal and unused through the Restoration. In 1830, the politic Louis Philippe, the "Citizen King" declared the château a museum dedicated to "all the glories of France," raising it for the first time above a Bourbon dynastic monument. At the same time, boiseries from the private apartments of princes and courtiers were removed and found their way, without provenance, into the incipient art market in Paris and London for such panelling. What remained were 120 rooms, the modern "Galeries Historiques".[2] The curator Pierre de Nohlac began the conservation of the palace in the 1880s, but did not have the necessary funding until John D. Rockefeller's gift of 60 million francs in 1924-1936. Its promotion as a tourist site started in the 1930s and accelerated in the 1950s and 1960's.[10]
In the 1960s, Pierre Verlet, the greatest writer on the history of French furniture managed to get some royal furnishings returned from the museums and ministries and ambassadors' residences where they had become scattered from the central warehouses of the Mobilier National. He conceived the bold scheme of refurnishing Versailles, and the refurnished royal Appartements that tourists view today are due to Verlet's successful initiative, in which textiles were even rewoven to refurbish the state beds.
Notes
- ↑ Sources: André Félibien, Description sommaire du chasteau de Versailles, (Paris, 1674). Pierre de Nolhac, La création de Versailles, (Versailles, 1901). ———, Versailles, résidence de Louis XIV, (Paris, 1925). ———, Histoire de Versailles. 3 vol. (Paris, 1911). Kevin Olin Johnson, “Il n’y plus de Pyrenées : Iconography of the first Versailles of Louis XIV,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts (6e pér., vol. 97, janvier 1981) : 29-40.
- ↑ The Gobelins, which still exist today, was nationalized in the 1660s by Colbert for the express purpose of making furniture and other decorative items for Versailles and other royal residences.
- ↑ According to legend, in order to keep its monopoly, the government of the Venetian Republic sent agents to France to poison the workers whom Colbert had brought to France.
- ↑ This plan was widely used in France. Sainte-Chapelle in Paris is a prototypical example; all successive chapels at Versailles followed the palatine model
- ↑ When the 4th chapel was constructed, the salon de l’Abondance, which had served as entry to the petit appartement du roi, was rebaptized the vestibule of the royal tribune — so named as it was from this upper level of the chapel that the royal family head daily mass.
- ↑ This chapel witness most of the baptisms and wedding of members of the court and royal family during the reign of Louis XIV. Today the salon d’Hercule and the lower vestibule occupy the space of the 4th chapel.
- ↑ The bas-relief sculpture, Louis XIV crossing the Rhine, was sculpted by Nicolas et Guillaume Coustou and was originally intended to decorate the salon de la Guerre.
- ↑ Owing to the financial burdens that Louis XIV faced at the end of his reign, the theater was never built.
- ↑ On 1 October 1789, the gardes du corps du roi held a banquent to welcome the Flanders Regiment, which had just arrived to strengthen protection for the king a royal family against the revolutionary rumblings that were being heard in Paris. At this banquet, Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, and the dauphin received the pledge of loyalty from these guards when they ripped off the blue-white-red cockades they had been wearing and replaced them with white ones — the color that symbolized the Bourbon monarchy. This was the last event held in the Opéra during the Ancien Régime.
- ↑ Fabien Oppermann, "Images et usages du château de Versailles au XXe siècle," thesis, Ecole des Chartes, 2004.[1]
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- De Montclos, Jean-Marie Perouse. Versailles, Abbeville Press, 1997. ISBN 978-1558592285
- Payne, Francis Loring. The Story of Versailles, Hard Press, 2006. ISBN 978-1406912845
- Price, Munro. The Road from Versailles: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the Fall of the French Monarchy, St. Martin's Griffin, 2004. ISBN 978-0312326135
- Thompson, Ian. The Sun King's Garden: Louis XIV, André Le Nôtre And the Creation of the Gardens of Versailles, Bloomsbury Publishing (London), 2006. ISBN 1-58234-631-3
- Van Der Kemp, Gerard. Versailles: The Palace—The Park—The Trianons, D'Art Lys. ASIN B000GYNGFG
External links
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