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View visionary power at Versailles

A perspective that melts into the horizon, symbol of endless might

For an analysis of mass tourism via the Château web site, please CLICK.

http://unexpectedparis.blogspot.com/2012/01/occupy-tourism.html

"The château of Versailles toward 1660," by Patel

 

The perspective the home page describes influenced those of Paris, which culminate with a monument. Implicite: the State's grandeur.

 

Exploring the whole domain, rather than the château only, respects the king's intention.

 

 

 

 

 

  • We skip the line of people waiting to buy tickets and go directly to the gardens, which we visit 

    with a little train, or better yet, by rented bike –

    and by rowing on the Grand Canal. We...

 

• Stop at the "weekend getaways" that royals built, including Marie-Antoinette's famous farmhouse (if bikes, one person must stay with them -- that is one reason for having a guide) ...

 

• Discover the "groves", outdoor salons. This celebrated illustrator evokes the setting they provided for a ritualized sociability whose traces endure...  

 

• Row on the Grand Canal, to gain a sense of its extent and perhaps think of the fleet of gondolas and fêtes on balmy nights, with lovers, lanterns and violins... as well as of ordinary Parisians, who disposed of but one liter of water a day. 

 

• Déjeuner: A picnic. Or one of the restaurants near the Grand Canal. Louis would appreciate their elegance (and forbid the cafeteria).

 

 

A grove, by an illustrator who knew how to evoke its atmosphere

 

 

 

 

  • The grandiose domain reveals the king...

 

Louis XIV, the Sun King, appeared at a time when war had made France the Continent's most powerful nation, and when a rising middle class backed the Monarchy's successful effort to bring the aristocracy to heel.

 

The charismatic king could indulge artists in their wildest ambitions, on condition that they glorify his reign. Great imagination flowered only for a generation – roughly 1660-1690  –  but it was so fundamental that it caused the whole 17th century to be remembered as "Le Grand Siècle" : "The Great Century".

 

Then war and fate caught up.

 

 

 

 

  • To fully appreciate Versailles, one must recall the men and women whose private lives left lasting traces on the history of France ...

 

 

"He was a rather great king" - Saint-Simon, memorialist

 

among the most important are those of a favorite, a witch and a wife (in that order)...

 

 

Marquise de Montespan
Catherine La Voisin
Françoise d'Aubigny

 

Other tales are as dramatic.

 

     

     

    •  We visit the palace at the end of the day, when crowds usually have left

     

     

     

    Most of what is important about the about the château can be said outside it.

     

    Only official guides may speak within the château. We give the essentials before entering, Or, if there are only a few people, whisper.

     

    But explanations are not really necessary.

     

    The palace is meant to overwhelm. It does so – and then some.

       

       

      • A distinguished actress opens her 18th-century salon ... (for groups)

       

       

      The Sun King's secret wedding, by Maurice Leloir

       

      ...and reveals the true story of the woman who was born in prison, begged in the streets as a child yet married the Sun King... Then other troubles began.
      "I put no limits on my goals."

      She gives an original monologue in which "Madame Louis XIV" recalls her life. *

       

       

       

      • We bring these and other images to illustrate the visit

       

       

      • Costs : please CLICK

      º Château entry; boat and bike rental (bring an ID)

       

       

      Credits: horizon / "The château of Versailles in 1668", by Patel ; illustrations / by Michel Leloir in T. Cahu, "Le Roy Soleil", 1931 (for the interest of his drawings, please CLICK); Louis XIV / by Le Brun favorite / anonymous; witch / National Lilbrary ; spouse / by Mignard ; château and water / Gilbert Cordier ; performer / Claude Abron

       

      * It is based on a historical novel very well known in France, "The King's Way", by Françoise Chandenaggor.