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Versailles, the Sun King's way

We focus on the immense grounds...
The perspective leads to the horizon, symbol of unending power.

 

"Versailles" is a complex of town, palace and park.

 

This perspective is at its core.

 

 

  • We won't try to beat the crowd by arriving at opening-time, which is when the tour buses arrive...

 

 

      We skip the line of people waiting to buy tickets to the château and go directly into the gardens, to come upon a spectacular perspective – it leads the eye down a slope, over water (the Grand Canal) and on to an endless horizon. This  horizon is the key to the entire complex, of which the château is only one part. 

       

      •We explore by a little train or, better, by rented bike and rowboat. The train stops at the "weekend getaways" that royals built (Versailles's internet site will give these places' names), but bikes let us delve in own way and rowing on the Grand Canal is superb – think of the fleet of gondolas and fêtes on balmy nights, with lovers, lanterns and violins...

       

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

       

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

       

       

      •  The grandiose estate introduces 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.

       

       

      • and people, for whom park and palace was only the august background for their intrigues, crimes and passions...

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

            

          Much about the château can be said outside.

           

          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 – let the king take over.

             

             

            • 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 pictures to illustrate the visit.

             

             

            • Watch out !

             

            Open to all free of charge under the kings, now the estate is run as a business. The château's high entry fee includes an audio-guide, which gives meaningless data. Lunch in the claustrophobic cafeteria and waiting in line under the sun for the little train that takes you through the  grounds, is mass tourism at its most discouraging (and expensive).

             

            Suggestion: rent a rowboat and bikes, bring a picnic and visit the château in the late afternoon, when usually crowds have left.

             

            Tune out the commercial mass tourism.

             

            Let the king take over.

             

             

            •Costs: Please CLICK

             

             

             

            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

             

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