Versailles Grand Apartments: The Treasures of Château de Versailles - The Creation of Louis XIV!

So, it's 9.26 in the morning and we are on our way to Versailles again. Why are we here so early? Well, it's because we are going to check out the Grand Appartement today and we thought the earlier the better because that's basically the main part of the chateau that everybody comes and sees. So we are trying to go down there as early as possible. We have a guided tour at 10 o'clock in the morning as well, 10.15 I think. So yeah, so this is where we are going today, this is our plan. Today we will be exploring the most popular part of the chateau that you would normally This is the most central and oldest part of the chateau, where at the time anyone, the French and the foreigners, were allowed to visit, as long as they were dressed correctly, had a proper haircut, often including a wig, and carried a sword. There are still debates to this day whether the sword was necessary to enter the chateau. Some consider this particular rule a legend. The rules became a little stricter due to the theft and especially during the assassination who stabbed the king as he was preparing to leave for Grand Trianon on the afternoon of January 5th, 1757. As you make your way to Grand Appartement, you initially go up to the first floor and you are met with the rooms of Louis XIV. Here the Sun King takes the center stage, with paintings, art objects and furniture offering an entire panorama of the 17th century, with the sovereign, his family, the court and major events placed right in the center. It is an excellent introduction to what you are about to see, since it was Louis XIV who had this unimaginable idea to turn his father's hunting lodge into the most opulent and grand palace in Europe in a mere 50 years. We find it particularly interesting how much focus is placed on Madame de Maintenon, since she was only married to Louis XIV in a morganatic marriage after his first wife Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche passed away. What is a morganatic marriage, you may ask? A morganatic marriage is simply a marriage between a king or a prince with a person of a lower rank. Neither the spouse nor the children get any privileges or any inheritance in such marriages. In case of Madame de Maintenon, or Françoise d'Aubigné, her real name, she was initially a simple governess of the illegitimate children of Louis XIV and his then-favorite Madame de Montespan. Françoise met Louis XIV as he would often visit the children at Montespan's. He grew interest to her character and intellect and had her returned to the court of France at Versailles after the children were legitimized in 1673. Madame de Montespan grew jealous of Françoise and would often attack her, leading to the letter to demand to be released from her employment. Louis XIV instead rewarded her with 10.000 écus for her to stay. With this sum, she acquired the seigniory of Maintenon on December 27th, 1674, and then became Madame de Maintenon the following year. We visited her chateau a few years back and highly recommend you to check out that episode. It's linked in the first comment of the video. But enough of the Maintenon, we've arrived. You are met with the Grand Salon d'Hercule, ironically this is the last piece created under Louis XIV's reign in 1710, and yet it is the first you see when entering Le Grand Appartement. In fact, it was the previous chapel that occupied this space on two levels while the Chapelle Royale was still under construction just nearby. The work of the Salon d'Hercule lasted until 1736, when François Lemoyne finished the painting of the ceiling representing the apotheosis of Hercules. Despite his appointment to the post of first painter of the king that Louis XV gave him, Lemoyne took his own life a year later in 1737. The Grand Appartement originally consisted of a row of seven pieces that were part of the envelope around the central old hunting lodge chateau. These pieces were built by the architect Lovot between 1671 and 1680. They were named after the known seven planets, Venus, Diana, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Apollo, the Sun, Jupiter, and Saturn. Since everything revolved around the king who represented the Sun, it was only logical to name the Grand Rooms after the planets in the solar system. These Grand Rooms were richly decorated in Italian style and were open to the public who wanted to see the king and the royal family on their way to the chapel. These seven Grand Rooms ended at the terrace that occupied the center of the main façade on the garden side and connected to the apartments of the king and the queen. However, with the construction of Galeries de Glace, or the Hall of Mirrors from 1678, the rooms of Jupiter, Saturn, and the first room of Venus were removed. Today, the rooms are replaced by the current Venus Parlor and that of the Abundance. Galeries de Glace is probably the most emblematic part of the Chateau de Versailles and it was built that way. Entering from the World Salon, visitors are met with the 73 meters of France's political, economic, and artistic successes. Honestly, it is hard to explain how overwhelming and magnificent this place looks. You simply don't know where to start. Look up and you will see the 30 compositions of the world painted by Le Brun that illustrate the glorious history of Louis XIV during the first eight years of his government, from 1661 until the Peace of Nijmegen. Look around and you will feel the economic prosperity of Louis XIV's France with the 357 mirrors that adorn the 17 arcades facing the windows. The mirrors were placed here to create an illusion of space and light. It's as if the sun pierces the building right through. Mirror was an object of luxury at the time, and the use of French mirrors for this grand gallery showed France's ability to challenge the Venetian monopoly on mirror production. This gallery served daily as a place of passage, waiting and meetings frequented by courtiers and the public visitors. It only exceptionally served as a setting for ceremonies, when the sovereign wanted to give the greatest brilliance to entertainments offered on the occasion of princely weddings or diplomatic receptions. On these special occasions, the throne was installed on a platform at the very end of the gallery, on the side of the Peace Salon. The king would sit on the throne, and the special visitors would have to cross this magnificent gallery all the way from the opposite end, that of War Salon. This is how the ambassadors of Siam in 1686, Persia in 1715 and the Ottoman Empire in 1742 had to cross the entire gallery, under the eyes of the court, masked on each side on stands to reach the king. It was also here that Cardinal de Rohan was arrested immediately following his meeting with Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, to discuss his role in l'Affaire du Collier de l'Arène, the Queen's Collier Affair. And of course it was here that the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28th, 1919, which ended the First World War. Since then, the presidents of the Republic have continued to receive official guests, including the Queen Elizabeth and many presidents of foreign nations. While you are here, make sure to enter the king's apartment on your left, the one Louis XIV had constructed and lived in until his last breath. You are met with the Cabinet du Conseil. This room served for official presentations, which was necessary to be admitted to the court. Madame du Barry, among many others, made her bow here on April 22nd, 1769. Speaking of Louis XV and Madame du Barry, there is a door, opposite the one you walked in, from the Hall of Mirrors. This is the entrance to the private apartments of the king, mainly used by Louis XV and Louis XVI. You cannot enter there with a regular ticket, but you can book a guided visit on Versailles' official site, and you can watch our episode about that part of the château in the description of this video. We highly recommend this visit to get an inside look at a more private life of the last two kings of the Ancien Régime. Next is the bedroom of the king. This is where Louis XIV slept. This is where he also died. He moved here in 1701 and held his rise and bedtime ceremonies. He dined here and received certain courtiers or ambassadors. The position of this room is in the center of the château facing east, right behind the Hall of Mirrors. As the sun rose, so did the Sun King. The sumptuous decor of gold and silver brocade on a crimson background of the room is embellished with paintings chosen by Louis XIV himself. Louis XV and Louis XVI both continued to use this room for the ceremonies, but slept in the bedroom in the private apartments that was less cold and more comfortable. In 1778, Louis XVI received in this bedroom Benjamin Franklin, who came to sign the Treaty of Friendship and Trade between France and the United States of America. And finally on October 6, 1789, it was here where Louis XVI appeared from the balcony to the crowd's blow, along with Marie Antoinette and the Dauphin, before being forced to leave Versailles for the last time. Le Salon de l'Oeil de Boeuf is next, and it takes its name from the rounded window facing the south, in the shape of a bull's eye. This strategic hall was used by the court to see the king's rise and bedtime. It's also where Marie Antoinette fled to, through a series of private rooms connecting to her official Grand Appartement that we will visit now. Crossing La Galerie des Glaces and the Peace Salon, we enter the Grand Apartment of the Queen. Le Grand Appartement de la Reine, unlike the one of the king, was occupied and used by the queens until the French Revolution. The bedroom is the first and the main room in the apartment. Here, the queen received the court and also gave birth. In total, 19 children of France were born here from the different queens. The décor conserves the changes and adjustments of the three queens who occupied this place. Marie Thérèse had the ceiling compartmentalized, Marie Leszczyńska changed the paintings and the woodwork, while Marie Antoinette preserved most of the décor and only had the furniture and the fireplace redone. When the writers broke into the château on October 6, 1789, Marie Antoinette was awakened by one of her ladies-in-waiting. They locked the doors and only let the guards in after some time of them begging to be let in. It must be noted that Louis XVI ordered the guards to not hurt anybody, and as a result several guards were injured and killed by the crowds. Marie Antoinette fled through a small camouflaged door on the left that led her to the Salon de l'Oeil de Boeuf, where she was eventually let in by a guard who happened to be on the other side of the locked door. As we walk through the remaining rooms of the apartment, we felt uneasy. This apartment feels like a film with an abrupt ending. Perhaps it's due to the simple fact that the lives of Marie Antoinette and those close to her also abruptly ended. We don't know, but that's how we felt. As we reached the Queen's staircase, we realized that we walked the steps of those who broke into the château on that fateful day, but in reverse. On October 6, 1789, the royal family would be taken to Palais de Tullerie in Paris and would never return to Versailles again. But that's a whole other story, which we'll have to tell you about some other day. And that's it for today. We hope you liked this episode. If you would like to see more of this content, please don't forget to like, share and comment below. Until the next one, Au revoir!