I have been telling the world about this! I used to lived here and have many posts on the city and its monuments, This post again will be in my black and white series, no pictures. This is tracing a bit on the famous universail declaration of the rights of men and citizen ! Therefore , here is my tribute to my city of Versailles, part I !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I
The itinerary of the declaration of the rights of men in Versailles, At 5 rue de l’Indépendance Américaine was the seat of the various departments of the archives of hte Navy and Foreign Affairs in 1762 Here, too the war of US independance was carried out from 1778, The king sent initially admiral d’Estaing with 16 warships in 1779, Later an expeditionary force led by the Count of Rochambeau was sent accompanied bya naval force of 49 vessels, Then in 1781 two fleets were sent to America and one to India to fight British interests there, In this building the 1776 declaration of Independance was in self determination equality and other doctrines were started.
By Rue Jeu de Paume built in 1686 dedicated to the ancient game of Tennis w8they to create the first act of political transformation in France ,By 7 rue de Satory, was an ordinary library of the king and the geography library of the queen opened in 1770, Within its wall the new thinking grew with work by French and foreigners , especially many works by Voltaire, A literary group was formed in 1775 to read the press of Paris and abroad, This is the lights or lumiéres with new liberties that brought Mirambeau , A new newspaper was born here the Journal de Versailles,writing inflamatory works on the king and queen
At the Cathédrale Saint Louis , Place Saint Louis at the time a simple church on the opening of the march of the Estate General coming from Notre Dame Church, on Monday Imay 4 1789 It was here that the Third Estate was received on June 22 1789 to create a national assembly or house of representatives, At the crossing of rue d’Anjou and rue de l’Orient an incident was started on a bakery Sunday September 13 1789 when the baker Boulanger raised the price of bread the crowd burned the counter 3 men were executed and from this the king ask the regiment of Flandres to come to Versailles in the event of rioting, Nearby the deputies were house during the seance of the Estate General at 31 rue Saint Honoré was Jérome Pétion member of the Club Breton mayor of Paris, and 34 rue du Général Leclerc ,the count of Mirabeau.
At 22 Avenue de Paris was the Hôtel des Menus Plaisirs where since Louis XV the king house the ateliers and depots of games and accessories for the court, To house the two estates and later the Estate General a room was done on planches in the courtyard it was demolished in the 19C but you still can see the trace on the floor, Many meetings were held here On June 17 the assembly of representatives decided to create the National Assembly , The king oppose and the representatives go the salle de Jeu de Paume on June 20 where they swear to never leave the room until a constitution is done, This is where the famous phrase of Mirabeau is said, « Go and tell those that sent you that we are here by the will of the people and that will take us from us only with the point of bayonets »
The June 27th, the king quits and ordered the nobility to join the other two orders so the National Assembly can elect a constitution, Therefore, votes were taken to abolishment of priviledges on the night of August 4 1789 , the religious opinions the 23rd, press, 24th, and the 26th the Declaration of the Rights of Men and Citizen in 17 articles that serve as preamble to the constitution.
At the corner of avenue Saint Cloud, and rue Carnot, Jean Louis Amaury ordered built a coffee shop in 1763 his son Nicolas took over in 1781, The Breton deputies and later of other regions , From this club Breton came out the days of October the Club of Friends of the Constitution aka Club des Jacobins when installed in Paris at the convent of Dominicans also called Jacobins,
At 54 Boulevard de la Reine in a mansion of the mid-18C since 1932 the municipal museum of Versailles houses a collection of objects and document related to the French revolution, All the events are catalogue here including bust of La Fayette by Houdon, Bailly, Mirabeau, and Le Péletier de Saint Fargeau, a stone from the Bastille, and dishware of the revolutionaries, Nearby deputies were house during the Estates General such at 55bis boulevard de la Reine abbe Gregoire signer of the sermont and future President of the national assembly who introduce a Jew in the national convention of 1794 that ablolished slavery,
At 35 rue de la Paroisse, there is the Notre Dame Church built under Louis XIV, official royal parish where all princes were baptised had the distinction of staring the procession of the Saint Sacrament before the opening of the Estates General, The deputies arriving from the provinces were call here on May 4 1789, The king arrived with his brother the count of Provence (future Louis XVIII) , and count of Artois (future Charles X), and the nephews duke of Berry (Charles de France) ,and duke of Angoulême (Louis de France), as well as his couisin duke of Chartres, (Louis-Philippe d’Orléans), This huge procession of about 2000 persons took off by the rue Dauphine (today rue Hoche), direction the Saint Louis Church (today Cathedral).
At 1 rue Carnot,(now a primary school) in the 18C was the place of the hôtel de Noailles, Noble family of which was related the Marquis de La Fayette, The event here that while La Fayette staying here during his visits to Versailles, was arrested for 8 days for participating initially in the war of independance of the US without the king’s permission, Another anecdote, on the night of October 5-6 1789 the mob from Paris was at the door of the palace , the commander of the National Guard did not order the gates open but nevertheless they were and he rush to the king and queen to come out in the balcony to appease the crowds and the royal family will come to Paris, which they did.
At the Place d’Armes done in the 1660’s with 8,5 hectares as that of Concorde today, It is here that the events ended in 1789, Here the regiment of Flandres who were having a banquet , destroyed the tricolor flag of the revolution creating another mob on Versailles They go thru the grille gate and go into the palace by the stair of the queen, She had reunited with the king and her children showing themselves in the balcony, when the king accepts to come to Paris with the constitutional assembly following them,
The Assemblée Générale or general assembly proclaims the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Men as the ideal in common to reach all peoples and all nations so that the individual and all the organs of society have the spirit of the teaching education and development of respect for the rights and liberties of all, IT has 17 articles
Following the rules of construction of Louis XIV we have several interesting spots in my Versailles, these are : the fake windows of 22 rue de Satory built mid 18C ,also at 4 rue de l’Indépendance Américaine on the first floor (2nd US), The 2 rue Saint Julien facade in stone of the hôtel de postes of Louis XV deco obelisk in mailbox, also fake windows at rue Maziére in the style 18C , At 2 rue Carnot trompe-l’oeil fake door of cellar, Another one at 12 rue des Etats Généraux facade of Facteur Cheval,
You see a Versailles invention the slotted windows when Antoine Duchesne invent in 1727 the first larmed offenders inclined since called jealousies or loungers, The first in France were installed at the hôtel du Marquis de Seignelay, 8-10 rue de l’Orangerie,The abundance of curved patterns grew with Louis XV such as the balcony of 22 rue de Satory or 30 rue des Etats Généraux in the birthplace home of general Hoche, curves and against curves see them at 9 rue Royale, and 18 rue Hoche.
Ironwork see them at 17 rue de Satory and motto terrify the giants of the Chevau Légers (light horses) at 108 rue de la Paroisse balcony of 1783, Also, facade arranged in a pyramidal way at 65bis avenue de Saint Cloud, troubadour style at 8 rue de Satory and 20 , rue de la Paroisse The dress armories of 19C good examples at rue Carnot nos 17,34,36, and 38, 32 rue de la Paroisse, and 71 boulevard de la Reine, place Lyautey, Rocaille style at 10 rue de Fontainay, abundance of horns at 14 rue du Vieux Versailles building from 1787 and at no 12 rue du Vieux Versailles sign, first La Rose rouge and then the le Petit Cerf,
Order of Jupiter at 6 avenue de Paris portal of the 18C only remains of the hôtel des Gendarmes de la Garde built in 1737, At 2bis avenue de Paris the canons of Napoléon on the portal of the hôtel Pullman barrack created under Napoléon III now a commercial complex call the les Manéges,(my oldest son worked here!) See the intials EF at 11 rue de la Paroisse building from the 18C the facade from the 19C, See the lobster motif on the facade of 14 rue Richard,
By the 19C the Art Nouveau is impose on Versailles,see the enamelled sandstones of the 3 rue de l’Assemblée Nationale building mention Les Houblons with facade of hop flowers, With apples and quince plaque shows no 80 but is 36 rue des Chantiers see earthenware at 1 impasse Adéle Mulot represented with griffin , Buildings showing goute de lait at 3 rue Richard built in 1910, this milk created in 1899 to fight against malnutrition
See the doors of the Grand Commun (see post) built in 1684 at 1 rue de l’indépendance Américaine ; also door of the barrack of Croÿ of 1734 at 5 rue Royale, built for the garde robe of duke of Noailles, At 6 avenue de Paris cheeky door of 1737 deco with head of cerf at the key and dog heads, The former kernel of the dauphin at 38 rue des Etats Généraux, The door of the ministry of War built in 1759 top with a royal crown and sun window with brightness at 3 rue de l’Indépendance Américaine, The door of the mansion of madame du Barry two centaurs showing presence of stables at 19 avenue de Paris, The door Louis XIV at the corner of rue du peintre Lebrun and rue Colbert,
Empire style at 6 rue d’Anjou built in 1811 street level decorated with a fronton with pillars of doric style and on 2nd level (3rd US) pairs of pillars on windows, The windmills of Versailles are at 18 rue des Chantiers a wheat factory was built next to the train station in 1854 completed in 1854 and a windmill was added in 1905 enlarge in 1920, The family Chaudé still works the windmill, See the Dutch architecture at 88 avenue des Etats Unis, done in bricks it was a diamond maker built by the house Asscher jewerlers from Amsterdam, built in 1920 from 1956 is a school today the lycée professionnel Jacques Prévert
You see niches of saints all over especially at 7 rue Durcis a statue of the Virgin and Child ; 18-19 rue Saint Honoré in the Saint Louis neighborhood are many here, A nice one is at 30 rue de l ‘Ermitage on top of an old fountain, You have one in the Montreuil neighborhood statue of Saint Fiacre on a facade of the place Saint Symphorien, In the narrowest street in Versailles at 9 rue Saint Honoré it is only 2,92 meters house build early 18C later change neo classique in the 19C,
A house in the neo Renaissance style at 25 rue Saint Honoré with panels of dogs culotes adorned with angels, bearing bodyguard coats of arms neo gothic house built end 19C, At 10 rue Royale polychrome plaster facade with a solar cadran and words in the search for Midy maybe was the brand of a watchmaker, At 19 rue Durcis in the Notre Dame neighborhood see copy as original is the musée Lambinet of Versailles showing a tavern with the name A la Gaité, On the building of Chien qui fume at 8 rue André Chénier even if the house across utilise the name of the cat, At the 80 rue d’Anjou see an inscription on the door saying the hôtel du parcq aux cerfe or cherry parck, remind us of the hunting reserve of Louis XIII and Louis XIV on which the neighborhood of Saint Louis was build, Louis XV will buy a house here at rue Saint Médéric where he will meet the courtisanes, An old door at the corner of rue de l’Occident and rue du Marché Neuf is associated with the black leyend but not open until the king sold the house in 1771,
Commercial signs at 12 rue du Vieux Versailles showing charcuterie or cold cuts with crosses showing palais du travail paris, decor signe Anselm à Paris normal lettering of food stores in the 19C and early 20C, See other examples at 19 rue de Satory and 98 rue de la Paroisse, Windows protected by curtains of old stores see it at 8,9,10, and 18 rue du Vieux Versailles and 54 rue d’Anjou and 17 rue de la Paroisse, See wells in the City at 3 rue Gallieni hidden behind un volet with lock hole and fake cover, It was here before the pond was dry and the street build,
The city of Versailles tourist office on its heritage: https://en.versailles-tourisme.com/visiting-the-city.html
The city of Versailles on its history/heritage: https://www.versailles.fr/65/decouvrir-versailles.htm
The Yvelines dept 78 tourist office on Versailles: https://www.destination-yvelines.fr/?s=&_search=versailles&_post_types=touristic_offer&_land_yvelines=versailles-soleil-des-yvelines
There you go folks, my beloved Versailles, worthy of France and the world. This is a must coming to France and do see beyond the castle/domaine. If you have , considered yourselves lucky and cherished it. I will always have my Versailles. Again, hope you enjoy this post on my city of Versailles, part I !!! as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 