Visit Versailles [antikvár]

14 VERSAILLES, SEAT OF THE OLD MONARCHY Although Louis XIII had a hunting lodge built with its own gardens on the site in the 1630s, it was really Louis XIV who created Versailles. Removed from the rebellious people of Paris, yet within reach of the city, the site offered plenty of opportunity to build: it thus fulfilled the King's desire to gather his Court around him, something that no other royal residence in the area could offer. It was he who gave the palace its grandeur; it was he who mapped out its destiny. Between 1682 and 1789, Versailles was the seat of the absolute monarchy and became its symbol, since the placc itself, modelled according to the Sun King's wishes, reflects the way he conceived power. THE DWELLING PLACE OF ALL POWER 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 through intermediaries that owed him everything. Excluded from affairs of government, the Nobility no longer held any real power, yet they nonetheless felt the need to appear at Court. It was there that the King dispensed favours: offices, land, titles, pensions, etc. In this society founded on prestige and appearances, emulation was constant, luxury compulsory, life extravagant. In this way, Louis XIV "had a hold" over his courtiers. It was he who had to dominate in every way; in his eyes, the exercise and outward signs of power were one and the same thing. His residence had to be the biggest and the most beautiful and its décor loaded with symbols to his glory. The number of servants, in the noble sense of the term, assembled in the King's House, had to be the greatest and his Court had to be attended by the most people; between 3000 and 10,000 courtiers, depending on the day. This huge crowd had to be strictly regulated. Etiquette and its constraints - who had access to the King, who had the right to sit down in his presence, who was ranked above whom, etc. - may seem pointless to us today. However, etiquette was essential, since it served to confirm ranks, the primacy of the King, in short the hierarchy within the Court. It applied to the Sovereign's most private moments - getting up in the morning, going to bed at night, mealtimes, going for walks - which were perceived as acts of State when acts of State appeared to be the King's personal acts. Another specific feature of Versailles, and something which naturally astonished foreigners, was that both the gardens and the inside of the Château were largely open to the public. Anyone, be diey a member of the Court or otherwise, could see the King when he crossed his State Apartments to go to the Chapel. They could even go right into his Bedchamber, as long as he was not there. All these functions - representation, government, accommodation and service - explain the layout of the place. But it was not built in a day. FIFTY YEARS OF BUILDING WORK When Louis XIV came to have fun in his father's manor at the start of his own reign in 1661 and ordered the first alterations, even he could never have imagined that this small building, consisting at the time of the buildings that surround the Marble Courtyard today, was to become the core of a vast complex. During this youthful period, the gardens, immediately entrusted to Le Nôtre, were the setting for festivities so extraordinary that Versailles became known throughout Europe. It was the day after the 1668 party that the King decided on the first extensions. Le Vau and d'Orbay, the King's architects, enveloped the old château with three main buildings overlooking the park. The new buildings, construCTed in stone and according to the tastes of the time - a baroque Roman villa style -, contrasted so starkly with the brick, stone and slate architecnire dating from the time of Louis XTTT, that there appeared to be two châteaux, slotted one into the other. Le Brun, Chief Painter to the King, provided the drawings for all the internal décor of the State Apartments and for the sculptures of the fountains with their multiple water effects in the parterres, avenues and groves. Apollo, the Sun God with whom the King was identified, reigned throughout. In 1677, Louis XIV announced his decision to move the Court and Government to Versailles permanendy. Thus began an immense building project, which, in spite of the tens of thousands of men working on it, was far from complete in 1682 when the King actually moved in. Under the direcrion of J. Hardouin-Mansart the built-on area was