History of Versailles: Palace of Sun King? French museums? Must visit tourist attraction
2023-05-27
Versailles - a landscape of power of Louis XIV and historical memory of France" is a book from third series of "Unread" "Libraries of Landmarks". This book mainly tells about past and present life of Palace of Versailles. As subtitle suggests, most glorious time of Palace of Versailles falls on reign of Louis XIV (1682-1715). This period was golden age of Palace of Versailles. Louis XIV not only achieved outstanding achievements in domestic and foreign affairs, but also spent decades of hard work and wealth to build luxurious Palace of Versailles to emphasize power of his monarch and greatness of France, and finally, achieved this goal. He compares himself to "Sun King", thinking that he is as big as earth and central sun of universe. Most typical is his golden head of Sun King, which begins each chapter of this book.
The Palace of Versailles was expanded into a magnificent and luxurious palace with a marble courtyard in center. A small courtyard in red, white and black in center, known as "House of Cards", was reign of Louis XIII, father of Louis XIV. It was built at that time, and his goal was to avoid noisy Parisian court, and occasionally come here to hunt and live. And Louis XIV hated life in Paris so much that he immediately transferred entire court to Palace of Versailles and built a huge complex of buildings for himself and his courtiers. Instead of following architect's advice to demolish marble courtyard, he expanded it around it to honor his father's memory.
Louis XIV liked Palace of Versailles so much that he rarely visited Paris and even transferred entire court to Palace of Versailles to work there. Only in later years did he live less here. He spent most of his life at Palace of Versailles, so that when his successors Louis XV and Louis XVI spent less time at Palace of Versailles, people . Previously, king was not in Paris, and people were dissatisfied, but now king is not in Versailles, and people are amazed.
Versailles, however, has its natural flaws: marble courtyard is built on high ground, but in end it is too small. Louis XIV wanted to expand his back garden, so he diverted a large marsh into distance, but there is not enough water here, although it is above marsh. How to solve problem of water source and solve problem of water of Palace of Versailles is a problem that Palace of Versailles has to deal with from beginning to end. At first, they thought to bring water at a distance of 0.8 kilometers and designed an elegant and huge drinking water machine, but it soon turned out that investment was not worth it. Louis XIV also wanted to bring water from afar, but this proved impossible.
Even if it's so uncomfortable here, it still can't stop Louis XIV's love and obsession with Palace of Versailles. Until his reign decades ago, Palace of Versailles had become a well-known landmark at home and abroad. Louis XIV considered accessibility of monarch important, so Palace of Versailles was also open to outside world. All well-dressed people can enter Palace of Versailles along route to see and admire this great and magnificent building.
All bureaucratic red tape and rules of Louis XIV period were inherited by his grandson Louis XV, and he said that they should not be changed to show respect and love for his grandfather. However, unlike his grandfather, Louis XV was not very fond of public life, he even thought it would be nice not to play role of king from time to time, so he paid a lot of attention to his personal and family life. This reaction was even more severe with Louis XVI. Louis XVI even felt that morning and evening rituals monitored by his courtiers were unbearable for him, and he simply wanted to enjoy his private time. So it is easy to see that although descendants of Louis XIV tried their best to respect and maintain rules of their ancestor Louis XIV, in fact these rules were gradually violated, and Palace of Versailles is no longer favorite residence of king. Monarchs Heyday always remained in the period of Louis XIV.