The Palace of Versailles is the most magnificent royal residence

There is a France and a Palace of Versailles, whose magnificence is well-known. So many people enter France for the love of seeing it. Every year, more than four million tourists visit this historical palace and admire the magnificent architecture, beautiful water features, and magnificent halls of this unique building.

In the summer, attractive concerts are held in this beautiful palace, attracting many tourists. If you are also eager to know exciting things about this legendary palace, join Nabtrip magazine in this article.

Learn more about the historical palace of France.

The Palace of Versailles can be mentioned as one of France’s most magnificent buildings, located in the city of Versailles and 16 kilometers southwest of Paris. This is called the historical palace of France because it was the royal family’s residence. Before the construction of this palace, the town of Versailles was unimportant and considered like other ordinary French cities.

The royal family’s arrival in this city in 1682 caused Versailles to distance itself from other French cities. The coming of the royal family to this city and their residence in the Palace of Versailles caused significant prosperity to the town of Versailles. Until the French Revolution in 1789, Versailles became one of France’s most important and influential urban centers, with a po, population of more than 60,000 people.

The palace has an area of about 2014 hectares and has been called the largest territory in the world. The size of the Versailles building is equivalent to 67 thousand square meters. It should be mentioned that the historical Palace of Versailles has a highly magnificent architecture with a great history next to it. These two factors have caused the attention of ordinary people and historians from different parts of the world to be drawn to this palace.
Do you know the French currency? If you have, then calculating the cost of traveling to France should not be difficult.

Where is the location of the Palace of Versailles?

Versailles is a region whose fertile land makes many people eager to live in this city. In the past, it was for this reason that the attention of the French kings was drawn to Versailles. Louis XIII bought the land where the Palace of Versailles was built; he built a residence where he occasionally traveled and hunted.

At that time, most of the land around Versailles was uninhabited, and this caused the number of wild animals in these areas to increase. This issue, along with the fertility of the land, made Louis XIII’s attention to this area for hunting. It was like this that until the end of the reign of Louis XIII, this place remained a hunting and recreation place. Still, Louis XIII’s successor, Louis XIV, started building the Palace of Versailles; in the last years of his life, this magnificent palace was constructed.

The Grand Palace of Versailles was divided into two parts, south and north, and consisted of many buildings, considered an extraordinary phenomenon then. The primary purpose of building this magnificent palace was to show the king’s power.

In addition to the buildings of the historical Palace of Versailles, several large and beautiful gardens were built in the western part of the palace. A specific design and shape were followed to construct all the parks. For example, one of the gardens is made in the form of a star, giving this palace a fantastic effect. It has also attracted many tourists. Statues and fountains were used to decorate the gardens, which sent water up with pressure using a hydraulic system.

What was the process of building the Palace of Versailles?

As soon as Louis XIV settled in Versailles, he ordered the construction of a luxurious palace called the Grand Trianon Palace, built at a distance of 1.6 km from the northwest part of the Palace Versailles. It is interesting to know that only Louis XIV and the guests he chose had access to this palace. In other words, it was utterly exclusive.

If we want to examine the Palace of Versailles in more detail, we must say that this palace consists of 350 accommodation units that are different in design. And, of course, where each person lived in this palace and which room belonged to him depended on the direct relationship with each person’s position in the government and their closeness to the king.

For example, the king’s eldest son and successor to the throne had a large apartment on the palace’s ground floor, while for the palace staff, no better place was considered than the attic room or under the stairs.

Louis XIV’s bedroom was located on the upper floor and in the center of the west-east axis of the palace, which has a unique design. This room was the most important place in the interior of the Palace of Versailles. The throne of Louis XIV was located in the Hall of Apollo.
This hall was the meeting place of the king and ministers during government decisions. The royal church was also intended for religious ceremonies, which covered two floors of the palace and is now considered one of the ancient places of worship.

Despite all the glory that the Palace of Versailles had, no luxurious theater existed for a long time, and temporary halls were used. In the end, this hall was built by the order of Louis XV. The design and mechanism of this hall were such that a place above the main stage was intended for the musicians. This was because dancing and feasting on the main stage was possible.

The exciting thing about using this hall at night was that using the opera hall at night required 3,000 candles to provide lighting, so it was not possible to use this hall at any time, especially since the financial situation of France was not good at that time.

The interior beauty of the Palace of Versailles in France

The gardens of this palace are among the most extensive parks in the world; Because they cover an area of about 2000 hectares. It is interesting to know that 210,000 flowers and 200,000 trees are planted in these gardens every year, and in 1979, the names of these gardens were registered in the UNESCO World Heritage List next to the Palace of Versailles.

The gardens of the historical Palace of Versailles have a beautiful geometric design. The trees are in regular rows, and its sidewalks are magnificent. This garden’s ponds and water channels are another reason for its fame. Of course, more than anything else, the garden’s water features attract tourists’ attention. It should be mentioned that there are 50 fountains, with 620 fountains in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles, which were built to entertain guests in these gardens. It is interesting to know that even now, many of these fountains use the same old hydraulic systems made by the royal family’s order.

In the western part of the garden, they built a large water channel, which was approximately 1.6 kilometers long, and it was often used to show the equipment of the French Navy and was also considered a show of power. In addition, unique rowing boats were also placed in this channel.

Louis XIV built this palace to show off his authority and power among other governments, and the luxury of this palace was seen by all the rulers of the time. For this reason, Louis XIV decided to move the center of the French government to Versailles.

The Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles

One of the most famous buildings of the Palace of Versailles was called the Hall of Mirrors, which is still standing and is considered a very spectacular place of this palace. This hall consists of 17 large mirrored arches and a window in front of each of these arches. Twenty-one pieces of mirrors are used in each turn, and there are a total of 357articless of mirrors in the hall.

The Hall of Mirrors’  length, width, and height is 73, 10.5, and 12.3 meters, respectively. Among the hall’s decorations, we can mention ceiling paintings and gilded sculptures on the walls. One of the beauties of the Palace of Versailles is several glass chandeliers hanging from the ceiling in the hall. These chandeliers have doubled the beauty of the hall. Knowing how they were built in the past with those few facilities increases the wonder of this hall. You may have heard the names of the lighting of the Palace of Versailles. It is interesting to know that inside the Hall of Mirrors, 20,000 candles were lit during royal celebrations, making the hall so bright that they chose this name for it.

Chapels of the Palace of Versailles

Five churches were built inside the Palace of Versailles, of which only one remains and are the last church built. Interestingly, this church was dedicated to Louis IX of France at its construction.

Among the other buildings built in the Palace of Versailles, we can mention the Grand Apartments of the King and Queen. These apartments include several consecutive halls where court and government meetings were held. In addition, are the Queen’s Apartments, which consist of several private rooms, and the Queen’s Golden Bedroom.

An interesting thing to know is that these rooms had a secret door made for emergencies; the Palace of Versailles could be attacked. Marie Antoinette, the last Queen before the French Revolution and the wife of Louis XVI, escaped from the Parisian revolutionaries using this secret door.

Royal Opera House

The last building that we are going to introduce is the Royal Opera Hall of Versailles, which was the main venue for the theater and opera performances of the Palace of Versailles. The design of this hall is exceptional, and it was the responsibility of the famous French architect Ange Jacques Gabriel, which is why it is also known as Gabriel’s Theater.

The interior design of the hall was done by Augustin Pajo, who worked almost all parts of the interior with wood. We have also tried to choose a marble color for this hall. It is interesting to know that this hall is designed very well in terms of sound quality, and most of this feature is due to the use of wood in its interior design. One of the exciting things we should mention is the capacity of this hall.

It should be mentioned that the capacity of the Royal Opera Hall of Versailles is more than seven hundred people.

Architecture and design of the historical Palace of Versailles

One of the exciting and unique features of the Palace of Versailles is its unique architecture. Because it was built in such a way that even today’s architectural experts consider it exemplary. Some researchers and art history specialists today believe the Versailles and Louvre palaces to be French classical architecture styles.

The exciting thing about the Palace of Versailles is that we see a symbol of something almost everywhere we look. For example, images of Roman gods are used to decorate the ceilings. In addition, in different places of the palace, you can see the initial letter of the king’s name, “L,” uniquely included in various carvings. All this is for the constant reminder that he is the king and God’s favor and grace is the primary source of his power.

The king’s achievements are kept in the Palace of Versailles, which gave a beautiful effect to this palace, and these achievements were used to decorate the court. And it is interesting to know that the narration of the king’s life history was used to decorate the Hall of Mirrors and the “War and Peace” halls adjacent to it. For example, thirty panels in the Hall of Mirrors tell epic stories of Louis XIV’s achievements.

If we want to mention it in more detail, in these narratives, special mention is made of the king’s victory in various battles. One of the attractive pictures you can see there, for example, is of Louis XIV crossing the Rhine River with his army in 1672. Louis XIV is dressed in Roman garb, his long hair swept back in the wind, and he is holding a spear he is about to throw at his enemies.

The Queen’s mansions in the historic Palace of Versailles

Marie Antoinette, the wife of Louis XVI and the last Queen before the French Revolution, decided to build a separate estate near the Grand Trianon building in the palace, consisting of several buildings, a house, a small theater, and a farm. The name of this mansion was Petit, Trianon, which means small in French.

Also, Marie Antoinette ordered to build of another building called the Temple of Love. He seems to have had a fine view of this temple from his room in the Petit Trianon mentioned. In this temple, twelve columns are used to support a large domed roof, and inside there is a statue of Cupid, the God of love in Greek mythology, who is sharpening a bow and arrow from the staff of Hercules.

Also, another building that Marie Antoinette ordered to be built in her mansion was a fantastic cave with a fur-covered bed and two beautiful entrances.

If we want to discuss the fate of the Palace of Versailles after the Great French Revolution, we must say that in 1789, the French Revolution reached its peak, and Louis XVI, along with his Queen, Marie Antoinette, was removed from power. They managed to escape, But in the end, they fell into the hands of the revolutionaries, who brought them to Paris and executed both.

After this incident, the control of the Palace of Versailles officially fell into the hands of the new republican government. Many of the palace’s expensive and valuable items were sold to finance the upcoming revolutionary wars. Finally, when Napoleon could take control of the situation, he ordered an entire apartment to be built in the Grand Trianon and lived in it.

Interesting facts you don’t know about the Palace of Versailles in France

The Palace of Versailles in Paris was first built only as a hunting ground for the king and his companions. Today, after several centuries, have is known as one of the attractions and attractions for tourists visiting France. Stay with us to tell you exciting things about it:

• During the French Revolution, the palace gate was destroyed, and in 2008, this golden gate was restored and can be visited now.
• Thirty-six thousand workers were used to build the Palace of Versailles and its gardens.
• It is interesting to know that this palace has a capacity of 5000 people.
• This palace has 2153 windows, 1200 fireplaces, 700 rooms, and more than 67 stairs.
  Most of the palace’s valuable works were sold or transferred to other museums, But now most of them have returned and are placed inside the court where you can visit them.
• In the past, many valuable works of art and paintings were used to decorate the Palace of Versailles, which are extremely valuable, and their number may reach more than 5,000.
• It may be interesting that Louis XIV allocated a third of the total capital in the construction of the Palace of Versailles to its fountains.
• There are a total of 400 statues in the gardens of this palace.
• Hundreds of servants worked in the kitchen of the Palace of Versailles. Despite this, the relatively large distance between the kitchen and the palace dining hall made the king’s food often served cold.
• In 2015, a film directed by Alan Rickman was released, depicting the construction of different parts of the historic Palace of Versailles.