Paris1972-Versailles2003

And I have to come back to my Versailles, always will be there for me, My memorable moments here are endless, if Paris is worth a Republic, Versailles is worth a Kingdom ! This is Versailles where we spent 9+ years of our lives in France and keep many nice memorable moments. We have re visited and have several, many posts on it in my blog. However, I found me new pictures from one of my cd rom, which should be in my blog, even if already written on them before. These are wonderful spots of the Château de Versailles, part VII !!! Hope you enjoy it as I.

The Salon des Nobles is a salon in the Grand Appartement de la Reine The salon is located between the antechamber of the Grand Couvert and the Queen’s bedroom and served as the second antechamber of the apartment.  The Salon de Nobles or nobles’ room is the antechamber under Queen Marie-Thérèse, it was in this room that Mary Leszczinska granted her solemn hearings, seated under a dais. She also held her circle, as we called this time of conversation settled with the ladies of the court. Marie Antoinette had the decoration remade entirely, preserving only the paintings of the ceiling, and for her, the walls of Damascus green apple bordered with a large gold braid. 

The Museum of the history of France was created in 1837 by Louis-Philippe, (who save Versailles by doing this museum) ,who entrusted the organization to the Count of Montalivet. Installed in the wings of the Château de Versailles, then in a state close to abandonment, it brings together a vast ensemble of portraits and historical scenes, canvases commissioned for the most part to artists of the time. A unique ensemble in Europe, it has recently undergone restorations. It includes the Galerie des Batailles (gallery of battles), a gallery of 120 meters long with large paintings illustrating the major military events in the history of France. Not many realized this is a museum and think only of a palace; but it was saved by Louis Philippe creating the idea of all the glories of France and creating a museum here! The collections of the Museum of the History of France include today almost 6 000 paintings and 1 500 sculptures, dated from the 15-20C, of which almost half are orders of Louis-Philippe for his museum (works of creation, copies and die castings).

The Galerie des Glaces or Gallery of Mirrors is a large baroque-style gallery which is one of the emblematic pieces of the Château de Versailles. Conceived and built from 1678 to 1684 by the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart, it was then intended to illustrate the power of the absolute monarch Louis XIV and to dazzle its visitors, by its ornamentation, by its rich iconography and by its original dimensions of 73 meters long, 10.50 meters wide, and covered with 357 mirrors, or 21 mirrors at each of its 17 arches facing 17 windows. Located on the first floor of the central body of the palace, it faces, the gardens of the palace, of which it gives a great perspective. The ceiling is decorated with nearly 1 000 m2 of paintings from the atelier of Charles Le Brun illustrating the achievements of the reign of Louis XIV, staging the king himself in 30 large compositions.

The Salle du Sacre or Coronation Room is a room dedicated to the glory of Napoleon I, and named after David’s painting It is located on the first floor (2^nd US) of the Palace of Versailles, it is adjacent to the Queen’s Guard Room. The room was built on the site of the second chapel of the castle, transferred in 1682 to the North wing, on the site of the current Salon d’Hercule. It was then planked and the ground floor became the apartment of the Dauphine while the first floor then became a guard room, intended to bring together the guards of the castle to assign them to their day of service. The room was used for a few significant events: Louis XV dismissed the parliament there on April 13, 1771 and the revolutionary rioters entered the Queen’s apartments through this room on October 6, 1789.

La chambre de la Vaisselle d’or or the room of the golden dishes ,it is the former interior cabinet of Madame Adelaide, the apartment which she occupied on the first floor of the castle between 1752 and 1769, had been laid out on the site of the Petite Galerie and the Escalier des Ambassadeurs . Madame Adelaide had at the time of this service two of the greatest playwrights of the 18C;  Goldoni, who taught her Italian, and Beaumarchais who was her harp teacher. Later, king Louis XV, who took his coffee here, exhibited his golden dishes. Louis XVI placed the extraordinary cabinet in ebony and mahogany, covered with porcelain plates decorated with bird feathers and butterfly wings. On the chimney, is arranged a beautiful bust of king Louis XV child . The two porcelain plates of Sèvres, representing the toilet of the Sultan and the Sultan giving orders to the odalisques  were ordered by king Louis XVI for his interior cabinets.  During the French revolution, she and Madame Adelaide were left with the ten children that Louis XV had with the Queen. The two princesses, opposed to the anti-Christian politics of the revolutionary assembly, left France in February 1791, not without having suffered some affronts on their way of exile. on June 7, 1799. Adelaide only survived her for eight months. Their bodies were repatriated to France under king Louis XVIII, another of their nephews, and were buried in the abbey-Basilica of Saint-Denis, the tomb of the Royal family Marie Adelaide of France, called Madame Adelaide, then from 1752, Madame, fourth daughter and sixth child of Louis XV and Marie Leszczyńska, was born on 23 March 1732 in Versailles, baptised in the Notre Dame Collegiate Church of Versailles on 27 April 1737, and died on 27 February 1800 in Trieste, Italy. Madame Adelaide rooms were the former bedroom of Madame de Pompadour ,where she died in 1764.

The Chambre de la Reine or Queen’s bedroom is the main room of the apartment, the one where the queen stayed most often. She slept there, often joined by the king. This is also where public births took place: nineteen “Children of France” were born there. The decor preserves the memory of the three queens who occupied the room: the compartmentalization of the ceiling dates back to Queen Marie-Thérèse, but the grisaille paintings by Boucher were created for Marie Leszczinska, as were the woodwork. All these elements were preserved from the time of Marie-Antoinette for whom only the furniture and the fireplace were delivered new. During the invasion of the castle by rioters on October 6, 1789, Marie-Antoinette managed to escape them through the small left door of the alcove opening onto a corridor giving access to the Queen’s interior cabinets, a dozen small rooms reserved to her private life and her service. During the French revolution, the castle was not pillaged, but its furniture was dispersed during auctions which lasted an entire year. Some have been found, like the Schwerdfeger jewelry stand which is to the left of the bed, or like the fireplace screen; others were replaced by equivalent pieces: such is the case of the seats delivered partly for the Countess of Provence, sister-in-law of the queen, and partly for the visit of the King of Sweden Gustave III. As for the fabrics that stretch the bed and the walls, they were rewoven in Lyon based on the original cartons preserved. The bed and the balustrade were resculpted based on ancient documents.

The Château de Versailles on the Queen’s apartment with the Salon des Nobles : https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/estate/palace/queen-apartments#the-nobles-room

The Château de Versailles on the Galerie des Batailles: https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/estate/palace/gallery-great-battles

The Château de Versailles on the Galerie des Glaces: https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/estate/palace/hall-mirrors

The Château de Versailles on the Salle Sacré or Coronation room : https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/estate/palace/coronation-room

The Château de Versailles on the ladies: https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/history/great-characters/mesdames

The Château de Versailles on the ladies’s apartments: https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/estate/palace/louis-xv-daughters-apartments#madame-victoires-first-antechamber

The Versailles tourist office on the palace of Versailles: https://en.versailles-tourisme.com/palace-of-versailles.html

There you go folks, the grandeur of France before your eyes, yes crowded, yes busy, but you are still coming and for a good reason. There is no other castle/palace/museum that can equal it for architecture, history and just a beautiful property. My Versailles, my Palace of Versailles. Again, hope you enjoy this post on the Château de Versailles, part VII !!! as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!