Everything you want to know about Versailles

Versailles is one of the wonders of the world, a gilded palace, a monument that has witnessed some of the most historic times of France, and once home to some of the most famous royals of France.

Versailles is not like anywhere else, completely unique and utterly mesmerising.

From humble beginnings

If you were able to step into a time machine and go back 323 years and step out of the machine in the year 1600 in Versailles, you wouldn’t see a palace at all, in fact you wouldn’t see that much. Where the palace now is, was a humble windmill. Where the vibrant and elegant city now is, was a rural hamlet of around 200 people. But just a few years later – everything would change.

In 1610, King Louis XIII, decided to build a hunting lodge in Versailles. He was crazy for hunting and as it was only about 12 miles from Paris as the crow flies and had huge forests full of stags – it was perfect for him.

The Sun King

He was succeeded by Louis XI, known as the sun king, as the sun was his personal emblem. And it wasn’t for his sunny nature. He was christened Louis-Dieudonné, meaning “gift of God” by his relieved parents who had waited many years to have their first child. He was brought up to believe that he was King by divine right and like all kings, chose an emblem. The sun meant Apollo, God of Peace and the Arts and the heavenly body giving life to all things. The sun was seen as the embodiment of regularity, rising and setting each day.

Louis XIV saw himself as a warrior hero, bringing peace to his people, protecting the arts and impressing his people with his regular public levers and couchers (morning rising and evening retiring ceremonies). He was, according to him at least, the earthly Sun God and insisted on the resemblance, carved in stone not just at Versailles, but on public buildings everywhere. Yes, he thought just as the earth revolves around the sun, France revolved around him. Not exactly a modest man…

He became king of France at the ripe old age of 4 in 1643. He didn’t hold the power then though, his godfather, mentor and chief minister Cardinal Mazarin did until the king was a bit older. When Louis did get power – let’s just say, he took it very seriously.

A golden age for France

Louis XIV holds the record for the longest reigning monarch in Europe and ruled France for 72 years. Those years were seen as a time of prosperity, a golden age for France on the whole, though towards the end of his reign, several wars brought debt and famine to the country. Louis XIV is not usually remembered for the bad times though, but for the flourishing of arts and sciences and magnificent architecture under his rule. Including of course Versailles.

By the time King Louis XIV died aged 77 of gangrene, just four days before his birthday, he had changed France forever.

And here’s a fun fact Louisiana USA is named in honour of Louis XIV. Frenchman René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle from Rouen in Normandy, claimed the interior of North America for France in 1682 and named it Louisiana for his King. The state was purchased from France by the United States in 1803 when Napoleon agreed to an offer of $11,250,000 and for the US to assume claims of American citizens against France in the amount of $3,750,000.

A home fit for a king

Louis liked to live well. He owned 1000 wigs. He was quite short at 5 ft. 4 inches , so the big wigs he wore (along with high heeled shoes) made him appear much taller.

He liked to eat and drink. A lot. His sister-in-law, Princess Elizabeth Charlotte said of him: “…he could eat four plates of soup, a whole pheasant, a partridge, a large plate of salad, two slices of ham, mutton au jus with garlic, a plate of pastry, all followed by fruit and hard-boiled eggs…”

At Versailles etiquette was very important and impacted every aspect of life. The King would eat his evening meal at around 10 o’clock – the Grand Couvert as it was known. It was a formal court ceremony and was open to the public who could come and gawk at their regent and his courtiers. A small orchestra played music, and several courses of between two and eight dishes would be served.

When it was a formal dinner, it was much more grand. The first course les hors d’ouevres might be Royal ballotine of pheasant – or – Fresh oysters delivered from St Malo that day- or perhaps lobster from Normandy served in aspic. And a glass of wine. Each course would stay on the table until the end of the meal – served first to the King and then to his court in order of rank.

The second course could be pureed chestnut soup with truffles – or – pumpkin soup, fresh from the royal vegetable garden. Or maybe beef madrilène with gold leaf spangles. And another glass of wine.

And maybe you’d think they might be getting a bit full up by now but no, there was a third course (accompanied by another glass of wine) – more vegetables and herbs grown in the gardens of Versailles with perhaps a rice salad with langoustines and truffles – or a herb salad sprinkled with blue borage flowers, violets and gold leaf. And another glass of wine. Then Hare stew – or maybe wild duck cromesquis à la Villeroy (breaded foie gras with rice), – or – Scallops with oyster liquor. Some of the meat would have been caught by the King himself and his courtiers – hunting was a daily past time and the beautiful plumage of the birds caught would be used to decorate the dishes. More wine then course five could be something like wild salmon au sel (served on a block of salt – very expensive in those days) – or roast beef, carrots and smoked eel. Another glass of wine.

Now time for the sweet stuff and there might be up to twenty-four different kinds of cakes followed by twenty-four different kinds of fruit – fresh, preserved, candied. Then perhaps something chocolatey as cocoa was all the rage then plus little dishes of jam which Louis XIV loved. It was not unusual to have up to 170 different dishes in one of these elaborate feasts and if it was a special occasion – even more.

All this good life required an appropriate place to indulge.

The best, most beautiful home in the world

So here he is, this king who was a bit of a control freak. He wanted the best, the most beautiful home in the world so that everyone would know of it. He turned the humble hunting lodge first into a sort of bachelor pad, where he took his mistresses, and then into a palace that no one would ever forget visiting. He couldn’t really extend his homes in Paris, not enough room. And he wanted somewhere he could expand. And then some.

According to historians Versailles had 2,300 rooms. At its peak between 3000 and 10000 people were living there. Essentially it was a city within a palace and its grounds.

The nobles, whom Louis pretty much insisted live there where he could keep an eye on them, didn’t really live a life of luxury. For one, there were no bathrooms. Let’s just say they did their business in the corridors or the gardens. All those silk gowns, jewels and all their money – but no bathroom. It got so bad, a decree was passed that the business be collected from corridors once a week. Though if you were a member of the royal family, you had a chamber pot made of silver! Everyone else had normal pots and they just kept them in the corner of their rooms. The palace, gorgeous as it was, could be a bit smelly. It wasn’t until Louis V inherited Versailles, that what they called toilettes a l’anglaise, were installed in his private apartments – everyone else had to carry on making do!

And the bedrooms were often tiny. Those who lived there rarely had a kitchen or cooking facilities and there are multiple examples of complaints about it. The nobles had to send their servants out to buy food. And a whole town grew up around the palace so that supplies could be had more easily. There were even street food stalls of a kind within the palace grounds.

And when it came to meals – even the royals didn’t have it that great. The kitchens were so far away from the dining room that by the time the food reached the table it was usually stone cold.

When it was a hot summer the castle would get incredibly overheated. Louis XIV used to have wet sheets hung at his windows to try to get some cool air.

It was, and is, a beautiful castle for sure – but not the most comfy.

The Hall of Mirrors

Originally the gallery was open to the gardens – a terraced area, but then it was closed because bad weather often made it unusable. So it was enclosed and 357 mirrors were hung. They were hugely expensive. Mirror making in those days was a real art and the city of Venice held the monopoly and the secrets to making these mirrors. The mirror makers belonged to a guild that ruled they must not take the know-how out of Venice. And when some of them were lured to France to make mirrors from the king it’s said that the Venetian Government ordered their assasination. It’s believed two of the mirror makers were killed but by then the secret was out – France knew how to create venetian style mirrors. In those days the mirrors that were produced in Venice were small and Louis ordered hundreds of them to create a wall of mirrors.

The gardens

The gallery looks out over the gardens of Versailles that surround the palace, but a short walk away are another not very well-known set of gardens – the King’s potager, the King’s Vegetable garden. It was built on a swamp that was dug out by the King Swiss guard, and to this day there is a small lake there known as the Lake of the Swiss Guard.

The formal gardens of Versailles are amongst the most spectacular gardens in the world – they took 40 years to complete. Some of the trees were planted by Marie-Antoinette herself. There are 372 statues including several of Apollo the Greek God of Sun – as Louis was of course the Sun King. There are 55 water features, 600 fountains and more than 20 miles of water pipes. There are hundreds of thousands of plants and flowers. In Louis XIV’s day, there were so many blooms that they literally made visitors feel sick!

The gardens were never closed to the public. It was a tradition that a King should be accessible to his subjects, so pretty much anyone could come in – as long as they were well-dressed. They literally had fashion police standing at the gates, like night club bouncers, deciding if you were dressed right! And if you weren’t, you could hire stuiable clothes from kiosks near the park.

The queen’s hamlet

In the grounds are two more palaces, the Grand Trianon and what is known as the Petit Trianon, essentially castles within the grounds of the palace. The latter included the Queen’s hamlet, where Marie Antoinette used to make believe she was a simple country girl with a normal life, albeit still surrounded by servants and with its own theatre which could seat up to 250 people and is incredibly opulent.

Secret Versailles

Versailles has many secrets. There’s the “Secret Passage” or “Secret Staircase” in the Palace’s Grand Apartments which was used by kings and their mistresses to move around without being seen by all and sundry. It’s hidden behind a door that looks like a staircase. It’s very narrow, so not many people can use it at one time, but you can visit as part of a guided tour.

There’s also the Secret Room: Secret du Roi, near the King’s Private Apartments.

It’s said that the Petit Trianon came with its very own secret passageway which joined the Petit Trianon to the main palace said to have been built by special request from queen Marie-Antoinette. Now we don’t know where it is, or even if it still exists. It’s so secret, no one can find it!

There’s also a secret Royal Chapel you get to through a hidden door in the King’s bedroom. And a secret tunnel in the basement of the palace to the outside that was used to transport food and people between the palace and the town wide enough for a horse and cart. They liked their secrets those royals! They liked to be away from the reality of the outside too, and that’s what Versailles gave them, disconnected from reality. Which of course in the end played a part in their undoing as they carried on partying in their bling bling bubble at Versailles while the ordinary people suffered a cost-of-living crisis.

Ultimately Versailles was one of the greatest achievements of architecture and gardening of the 17^th century. It has been a museum since 1837 and still holds the power to take your breath away when you see that golden gate (a replica by the way, the original was destroyed in the French Revolution, though there is an original at the King’s vegetable garden), and the sheer immense size of the place, and the gold and gilt, tapestries and furnishings. It’s just as impressive now as it was in the Sun King’s day.

Janine Marsh is the author of several internationally best-selling books about France. Her latest book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle and art de vivre, is out now – a look at the French way of life.