Versailles style of architecture. Versailles architecture description of the palace of Versailles

A striking palace in the suburbs of Paris has become a symbol of absolute monarchy and luxury of the last French kings.

He made such a strong impression on his contemporaries that many rulers of other states ordered their architects to create something similar for them.

Although all visitors to Versailles associate this palace primarily with the personality of the legendary Louis XIV, the dignity of this town was appreciated by the Sun King's grandfather, King Henry IV, who loved to hunt in the local forests. Henry's son and heir, Louis XIII, in 1623 ordered the construction of a small hunting pavilion there. In the early 1630s, the king bought from the Gondi family and the archbishop of the Parisian territories adjacent to his possessions, and ordered Philibert Leroy for a new, more representative structure.

The palace of Louis XIII was completed in 1634. It was a rectangular two-story building with two wings perpendicular to the main building.

In the central part was the royal bedroom, surrounded by reception halls. Fragments of this layout can be seen in the building of the palace that exists today: the facades around the so-called Marble Courtyard (Cour de Marbre) differ from all others in the cladding of dark red bricks, contrasting with light architectural details - window frames, cornices and decorative elements from creamy sandstone.

Favorite residence of Louis XIV

When his father died in 1643, Louis XIV was barely four years old, and he often changed places of residence. Officially, the Louvre remained the main royal residence, but the young king did not like Paris. Every year he, together with his court, left the capital for several months and lived in the castles of Vincennes, Fontainebleau, Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

He first visited Versailles only in 1651, and since then this place has become his favorite residence. Soon, the king decided to rebuild it in order to be able to spend time with the whole court for a variety of entertainments. To implement this idea, he invited artists and architects.

The building was designed by the renowned architect Louis Levaux. two artists were engaged - Charles Herrard and Noelle Coypel, the redevelopment of the gardens fell to the lot of André Le Nôtre, whose task was also to design the greenhouse. Work began in 1661, and three years later the king was already able to invite guests to the first palace celebrations timed to theatrical performances, including Moliere's plays. At this time, Louis XIV decided to further rebuild the palace. According to Levo's project, in 1668-1681, the enveloppe was erected - two massive wings, north and south, which surrounded and almost absorbed the palace of Louis XIII. The wings, located parallel to the central axis of the palace and park complex, were oriented towards the entrance from the city, and the so-called Cour Royal was located in the space formed between them. On the side of the garden facade, between the risalits of two wings, Levo placed an arched suite, above which he made an open terrace on the upper tier. The southern wing was intended for the ruler's apartments, while the northern wing served the queen and her maids of honor.

A hall full of mirrors

Louis XIV not only made Versailles his permanent residence, but also decided to transfer the government there. To accommodate the numerous retinue and officials, another large-scale restructuring was required, which began in 1678. Leveaux had already died by that time, and he was succeeded by another royal architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart. He designed the impressive Mirror Gallery (Galerie des Glares), built on the side of the garden between the risalits on the site of the former observation deck. The gallery overlooks the garden with seventeen high semicircular windows, opposite which there are mirrors on the inner wall, corresponding in shape and size to the windows.

In the daytime, when the garden was reflected in the mirrors, the gallery turned into an arched pavilion surrounded on two sides by vast flower beds, while in the evenings the mirrors multiplied the lights of the candles that illuminated the gallery, increasing their brightness. The plafond featured stories celebrating the Sun King and his military deeds. Completed in 1686, this decoration was designed and directed by the renowned painter Charles Lebrun.

On both sides of the gallery, on the first floor of the risalits designed by Levo, two luxurious halls were arranged - the War Hall in the king's apartment and the Peace Hall in the queen's wing.

Hardouin-Mansart also designed two massive wings with courtyards perpendicular to the central axis of the entire structure. The south wing was completed in 1684, but construction on the north wing was suspended due to the ever-increasing cost of the project and only resumed in the 19th century. The architect rebuilt the two pavilions erected on the Leveau, separately standing on the side of the city, placing between them a spacious courtyard, which was called the Cour des Ministres.

Louis XIV and his court moved to Versailles on May 6, 1682, when construction work was in full swing and even the royal chambers were still unfinished. Despite the inconveniences associated with life on the construction site, the king did not change his place of permanent residence, and the Versailles palace remained the seat of the French rulers until the revolution of 1789.

The last part of the Hardouin-Mansart project to be completed was the Royal Chapel, conceived by the architect as an independent building connected to the northern wing of the palace.

Personal apartments of the monarchs

Despite numerous reconstructions, the Palace of Versailles looks from the inside as a harmonious whole, features of the classical baroque dominate in a single consistent style. The interiors - in particular, the so-called Grands Appartaments of Louis XIV and his wife, consisting of many rooms and connected by the Mirror Gallery - amaze with the luxury of decoration, an abundance of sculptures, stucco moldings, gold and wall paintings representing the feats of the Olympic gods.

In the palace and park ensemble of Versailles, there was a place for other buildings. After the purchase and demolition in 1668 of the small village of Trianon, Louis Leveaux built in its place the Porcelain Trianon - an ensemble of pavilions faced with white and black faience tiles.

More than ten years later, Jules Hardouin-Mansart received a decree from the king to build a new palace, which was intended for the personal needs of the ruler. In the lower part of the vast complex, located between the courtyard and the garden, you can see recreated village buildings, while the graceful sculptural decorations and pink marble cladding the façade and colonnades give the whole structure a chamber sophistication.

The Trianon Palace became known as the Grand (Grand) when a new residence of a similar design appeared nearby, called the Petit Trianon. It was ordered to be built in 1761-1768 by Louis XV, great-grandson and heir to the Sun King, for his favorite Madame de Pompadour. Jacques-Ange Gabriel became the author of the Lesser Trianon. In comparison with other buildings of Versailles, the palace looks really small, and its interiors combine the features of rococo and classicism. The Petit Trianon was the favorite residence of Queen Marie Antoinette, who received it as a gift from Louis XVI.

After the Great French Revolution broke out in October 1789, the royal family had to leave Versailles and the palace was ransacked. It regained its splendor during the time of Louis-Philippe, who ordered the establishment of a museum of French history here. After the final overthrow of the monarchy, Versailles held meetings of Congress and parliamentary elections for the President of the Republic, and the Trianon Palace served as a venue for diplomatic meetings. In the Mirror Gallery on June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed, ending the First World War.

Famous gardens

The modest garden that once surrounded the palace, erected by Louis XIII, during the reign of his heir, was constantly changing - it was expanded and brought to perfection, so that with its luxury it corresponded to the splendor of the building itself. André Le Nôtre, designing the garden in 1661, outlined its main features, which remained unchanged over the 40 years of the project. Painters and sculptors worked together with Le Nôtre - the surroundings of the palace had to meet the aesthetic requirements embodied in its interiors. Closer to the garden facade, flower parterres with a strict checkerboard composition were placed, which passed into the higher so-called offices and bosquets, formed by trellises of sheared bushes and trees, crowned with crowns of a strictly defined shape. Parterres created a frame for two fountains, decorated with sculptural compositions. Closer to the palace there is a multi-tiered fountain dedicated to the goddess Leto (Latone), the mother of Apollo and Artemis. A wide alley with lawns stretches from it to the Apollo fountain. In the center there is a statue of the Sun God, who rules a chariot, surrounded by newts and dolphins. The author of these sculptures is Jean-Baptiste Turbie.

The harmonious combination of strict geometric shapes of greenery and water surface is also characteristic of the far part of the garden, where Le Nôtre built two canals intersecting at right angles. The larger one, called the Grand Canal, ended with an oval pond.

Canals, numerous small fountains, waterfalls and artificial grottoes have been, since 1664, an important part of the decorations for all kinds of performances and palace celebrations. In addition to traditional sailing boats, gondolas floated along the Grand Canal, which Louis XIV received as a gift from the Venetian doges. It is noteworthy that during the time of this ruler, the costs associated with the creation and maintenance of the water system amounted to one third of the construction cost of the entire Versailles.

The garden complex, sustained in strict geometric proportions, with clearly marked observation platforms, decorated with many statues and flowerpots on pedestals, has become the quintessence of the features of the “French garden”, which was laid out in many residences in Europe and America in the 17th and 18th centuries. The garden occupies an impressive area of ​​93 hectares, but in Versailles itself it is called the Petit Pare, since beyond it stretches an incomparably large territory - more than 700 hectares - of the Grand Parc, where the garden surrounding the Grand Trianon Palace is located. It is arranged according to a similar geometric principle and is decorated with parterres reminiscent of oriental carpets.

What is interesting about Versailles in the vicinity of Paris. What to see and do in the palace itself and the surrounding park, all the attractions of Versailles.

Even in France, with its abundance of architectural masterpieces, the Palace of Versailles is a monument of exceptional beauty and historical significance. On the construction of the palace, the king spent a colossal amount, in terms of current money, 260 billion euros, and the area of ​​only the inner halls reaches 67,000 square meters. meters. A visit to Versailles is a must for all tourists fortunate enough to spend more than one day in Paris. Those who doubt this will be convinced by the following 10 reasons to visit the beloved residence of Louis XIV, nicknamed the Sun King.

Popular excursions to Versailles

The most interesting excursions are routes from local residents to Tripster... It is more interesting to start with (see all interesting places and outline walking routes). And then set aside a day for a trip to the palace of Louis XIV: - 4-hour tour of the halls of the palace and the park.

Palace of Versailles: 10 most interesting places

1. A role model

When, by order of the Sun King in 1661, the construction of the palace at Versailles began, he hardly expected that the completion of construction and decoration work would take place already under his successors. The palace complex was supposed to demonstrate the power and grandeur of royal power. The architects of Versailles - L. Levo and A. Le Nôtre - managed to design a building in the spirit of classicism, striking not only in size, but also in inner harmony. The aristocratic beauty of the facades was organically combined with the luxury of interior decoration and a park that had no equal in Europe.

Very quickly, Versailles acquired a reputation as the ideal home of the monarch, and the rulers of other countries wished to build something similar.

Impressed by the residence of the French kings, Peter the Great erects his symbol of imperial greatness in Peterhof. It was not only the Peterhof Palace that was supposed to surpass the French model, but also the park, and, it must be admitted, thanks to the Grand Canal, it was possible. If it had not been for the Palace of Versailles, the residence of the Savoyard kings, Venarius Reale near Turin, and one of the pearls of Bavaria, the residence of Ludwig II Herenchimsee, would not have been built. Even centuries later, Versailles continued to inspire kings and architects.

2. Tours in Russian

A huge queue of tourists in Versailles

Before visiting Versailles, it is not necessary to dive into historical monographs and download a map of the area: in Paris, it is easy to find both group and individual excursions with a transfer. Their themes are diverse. If you want to be told in great detail the history of the construction of Versailles, or if you want, they will tell you the secrets of the relationship between kings and their favorites. There are excursions around Louis XIV's Versailles and Marie-Antoinette's Versailles, around the Russian sites of Versailles (yes, there are some), around the park, etc. Their cost depends on the program and duration: the cheapest will cost € 40-50. But the main plus of visiting the palace with a guided tour is the opportunity to get inside without a queue, the guide will worry about tickets in advance.

Travel agencies offering excursions to Versailles are widely represented on the Web: you can search in Google, you can go to. By ordering a tour in advance, you will save yourself from queues and will be able to explore the palace with maximum comfort.

By the way, tickets cannot be called very expensive: a visit to one palace costs € 18, and a comprehensive inspection, which includes the palace, the Trianons and the garden, costs € 20.

3. Transport accessibility

If in the XVII century. Versailles was considered a separate settlement, but today it is actually a suburb of Paris: the palace and the capital are separated from each other by less than 20 km. It is very easy to get to Versailles on your own: just take one of the RER trains (line C), which leaves every 20 minutes.

A train ticket costs only € 7, travel time is about 40 minutes. Another train departs from Saint-Lazare and Montparence stations - SNCF (travel time - 35 minutes, ticket price about € 3.5), but the station where it arrives is located quite far from the palace complex. Bus number 171 also runs to Versailles: it is not only cheaper than the train (only € 3), but also drives up almost to the very entrance.

4. Mirror Gallery at Versailles

The Mirror Gallery stretching along the facade is one of the main premises of the palace. Here the kings held magnificent balls and receptions; celebrated weddings and accepted petitions. It is impossible to list all the historical and significant events associated with the Mirror Gallery. So, within these walls, Louis XV met the future Madame de Pompadour in 1745, and in 1919 the peace treaty signed here put an end to the First World War.

In the gallery, little has changed since the time of Louis XIV: 357 mirrors still reflect the gilded decor, 17 huge windows still open into the garden, and giant crystal chandeliers hang from the ceiling. The only thing missing is silver furniture, which was melted back in the 17th century, but its absence is compensated for by gilded statues, luxurious vases and a magnificent painting of the ceiling vaults, reaching a height of 10.5 m. Since the length of the gallery is 73 m (width - 11 m) , it is not surprising that while the courtiers were walking slowly from one end to the other, romances and intrigues matured between them.

Palace of Versailles on a map of Paris

Versailles is located at Place d'Armes, Versailles, France.

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Versailles of Louis XIII

Could Louis XIII, who built a modest hunting lodge in Versailles, know that his son and successor, the great Sun King, would turn this place so dear to him into a symbol of absolute monarchy, into a miracle of architecture, the luxury and splendor of which no palace in the world can surpass?

Louis XIII built a hunting lodge near the village of Versailles, pursuing completely different goals. Louis XIII was not even six years old when on August 24, 1607, being only a Dauphin, he came to Versailles for the first time with Father Henry IV on a falconry. Hunting trips with his father to Versailles did not fade from the memory of the Dauphin; becoming king, he would prefer the lands of Versailles and Saint-Germain to all other hunting grounds.

At that time, the village of Versailles included about 500 people, a modest church was dedicated to Saint Julien, a windmill stood on a hill, and tired hunters, including Henry IV, stayed for the night at four inns. The Versailles domain was ruled by Henri de Gondi, Bishop of Paris, whose nephew, after becoming an adult, ceded this land to his other uncle Jean-François de Gondi, Archbishop of Paris and the last owner of Versailles from the Gondi family.

The village is surrounded by the magnificent forests of Ile-de-France, full of game, endless fields and marshes - ideal for hunting at any time of the year. Located 17 kilometers from Paris, it was located fairly close to Saint-Germain, one of the most beloved residences of Louis XIII. When the hunt dragged on until late and there was no way to return to Paris, the king rode to Saint-Germain or stopped at one of the inns of Versailles or in a dilapidated old castle belonging to the Gondi family, where he slept without undressing on an armful of straw. He often spent the night at the windmill.

Soon the king got tired of this state of affairs, and he bought 40 hectares of land from 16 different owners, in the winter of 1623-1624. deciding it was time to build a small hunting lodge in Versailles. An unknown architect erected a U-shaped building 24 meters long and 6 meters wide on a hill made of pink brick, white stone and blue tiles. Louis XIII constantly came to Versailles to observe the progress of work.

By the summer, the house had become inhabited, and the king lived there from June 28 to July 5. On August 2, he arrived at Versailles from Saint-Germain at 8:30 am to oversee the delivery of furniture and kitchen utensils, bought especially for him by M. de Blainville, the first nobleman of the House.

The king occupied 4 rooms in the house; Louis' suite consisted of a bedroom, study, dressing room and reception. Later these rooms will be occupied by Louis XIV, who wants to live in his father's apartment.

The bedroom furnishings were rather modest. There was only the bare essentials: a bed, two chairs, six benches, a table. In the evening they lit candles in silver and crystal candlesticks. Five tapestries adorned the walls; the bed curtains, carpet, curtains and upholstery were all made of green damask. In the study, eight tapestries reproduced the story of Mark Antony. A little later, the gallery leading to the king's bedroom will be decorated with a large painting depicting the capture of La Rochelle.

The king tried to come to Versailles as often as possible. The retinue accompanying him was always extremely small. Of the courtiers, Louis occasionally invited to hunt only Claude de Rouvroix, the future Duke de Saint-Simon, Duke de Montbazon, M. Soissons and the Duke de Mortemar. The last two usually slept on the ground floor, in the guards captain's room.

It must be said that the courtiers considered it a great honor to be invited by the king to hunt in Versailles, but such trips were associated with great inconvenience for them. Louis XIII was a tireless and fearless hunter; for seventeen hours in a row, in any weather, he could gallop through the fields and forests, which was extremely tiring for his companions. Moreover, quite often it was the difficulties caused by bad weather conditions that could compel him to go hunting, and no persuasion could force the king to change his mind. In addition, in the hunting lodge at Versailles, the amenities were minimal and could not satisfy the discerning nobles, who were faced with the need to share them with the king indifferent to comfort.

There were no rooms for either the Queen Mother or the Queen Reigning. However, several times they still came to Versailles for one day, never spending the night there.

A typical day for the king in Versailles is described by his physician Eruard: “On October 12, 1624, he woke up at 6 am, had breakfast at 7, and went on a deer hunt. At 10 o'clock he returned, soaked through and through, changed his clothes and changed his shoes. At 11 o'clock I had lunch, got on a horse and again chased after a deer, reaching Porchefontaine. I returned to Versailles at 6 pm. "

Versailles became for the king not only a place where one could find shelter after a hunt. The king hid in a hunting lodge when life in the Louvre became completely unbearable for him. Under the pretext of hunting, he tried to go there as often as possible in order to take a break from the yard and hide his emotions from outsiders.

Meanwhile, in 1631, Louis XIII decided to expand his holdings at Versailles and enlarge the house. On April 8, 1632, he bought from Jean-François de Gondi for 70,000 livres the entire seigneur of Versailles, together with the ruins of the old castle of Gondi, which he wanted to completely demolish in order to expand the park.

The construction was completed on August 15, 1634. The main building, which housed the king's apartments, faced the courtyard with five windows on the first and second floors; there were also five windows in two parallel wings, which now border the Marble Courtyard. The four outer corners of the castle were decorated with four identical pavilions. From the side of the courtyard, a portico with seven arches, closed with bars, connected the two wings. The house was surrounded by a moat without water; the gardens were expanded by Jacques de Méner to include a vegetable garden and a ballroom. In 1639, the gardens will be redesigned by Claude Mollet and Hilaire Masson.

Versailles was for Louis XIII not only a hunting lodge, but also a place where no one could come without his permission. In April 1637, the king was tormented by the strongest emotional experiences. The tender and sincere love that connected him with Mademoiselle de Lafayette was doomed to the ball, and he perfectly understood this, but, exhausted by constant persecution from the court and remorse, he decided on an unexpected act for him. Madame de Mottville writes in her Memoirs: “This great king, so wise and so constant in his courage, still experienced moments of weakness, during which he hurried her<Луизу де Лафайет>so that she agreed to his proposal to take her to Versailles, where she would live under his protection. This proposal, so contrary to his usual feelings, forced her to leave the courtyard. " Mademoiselle de Lafayette, deeply in love with the king, was afraid that she would not be able to resist her feelings and would destroy the soul of her lover by agreeing to his proposal to move to Versailles. Fearing that she would surrender if the king continued to ask her about it, nineteen-year-old Louise de Lafayette went to the monastery. To hide his grief, Louis XIII went to Versailles, never becoming a refuge for love. In 1643, feeling the approach of death, Louis XIII said: “If the Lord restores my health, immediately after my dauphin can mount a horse and reaches the age of majority, he will take my place, and I will retire to Versailles, and I will think only about the salvation of the soul. "

After the death of the king on May 14, 1643, Versailles will remain without a master for eighteen years. Louis XIV will order to keep his father's hunting lodge intact, making it the heart of the new ensemble.

Builders of the great masterpiece

Assistance to the king in the construction of Versailles was provided by four people: Colbert, Levo, Le Nôtre and Lebrun. Without them, the grand project would never have come to fruition; however, despite the numerous and undoubted merits of all four, Louis was still the main inspirer and driving force of the project. He knew well what he wanted. Thanks to Mazarin, who surrounded him with beautiful things from childhood, the king developed a good taste. From year to year he became more and more refined, and this left its mark on all his affairs.

After his death, Mazarin left all his property to the king: paintings, books, houses, eighteen huge diamonds known as les Mazarins, and money (and also, he might add, nieces). All this was nothing compared to another priceless treasure - Colbert. He was the most remarkable minister in French history. He was born in 1619 to the family of a wool merchant in Reims. Its crest was the humble grass snake, as opposed to the Fouquet squirrel, which seeks to climb higher and higher. Unlike Fouquet, a merry fellow and a rake, Colbert was restrained and strict. He frowned more often than smiled, and never tried to please. But everyone always knew what to expect from him. When someone, hoping to avoid any taxation, went straight to the king, bypassing Colbert, then at the end of a kind reception he could hear from Louis: "Monsieur, you have to pay!" Therefore, most of the petitioners preferred communication with a gloomy-looking Colbert. Even at a rather young age, he realized that economics is the right, albeit not a very fast way to power; and began his career by putting in order the personal affairs of Mazarin, which were terribly neglected; then, while still in the service of the cardinal, he took up public finance. When the king was a child, Colbert taught him how to keep accounts; Louis became the first king of France who knew how to do it on his own. Colbert hated Versailles, but only he was able to get the amount necessary for its construction. The money immediately went away like water to sand. Upon learning that the king was going to settle in Versailles, the financier resigned himself to the inevitable and began to think about how to use this costly structure wisely and for the benefit of the country.

Colbert was an amazing person; he was distinguished by deep knowledge in the field of literature, science and art, although, probably, he himself considered these areas of human knowledge not the most important in life, something like an application to trade. Contributing to the development of science in France, the financier did this primarily with the aim of attracting world markets. The minister founded a French school of painting and sculpture at the Villa Medici in Rome, opened an observatory in Paris and invited the astronomer Cassini to work there; he also bought books to replenish the royal library and, finally, as superintendent of construction, oversaw the reconstruction of Versailles.

Although Colbert was twenty years older than the king, he treated his monarch with awe. Leaving the country house of So, this powerful and domineering man, who kept the whole of France in fear, took a piece of bread with him to the park and threw it across the canal. If the bread fell on the other side, this meant that Louis XIV would be in good spirits, if the bread fell on the other side, Colbert had no doubt that thunderstorms could not be avoided.

Lebrun was born in the same year as Colbert and worked with him for most of his life: They were similar in that they did not disdain any work. Lebrun was found by Chancellor Seguier when he was ten years old, and he drew scenes from the Apocalypse on tracing paper. He received his first serious order in 1649; he was to decorate the Lambert Hotel, the Parisian home of a wealthy government official. He then worked for Fouquet at Vaux-le-Vicomte; in 1662 the king made him the chief court painter and commissioned the decorative finishing of Versailles. In addition, Lebrun was the director of a large tapestry factory, engaged not only in the production of woven carpets, but also in almost all furnishings for Versailles. Lebrun, although not among the first-class painters, was an excellent designer. Almost all furnishings and decorations of the palace: chairs, tables, carpets, decoration, decorative wall panels, silver, tapestries and even keyholes were made according to his original sketches; he painted the ceilings in the Gallery of Mirrors, as well as in the rooms of War and Peace, the facade of the small royal house in Marly. Lebrun designed bow ornaments for galleys and decorations for the holidays. In addition, he managed to write huge canvases on religious and mythological themes. He loved allegories and battle scenes, but was rather indifferent to nature.

The reconstruction of the castle from 1661 to 1668. worked on the architect Levo. Lebrun and Leveaux worked in perfect harmony. The most famous buildings in Leveaux are Vaux-le-Vicomte, the Hotel Lambert and the Institut de France, built after the architect's design after his death. Much of his work at Versailles in later times was closed by the work of the architect Mansart. The eastern facade of brick and stone Levo left in its original form, but added two wings to it; on the way to the building, he erected a number of pavilions intended for ministers.

Le Nôtre was born into a gardener's family and was to become a royal gardener himself. His grandfather tended the parks of Marie de Medici; his father was the head gardener at the Tuileries; the husband of one of his sisters grew a young garden for Anna of Austria, and the husband of the second tended her orange trees. Le Nôtre dreamed of becoming an artist and began life in the Vue studio, but soon returned to gardening. He replaced his father in the Tuileries and gave the parks there a new look. Fouquet noticed him and invited him to Vaud, where the result of his work did not leave the Sun King indifferent, who immediately appointed him general manager of all his parks. We owe him not only the Versailles gardens, but also the parks of Chantilly, Saint-Cloud, Marly, Sau; the creation of his hands is the famous terrace at Saint-Germain-a-Laye, as well as numerous private parks and gardens, and the magnificent wide avenue Champs Elysees, which originates from the Louvre. The city of Versailles was also built according to his project.

Le Nôtre carried an interest in painting and art throughout his life. His dwelling at the Tuileries was full of beautiful things, including Chinese porcelain. When he left home, he left the keys on a carnation so that art lovers who came in his absence would not be disappointed and could admire the magnificent collection.

Quentini played an equally significant role in the arrangement of Versailles. He planted a vegetable garden. At first he worked as a lawyer in Poitiers, but his true passion was vegetables and fruits. His book on horticulture and horticulture can be counted among the best publications on the subject; it awakens in the reader a passion for gardening; his advice is detailed and simple so that even a child can understand them.

The king adored Quentini. He elevated him to the nobility and presented him with a house in the garden, where he often visited for a walk. Today, the garden and vegetable garden remain largely unchanged, including a gate marked "Public" through which the inhabitants of Versailles entered to take free vegetables.

Quentini pears existed in Versailles until 1963, when the last two trees had to be dug up. In the 19th century, many of them still bore fruit and tolerated winters well, which killed other fruit trees.

So, after 1661, Louis XIV wished for his own palace, which in its splendor and luxury would surpass other castles in France and even Europe. The king chose as the site of construction Versailles, a small village with five hundred inhabitants, where the small hunting castle of Louis XIII was located. The best architects, sculptors, painters of the 17th century worked on the construction; huge sums of money were spent on the construction of the castle. But the Sun King spares nothing. Led to the construction of Versailles, as we can see, the desire of Louis to have his own, unique palace, which was to become a proof of the glory and power of the king.

Finances of France and the Palace of Versailles

When it comes to the money spent on construction sites in Versailles, historians unanimously agree that the palace was worth huge sums. And if we take into account the cost of interior decoration, we get colossal figures. Although the Comptroller General of the Treasury, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, tried to instill a thriftiness in the king, the desire for the king's glory came at a cost.

Before Colbert became superintendent of construction, from 1661 to 1663, Versailles was already worth a half million (within four years he absorbed what Fontainebleau ate in 17 years). Almost all of this amount was used, apparently without any measure, to create parks. The king bought, increased, expanded, rounded up his holdings. He comes up with pools, new parterres, a greenhouse, bosquets. In 1664, Versailles cost the construction administration 781,000 livres; next year - 586,000.

Colbert was undoubtedly concerned about these many expenses. He was worried and even angry. In the letter he wrote to the king (September 1665) alarm sounds. "If Your Majesty wishes to find traces of glory in Versailles, where more than five hundred thousand crowns have been spent in two years, you will undoubtedly be upset not to find it."

Colbert still believed in the future of the Louvre and Tuileries. At this time, Lorenzo Bernini, a sculptor, artist, architect, author of the colonnade at the Cathedral of St. Peter, monuments to the popes Urban VIII and Alexander VII. He was to make the Louvre the most beautiful palace in the world.

But more and more money is spent on Versailles every year. If in 1668 339,000 livres were spent on construction from the budget of the Ministry of Construction, in 1669 the spending reached 676,000 livres, and in 1671 - up to 2,621,000 livres. Beginning in 1670, new furniture, decorated with silver overlays, appeared in the palace, and His Majesty's bedroom was covered with gold brocade.

To get an idea of ​​what the livre was then (subdivided into 20 soles and 240 deniers) at the end of the 17th century, we will give a few examples. In cities, an unskilled worker could earn from 6 to 10 soles a day when there was work; qualified (cabinetmaker, locksmith, stonemason) - 20 salts. Daily laborers in rural areas, when they found work (150 days a year), received 5-6 salts per day. The parish priest, who lived without hassle, could receive from 300 to 400 livres a year, that is, 20 salts for a full working day. It can also be assumed that the humble family lived on 25 livres a month. Thus, calculating the average annual income of such a family, we get: per year for the construction of Versailles (data from 1664), not counting the costs of interior decoration, as much money was spent as would be enough for the comfortable living of 3,000 families.

Versailles can be called in the full sense of the word, a peacetime construction site. After all, construction work began to revive and the largest financial investments took place just at the time when peace was being made. Let's compare some numbers. During the War of Devolution, Versailles cost the state 536,000 francs in two years. As soon as there was peace, the costs also increased. In 1671, Versailles was worth 676,000 francs. During the five war years, from 1673 to 1677 inclusive, the amount spent on Versailles construction was 4,066,000 livres. As soon as the conclusion of the Nimwegen Peace took place, the monarch no longer saw any reason to economize. In 1679, Versailles spending rises to 4,886,000 francs, and in 1680 reaches 5,641,000 francs. With the outbreak of the Ten Years War, major construction projects were halted. In the documents of the Ministry of Construction, you can see a report on the amounts spent on Versailles (excluding the water supply): in 1685 - 6104000, in 1686 - 2520000, in 1687 - 2935000. Preparations for war are in full swing, and therefore costs are sharply reduced in 1688: 1976,000 livres. And then, for as many as nine years, from 1689 to 1697 inclusive, Versailles cost France only 2.15 million livres. In the period from 1661 to 1715, Versailles, together with the castle and service premises, was worth 68,000,000 francs.

We must not forget that Versailles was not the only palace under construction at that time. Numerous other construction projects were also carried out in Paris. Until 1670, contributions to the construction of Parisian palaces were double those given to Versailles. Since 1670 the situation has changed.

And in 1684, 34,000 francs were allocated by the Ministry of Finance for only one housing for workers. The statistics are undoubtedly impressive!

But if you think about it again, then these expenses will not seem so astronomical in comparison with the costs of wars and with the degree of political and artistic flourishing the court reached during the time of the great king and beyond, throughout the entire century of the Enlightenment. It cannot be said better than Pierre Verlet: "Everyone will agree that Louis XIV, giving us Versailles, enriched France ... The expenses of the great king gave the world a castle that must be admired."



And in general, through the palaces of France, we cannot but look into the most probably famous palace and park complex in France. Let it be known to everyone, you have heard a lot about it, but let's take a virtual look and there for a couple of minutes.

Versailles- this name is associated all over the world with the idea of ​​the most significant and magnificent palace, built by the will of one monarch. The Versailles palace and park ensemble, recognized as a masterpiece of world heritage, is quite young - it is only three and a half centuries old. The Palace and Park of Versailles is one of the outstanding architectural ensembles in the history of world architecture. The layout of the vast park, the territory associated with the Palace of Versailles, is the pinnacle of French park art, and the palace itself is a first-class architectural monument. A galaxy of brilliant masters worked on this ensemble. They created a complex, complete architectural complex, which includes a monumental palace building and a number of park structures of "small forms", and, most importantly, a park that is exceptional in its compositional integrity.

The Versailles Ensemble is an eminently characteristic and striking work of 17th century French classicism. The palace and park ensemble of Versailles is the greatest architectural monument of the 17th century, which had a strong influence on the urban planning of the 18th century. Versailles generally became a kind of "ideal city", which was dreamed and written by the authors of the Renaissance and which, by the will of Louis XIV, "the sun king", and the art of his architects and gardeners, was realized in reality, and in the immediate vicinity of Paris. But let's talk about everything in more detail ...

The mention of Versailles first appeared in the 1038 charter issued by the abbey of St. Peter. It spoke of a certain lord Hugh of Versailles - the owner of a small castle and adjacent territories. The emergence of the first settlement - a small village around the castle - is usually dated to the middle of the 11th century. Another village soon grew up around the church of St. Julian.

The 13th century (especially the years of the reign of Saint Louis) for Versailles, as well as for the whole of Northern France, became a century of prosperity. However, the 14th century that followed brought with it a terrible plague and the Hundred Years War between England and France. All these misfortunes led Versailles to a very deplorable state: by the end of the 14th century, its population numbered just over 100 people. He began to recover only in the next 15th century.

Versailles as an architectural and park ensemble did not appear immediately, it was not created by one architect like many palaces of the 17th-18th centuries that imitated him. At the end of the 16th century, Versailles was a small village in the forest, where he sometimes hunted Henry IV... Ancient chronicles report that at the beginning of the 17th century Versailles was a village with a population of about 500 people, on the site of the future palace then a mill stood, and fields and endless swamps were spread all around. In 1624 it was built on behalf of Louis XIII, by the architect Philibert Le Roy, a small hunting lodge next to a village called Versailles.

Near it there was a medieval dilapidated castle - the possession of the house of Gondi. Saint-Simon in his memoirs calls this ancient Versailles castle "house of cards". But soon this castle was rebuilt by the architect Lemercier by order of the king. At the same time, Louis XIII acquired the Gondi plot, along with the dilapidated palace of the archbishop, and demolished it to expand his park. The small castle was located 17 kilometers from Paris. It was a U-shaped structure with a moat. In front of the castle there were four buildings made of stone and brick with metal bars on the balconies. The courtyard of the old castle, which later received the name Marble, has survived to this day. The first gardens of the Versailles Park were laid out by Jacques Boisseau and Jacques de Menoir.

In the middle of the 16th century, the only Versailles lord was Martial de Loménie, minister of finance under King Charles IX. Charles granted him the right to hold four annual fairs in Versailles and the opening of a weekly market (on Thursdays). The population of Versailles, which was still a small village, was at this time about 500 people. However, the French religious wars between Catholics and Protestants led to an early change in the seigneurial dynasty. Martial was arrested for his sympathies with the Huguenots (French Protestants) and thrown into prison. Here he was visited by the Duke de Retz, Albert de Gondi, who had long hatched plans to seize the Versailles territories. By means of threats, he forced de Loménie to sign a document according to which the latter ceded Versailles to him at a negligible price.

At the beginning of the 17th century, King Louis XIII began to frequently visit Versailles, who took great pleasure in hunting in the local forests. In 1623 he ordered to build a small castle where hunters could stop for a halt. This building became the first royal palace in Versailles. On April 8, 1632, Louis XIII bought the seigneur in full from the last Versailles owner Jean-François de Gondi for 66,000 livres. In the same year, the king appointed his valet, Arnault, to govern Versailles. In 1634, the architect Philibert le Roy was commissioned to rebuild the old Versailles castle into a royal palace. However, despite the changes that took place, by the end of the reign of Louis XIII, Versailles did not change its appearance much. He, as before, was a small village.

Everything changed with the accession to the throne of the king - the sun, Louis XIV. It was during the reign of this monarch (1643-1715) that Versailles became a city and a favorite royal residence.

In 1662, Versailles began to be built according to the Le Nôtre plan. André Le Nôtre(1613-1700) by this time had already become famous as the builder of country estates with regular parks (in Vaux-le-Vicomte, Sault, Saint-Cloud, etc.). It is interesting that in 1655-1661 N. Fouquet, the largest financier of absolutist France, according to the project of the architect Louis le Vaux rebuilt his country castle. The main thing in the palace and park ensemble of Vaux-le-Vicomte was not even the palace itself (at that time quite modest), but the general principle of creating a country residence. All of it was turned into a gigantic park, skillfully arranged by the architect-gardener André Le Nôtre. The palace Vaux-le-Vicomte demonstrated the new lifestyle of the French aristocrat - in nature, outside the walls of a cramped, crowded city. I liked the palace and the park so much Louis XIV that he could not come to terms with the idea that they were not his property. The French king immediately imprisoned Fouquet, and commissioned the architects Louis le Vaux and André Le Nôtroux to build his palace at Versailles. The architecture of the Fouquet estate was adopted as a model for Versailles. Having preserved the Fuke Palace, the king took out everything that could be removed and taken away from it, down to the orange trees and the marble statues of the park.

Le Nôtre began with the construction of a city that was to house the courtiers of Louis XIV and a large staff of palace servants and military guards. The city was designed for thirty thousand inhabitants. Its layout was subordinated to three beam highways, which diverged from the central part of the palace in three directions: to Sau, Saint-Cloud, Paris. Despite the direct analogy with the Roman three-ray, the Versailles composition was significantly different from its Italian prototype. In Rome, the streets diverged from the Piazza del Popolo, in Versailles, they rapidly converged to the palace. In Rome, the width of the streets was less than thirty meters, in Versailles - about a hundred. In Rome, the angle formed between the three highways was 24 degrees, and in Versailles, 30 degrees. For the early settlement of the city Louis XIV distributed plots for building to everyone (of course, nobles) for a reasonable price with the only condition to build buildings in the same style and not higher than 18.5 meters, that is, the level of the entrance to the palace.

In 1673, it was decided to demolish the old Versailles buildings, including the church. The new Cathedral of St. Julian was erected in its place in 1681-1682. On May 6, 1682, Louis XIV, along with his entire court, moved from Paris to Versailles. This marked a turning point in the history of the city. By the first quarter of the 18th century (i.e. by the end of Louis's reign) Versailles had become a luxurious royal residence, and its population was 30,000 inhabitants.

As a result of the second construction cycle, Versailles formed an integral palace and park ensemble, which is a wonderful example of the synthesis of arts - architecture, sculpture, and landscape gardening art of French classicism of the 17th century. However, after the death of the cardinal Mazarin, Versailles, created by Levo, began to seem not majestic enough to express the idea of ​​an absolute monarchy. Therefore, for the restructuring of Versailles was invited Jules Hardouin Mansart, the largest architect of the end of the century, whose name is associated with the third construction period in the history of the creation of this complex, the great-nephew of the famous François Mansart. Mansart enlarged the palace even more, erecting two wings, each five hundred meters long, at right angles to the southern and northern facades of the palace. In the north wing, he placed a church (1699-1710), the vestibule of which was completed by Robert de Cott. In addition, Mansart added two more floors over the Levo terrace, creating a Mirror Gallery along the western facade, which closes with the rooms of War and Peace (1680-1886).

Adam Frans van der Meulen - Construction of the Château de Versailles

On the axis of the palace towards the entrance on the second floor, Mansart placed the royal bedroom with a view of the city and the equestrian statue of the king, erected later at the vanishing point of the road trident of Versailles. In the northern part of the palace were the chambers of the king, in the southern - the queen. Mansar also built two buildings of Ministers (1671-1681), which formed the third, the so-called "court of Ministers", and connected these buildings with a rich gilded lattice. All this completely changed the appearance of the building, although Mansart left the same height of the building. Gone are contrasts, freedom of imagination, nothing is left, except for the extended horizontal line of the three-storey building, which is the same in the structure of its facades with the basement, front and attic floors. The impression of grandeur that this brilliant architecture produces is achieved by the large scale of the whole, the simple and calm rhythm of the entire composition.

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Mansar knew how to combine various elements into a single artistic whole. He had an amazing sense of ensemble, striving for rigor in decoration. For example, in the Mirror Gallery, he applied a single architectural motive - a uniform alternation of walls with openings. This classic base creates a sense of clear form. Thanks to Mansar, the expansion of the Palace of Versailles acquired a natural character. The annexes received a strong relationship with the central buildings. The ensemble, outstanding for its architectural and artistic qualities, was successfully completed and had a great influence on the development of world architecture.

Each of the inhabitants of the Palace of Versailles left his mark on its architecture and decoration. Louis XV, the great-grandson of Louis XIV, who succeeded to the throne in 1715, only towards the end of his reign in 1770 decided to make changes to the architecture of the palace. He ordered to equip separate apartments in order to protect his life from court etiquette. In turn, Louis XV inherited from his great-grandfather a love for the arts, as evidenced by the decoration of his inner chambers; and the penchant for secret political intrigues passed to him from the Italian ancestors of the Medici family and the Savoy dynasty. It was in the Inner Office, far from the curious courtyard, that the one who was called the "General Favorite" made some of the most important government decisions. At the same time, the king did not neglect either the etiquette established by his predecessor, or the life of the family, which he was reminded of by the queen and especially his beloved daughters.

After the death of the sun king, Philip of Orleans, who became regent under the minor Louis XV, decided to move the French court back to Paris. This was a notable blow to Versailles, which immediately lost about half of its inhabitants. However, everything returned to its previous state when in 1722 the matured Louis XV moved to Versailles again. Under his successor, Louis XVI, the city had to go through many dramatic moments. By a whim of fate, this luxurious royal residence was to become the cradle of the Great French Revolution. It was here that the States General gathered in 1789, and here on June 20, 1789, the deputies from the third estate took a solemn oath not to disperse until their demands for political reforms in France were accepted. A crowd of heated revolutionaries arrived here in early October 1789 from Paris, which, having seized the palace, forced the royal family to return to the capital. After that, Versailles again began to rapidly lose population: its number dropped from 50,000 people (in 1789) to 28,000 people (in 1824). During the revolutionary events, almost all the furniture and valuables were removed from the Versailles Palace, but the building itself was not destroyed. During the reign of the Directory, restoration work was carried out in the palace, after which a museum was housed here.

Louis XVI, the heir to Louis XV, whose reign was tragically interrupted by the revolution, inherited from his maternal grandfather, the Polish king Augustus of Saxony, an enviable heroic strength; on the other hand, his Bourbon ancestors gave him not only a true passion for hunting, but also a deep interest in science. His wife Marie Antoinette, daughter of the Duke of Lorraine, who later became Emperor of Austria, left a deep mark on the musical life of Versailles thanks to her love for music, inherited from both the Austrian Habsburgs and Louis XIII. Unlike his ancestors, Louis XVI did not have the ambitions of a creator king. Known for the simplicity of his tastes, he lived in a palace out of necessity. During his reign, the interior of the palace was renewed, and, above all, the Queen's Small Offices, which were located parallel to his Large Chambers. During the revolution, all furniture and decorations of the palace were plundered. Napoleon and then Louis XVIII carried out restoration work at Versailles. After the July Revolution of 1830, the palace was supposed to be demolished. This issue was put to a vote in the Chamber of Deputies. Versailles saved the advantage by one vote. The last of the dynasty, King Louis-Philippe ruled France from 1830 to 1848. In 1830, after the July Revolution, which elevated him to the throne, the House of Representatives passed a law by which Versailles and Trianon came into the possession of the new king. Wasting no time, Louis-Philippe ordered the creation in Versailles of the Museum in honor of the glorious victories of France, which opened on June 1, 1837. This purpose of the castle has survived to this day.

The creators of the palace were not only Louis Le Vaux and Mansart. A significant group of architects worked under their leadership. Lemue, Dorbay, Pierre Guittard, Bruant, Pierre Cottard and Blondel worked with Le Vaux. Mansart's main assistant was his student and relative Robert de Cott, who continued to lead the construction after Mansart's death in 1708. In addition, Charles Davilay and Lassurens worked at Versailles. The interiors were made according to drawings by Beren, Vigarani, and also by Lebrun and Mignard. Due to the participation of many masters, the architecture of Versailles is currently of a heterogeneous nature, especially since the construction of Versailles - from the emergence of the hunting castle of Louis XIII to the construction of the battle gallery of Louis Philippe - lasted for about two centuries (1624-1830).

During the Napoleonic Wars, Versailles was captured by Prussian troops twice (in 1814 and in 1815). The Prussian invasion was repeated again during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. The occupation lasted 174 days. In the Palace of Versailles, chosen by the Prussian king William I as a temporary residence, on January 18, 1871, the creation of the German Empire was announced.

In the 20th century, Versailles also witnessed major international events more than once. It was here in 1919 that the peace treaty was signed, which put an end to the First World War and laid the foundation for the Versailles system of international relations.

Main palace complex(Chateau de Versailles) was built in the 17th century by King Louis XIV, who wanted to move here from the unsafe Paris. The luxurious rooms are richly decorated with marble, velvet and wood carvings. The main attractions here are the Royal Chapel, the Salon of Venus, the Salon of Apollo and the Hall of Mirrors. The decoration of the state rooms was dedicated to the Greek gods. The Salon of Apollo was originally the throne room of Louis. The Hall of Mirrors contains 17 huge mirrors reflecting tall arched windows and crystal candelabra.

Grand Trianon- a beautiful pink marble palace was built by Louis XIV for his beloved Madame de Maintenon. Here the monarch loved to spend his free time. Later, the palace was home to Napoleon and his second wife.

Little Trianon- another love nest built by King Louis XV for Madame de Pompadour. Later, the Lesser Trianon was occupied by Marie Antoinette, and even later by Napoleon's sister. The nearby Temple of Love is said to have been the favorite venue for Marie Antoinette's parties.

Colonnade- the circle of marble columns and arches, located within the boundaries of the gardens, continues the theme of the gods of Olympus. The site was the king's favorite outdoor dining.

During the Second World War, Versailles was occupied by German troops. In addition, the city had to endure several brutal bombing raids, which killed 300 Versaillese. The liberation of Versailles took place on 24 August 1944, and was carried out by French troops under the command of General Leclerc.

On February 25, 1965, a government decree was issued, according to which Versailles was to be turned into the prefecture of the new department of Yvelines, the official creation of which took place on January 1, 1968.

Today the city retains this status. Being one of the most attractive tourist destinations, Versailles is proud of its history and architectural monuments. In 1979, the palace and park of Versailles were officially included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Pierre-Denis Martin - View of Versailles

Versailles gardens with their sculptures, fountains, pools, cascades and grottoes, they soon became an arena for the Parisian nobility for splendid court festivities and baroque entertainments, during which one could enjoy both Lully's operas and plays by Racine and Moliere.

The parks of Versailles spread over an area of ​​101 hectares. There are many viewing platforms, alleys and promenades, there is even its own Grand Canal, or rather, a whole system of canals, which was called "Little Venice". The Palace of Versailles itself is also striking in its size: the length of its park facade is 640 meters, the Mirror Gallery located in the center is 73 meters long.

Versailles is open to visitors

in May - September from Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 17:30.
fountains are open on Saturdays from July 1 to September 30 and on Sundays from early April to early October.

How to get there - Versailles

There are trains (commuter trains) to Versailles from the "Gare Montparnasse" station, the Montparnasse Bienvenue metro station (metro line 12). The entrance to the station is directly from the metro. Follow to the Versailles Chantiers stop. Travel time is 20 minutes. A round trip ticket costs 5.00 euros.

Exit the train station in the direction "Sortie" (exit), then continue straight. The road will lead you to the palace in 10 - 15 minutes.

Versailles- this name is associated all over the world with the idea of ​​the most significant and magnificent palace, built by the will of one monarch. The Versailles Palace, recognized as a masterpiece of world heritage, is a fairly young palace and park ensemble, it is only three and a half centuries old. And for almost three hundred years it has been attracting the attention of researchers, writers, scientists, and tourists. Since the 17th century, many guidebooks, descriptions of the palace and park have been published, but most of them are in French. There are far fewer works on Versailles created by Russian researchers. There are even fewer materials covering the issues of the integrity of the architectural composition of Versailles, its role in the history of park art and historical and artistic significance.

Thus, Versailles is still an interesting problem for researchers all over the world.

Versailles as a symbol of absolute monarchy in France

History of the construction of Versailles

The second half of the 17th century is the period of development of classicism in French architecture. This is the era of absolutism, when the courtier becomes synonymous with the national, as the very personality of the king is the embodiment of the state. Absolutism as a state system acts as the bearer of the rational principle in culture and art, providing the broadest possibilities for the artistic realization of the high ideals of rationalism in the forms of the unprecedented splendor of the residence of the Sun King. This is how Versailles is created - the ideal embodiment of absolutism in architecture and a high example of the aspiration of the architectural genius of the nation to create perfect forms of the natural world in accordance with the laws of the human mind.

The Palace and Park of Versailles is one of the outstanding architectural ensembles in the history of world architecture. The layout of the vast park, the territory associated with the Palace of Versailles, is the pinnacle of French park art, and the palace itself is a first-class architectural monument. A galaxy of brilliant masters worked on this ensemble. They created a complex, complete architectural complex, which includes a monumental palace building and a number of park structures of "small forms", and, most importantly, a park that is exceptional in its compositional integrity. The Versailles Ensemble is an eminently characteristic and striking work of 17th century French classicism.

The history of the park and palace is closely connected with the development of absolutism. The construction of Versailles was conceived and carried out in the second half of the 17th century, when absolutism reached the highest stage of its power. The last years of the reign of Louis XIV - the years of the crisis of absolutism and the beginning of its decline - are also the period of the crisis of Versailles.

In construction, the ideas of a progressive for its time centralized monarchy are expressed, which put an end to the feudal fragmentation of states and united France. Social restructuring was also associated with its economic development. These economic successes of France, the advanced country of the 17th century, were reflected in the very technique of building Versailles. So, for example, the Mirror Gallery of the palace was not only an expression of the search for new spatial and light solutions, it was supposed to demonstrate the achievements of the French glass industry, its first victories over Venice. The three upper avenues are not only the completion of the palace perspective, but also a monument to road construction. Finally, the fountains and pools of the Versailles Park should be recognized as a significant technical achievement of the era, as well as the digging of the famous Languedon Canal.

The idea of ​​unity, order, system - this is what the French absolutism opposed to the fragmentation of the feudal princes. In the forms of art, this was indicated by: a sense of proportion, tectonic clarity, representativeness, overcoming the intimacy inherent in French architecture of the 16th - early 17th centuries.

The art of Versailles is an expression of the complete and consistent worldview of the era of classicism.

Versailles as an architectural and park ensemble did not appear immediately, it was not created by one builder like many palaces of the 17th-18th centuries that imitated him.

“The ancient chronicles report that at the beginning of the 17th century Versailles was a village with 500 inhabitants, a mill stood on the site of the future palace, and fields and endless swamps were spread all around. In 1624, on behalf of Louis XIII, the architect Philibert Le Roy built a small hunting castle next to a village called Versailles. Near it there was a medieval dilapidated castle - the possession of the house of Gondi. Saint-Simon in his memoirs calls this ancient Versailles castle "house of cards". This castle was rebuilt in the coming years by order of the king by the architect Lemercier. At the same time, Louis acquired the Gondi plot along with the dilapidated palace of the archbishop and demolished it to expand his park.

The small castle was located 17 kilometers from Paris. It was a U-shaped structure with a moat. In front of the castle there were four buildings made of stone and brick with metal bars on the balconies. The courtyard of the old castle, which later received the name Marble, has survived to this day. The first gardens of the Versailles Park were laid out by Jacques Boisseau and Jacques de Menoir.

In 1662, Versailles began to be built according to the Le Nôtre plan. André Le Nôtre (1613-1700) by this time had already become famous as the builder of country estates with regular parks (in Vaux-le-Vicomte, Sault, Saint-Cloud, etc.). It is interesting that the residence in Vaux-le-Vicomte, executed with extreme luxury, was owned by the influential quartermaster Fouquet. The king was hostile to him and imprisoned him. Thus, the creators of the park and the castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte, Le Nôtre and Levo were involved in the construction of Versailles. The architecture of the Fouquet estate was adopted as a model for Versailles. Having preserved Fouquet's palace, the king took out everything that could be removed and taken away from it, right down to the orange trees and the marble statues of the park.

Le Nôtre began with the construction of a city that was to house the courtiers of Louis XIV and a large staff of palace servants and military guards. The city was designed for thirty thousand inhabitants. Its layout was subordinated to three beam highways, which diverged from the central part of the palace in three directions: to Sau, Saint-Cloud, Paris. Despite the direct analogy with the Roman triluchium, the Versailles composition was significantly different from its Italian prototype. In Rome, the streets diverged from the Piazza del Popolo, in Versailles, they rapidly converged to the palace. In Rome, the width of the streets was less than thirty meters, in Versailles - about a hundred. In Rome, the angle formed between the three highways was 24 degrees, and in Versailles, 30 degrees.

For the early settlement of the city, Louis XIV distributed plots for building to everyone (of course, nobles) for a reasonable price with the only condition to build buildings in the same style and not higher than 18.5 meters, that is, the level of the entrance to the palace.

The construction of the residence took shape over several periods. In 1661, the rebuilding of the small castle of Louis XIII was entrusted to the architect Leveaux, one of the best architects of the era. The decoration of the palace was renewed, the Orangery was built. In 1668-1671, the castle was rebuilt with new premises in such a way that the walls of the buildings forming the Marble Courtyard facing east were preserved; the walls of the outer facades of the castle were largely destroyed. As a result, the western, park façade was extended three times, and Levo built up the old building only on the first floor; its upper two floors now opened onto a terrace that created a kind of propylae that connected the park with the Marble Courtyard. The southern and northern facades have also been lengthened with two exquisitely shaped buildings. In the northern, new extension, the Ambassadors' staircase was placed, and in the southern one - the Queen's staircase. Leveaux died without completing the design of the front part of the palace, which was carried out by François d "Aubray, who placed a lattice with two pavilions along the line of the eastern ends of the palace. Thus, the" Royal Court "was formed.

As a result of the second construction cycle, Versailles was formed into an integral palace and park ensemble, which is a wonderful example of the synthesis of arts - architecture, sculpture, and landscape gardening art of French classicism of the 17th century. However, after the death of Cardinal Mazarin, Versailles, created by Levo, began to seem not majestic enough to express the idea of ​​an absolute monarchy. Therefore, to rebuild Versailles, Jules Hardouin Mansart was invited, the largest architect of the end of the century, whose name is associated with the third construction period in the history of the creation of this complex. Mansart enlarged the palace even more, erecting two wings, each five hundred meters long, at right angles to the southern and northern facades of the palace. In the north wing, he placed a church (1699-1710), the vestibule of which was completed by Robert de Cott. In addition, Mansart added two more floors over the Levo terrace, creating a Mirror Gallery along the western facade, which closes with the rooms of War and Peace (1680-1886). On the axis of the palace towards the entrance on the second floor, Mansart placed the royal bedroom with a view of the city and the equestrian statue of the king, erected later at the vanishing point of the road trident of Versailles. In the northern part of the palace were the chambers of the king, in the southern - the queen. Mansar also built two buildings of Ministers (1671-1681), which formed the third, the so-called "court of Ministers", and connected these buildings with a rich gilded lattice.

All this completely changed the appearance of the building, although Mansart left the same height of the building. Gone are contrasts, freedom of imagination, nothing is left, except for the extended horizontal line of the three-storey building, which is the same in the structure of its facades with the basement, front and attic floors. The impression of grandeur that this brilliant architecture produces is achieved by the large scale of the whole, the simple and calm rhythm of the entire composition.

Mansar knew how to combine various elements into a single artistic whole. He had an amazing sense of ensemble, striving for rigor in decoration. For example, in the Mirror Gallery, he applied a single architectural motive - a uniform alternation of walls with openings. This classic base creates a sense of clear form. Thanks to Mansar, the expansion of the Palace of Versailles acquired a natural character. The annexes received a strong relationship with the central buildings. The ensemble, outstanding for its architectural and artistic qualities, was successfully completed and had a great influence on the development of world architecture.

“The creators of the palace were not only Levo and Mansar. A significant group of architects worked under their leadership. Lemue, Dorbay, Pierre Guittard, Bruant, Pierre Cottard and Blondel worked with Leveaux. Mansart's main assistant was his student and relative Robert de Cott, who continued to lead the construction after Mansart's death in 1708. In addition, Charles Davilay and Lassurens worked at Versailles. The interiors were made according to drawings by Beren, Vigarani, and also by Lebrun and Mignard.

Due to the participation of many masters, the architecture of Versailles is currently of a heterogeneous nature, especially since the construction of Versailles (from the emergence of the hunting castle of Louis XIII to the construction of the battle gallery of Louis Philippe) lasted for about two centuries (1624-1830).

The Bourbon dynasty at Versailles.

Bourbons - (the younger branch of the Capetian) an old French family, which, due to its relationship with the royal house of the Capetian, occupied the French and other thrones for a long time. Its name comes from a castle in the former province of Bourbonnais.

“The Bourbon dynasty gave the world Louis XIV - the“ Sun King ”, under whom the construction of the Palace of Versailles began. The example of the "Sun King" was imitated by all of Europe; the customs of his court, etiquette, even the French language itself enjoyed unheard-of popularity; his magnificent palace at Versailles has become an unattainable model for countless princelings. " He held in his hands the threads of all the country's political intrigues. The Versailles court with strictly regulated etiquette became the center from which all decisions emanated, rays of splendor and luxury streamed throughout the country. On the pediment of the main palace building, an inscription was carved: "The Versailles Palace is open for public entertainments." Nobles and nobles flocked here even from remote corners of France in pursuit of the grace of Louis XIV. Nobles who wanted to take a place in the ranks of the army, to get a position at court or in public service, to secure a pension or awards, crowded in the chambers of Versailles, strolled along its alleys, participated in festivities and hunts, and with all their behavior proved their loyal devotion to the sovereign.

The daily life of Versailles proceeded according to strict rules established by the King and palace etiquette. Morning awakening, going to bed, dinner and the King's walks - all the gestures and actions of the monarch served as an excuse

for court ceremonies. A brilliant society surrounded the King when he listened to Mass or gave an audience to foreign ambassadors. The courtiers thus brought variety and revitalization to palace life.

For the amusement of the Court, the monarchs held magnificent festivities. Under Louis XIV, at Versailles, three grandiose festivals were organized, at which performances were presented by the best artists of the era - Molière and Lully. The first performance of "Enjoyment of the Magic Island" took place in May 1664. The second festival, the most magnificent of the three, took place on July 18, 1668; it went down in history as the Grand Versailles divertissement. The latter took place in July 1674, when many of Lully's operas and Moliere's comedy The Imaginary Sick were presented.

In Versailles, theatrical performances and operas were held, balls - masquerades were given both in the apartments and in the Mirror Gallery or in the park. In the era of Marie Antoinette, the Trianon became the theater of numerous illuminations.

The Palace of Versailles was not just the king's dwelling, but also a symbol of the French kingdom. Court etiquette, strict adherence to hierarchy, imposingness, gallantry - everything was supposed to emphasize the magnificent splendor of the palace.

Each of the inhabitants of the Palace of Versailles left his mark on its architecture and decoration. Louis XV, the great-grandson of Louis XIV, who succeeded to the throne in 1715, decided to make changes to the architecture of the palace only towards the end of his reign in 1770. He ordered to equip separate apartments in order to protect his life from court etiquette. In turn, Louis XV inherited from his great-grandfather a love for the arts, as evidenced by the decoration of his inner chambers; and the penchant for secret political intrigues passed to him from the Italian ancestors of the Medici family and the Savoy dynasty. It was in the Inner Office, far from the curious courtyard, that the one who was called the "General Favorite" made some of the most important government decisions. At the same time, the king did not neglect either the etiquette established by his predecessor, or the life of the family, which he was reminded of by the queen and especially his beloved daughters.

Louis XVI, the heir of Louis XV, whose reign was tragically interrupted by the revolution, inherited from his maternal grandfather, the Polish king Augustus of Saxony, an enviable heroic strength; on the other hand, his ancestors - the Bourbons, transmitted to him not only a true passion for hunting, but also a deep interest in science. His wife Marie Antoinette, daughter of the Duke of Lorraine, who later became Emperor of Austria, and great-granddaughter of Philippe Orleans, brother of King Louis XIV, and the famous Princess Palatine, left a deep mark on the musical life of Versailles thanks to her love for music, inherited from both the Austrian Habsburgs and from Louis XIII. Unlike his ancestors, Louis XVI did not have the ambitions of a creator king. Known for the simplicity of his tastes, he lived in a palace out of necessity. During his reign, the interior of the palace was renewed, and, above all, the Queen's Small Offices, which were located parallel to his Large Chambers.

During the revolution, all furniture and decorations of the palace were plundered. Napoleon and then Louis XVIII carried out restoration work at Versailles. After the July Revolution of 1830, the palace was supposed to be demolished. This issue was put to a vote in the Chamber of Deputies. Versailles saved the advantage by one vote.

The last of the dynasty, King Louis Philippe, ruled France from 1830 to 1848

year. In 1830, after the July Revolution, which elevated him to the throne, the House of Representatives passed a law by which Versailles and Trianon came into the possession of the new king. Wasting no time, Louis-Philippe ordered the creation in Versailles of the Museum in honor of the glorious victories of France, which opened on June 1, 1837. This purpose of the castle has survived to this day.

I would like to note the political significance of Versailles. It was the center of the state and over the past centuries has witnessed many historical events. The first stage of the Great French Revolution is associated with it. Here on June 17, 1789, the assembly of deputies of the third estate proclaimed itself the National Assembly, and on July 9 - the Constituent Assembly. On August 26, Versailles adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. On September 3, 1783, a peace treaty was signed here, which confirmed the independence of the United States. During the Paris Commune in 1871, Versailles, where the National Assembly and the government of Thiers were located, became the center of the counter-revolution: from here began the offensive of the government troops - the "Versailles", which ended in their victory. On June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed here, which ended the First World War.

The Bourbon family name, which has served as a symbol of power and glory for many centuries, is now synonymous with French royal style and elegance.

Versailles: a grand synthesis of a palace and a park

Despite the clear plan underlying, the individual parts of the Versailles ensemble are far from complete unity. Particularly stylistically diverse is the architecture of the palace facades facing the city.

In the creation of the Palace of Versailles, its main authors, Levo and Mansart, were based on Italian architecture. The large order is the main motif of Versailles architecture. It is present on the western facade of the palace, as well as in later buildings - the Great and Little Trianon. The nature of the orders used in Versailles is typical of the buildings of Palladio and Vignola - only decorative details and capitals vary. So, for example, Lebrun created the so-called "French order", placing in the capitals the emblem of Louis XIV - the lily and the sun.

As a rule, the facade of Versailles does not correspond to the internal layout of the palace. The outdoor architecture masks the purpose of the various parts of the building intended for public services.

Therefore, architecture acquires a pronounced representative character, corresponding to the spirit of absolutism.

The interiors of the palace were also created over several construction periods. The principles of the “grand style” of French art of the time of Louis XIV are especially evident in them, that is, the combination of a sober logic of composition with a decorative enrichment of forms.

The central part of the palace housed the royal family, and in the huge wings there were guards and courtiers. The royal couple's ceremonial rooms occupied the second floor. Each room was dedicated to various ancient deities, whose names were allegorically associated with members of the royal family. Scenes from the life of the gods are depicted on the plafonds and above the fireplaces, and easel paintings, which later formed the first fund of the Louvre, hung on the walls.

The interior of the church, completed in 1710 by Robert de Cott, is one of the links in the general artistically unified chain of ceremonial interiors of the palace; it is full of secular splendor and refined splendor. The interior of the central part of the palace is much richer

in terms of the variety of artistic means involved than facades. This principle of the relationship between the external and internal appearance of the building, which was formed in Versailles, was later widely adopted in Rococo hotels.

Almost all the interiors of the central part of the palace were executed by Lebrun himself, with the constant consultation of the Perrault brothers. Lebrun attracted major painters, sculptors, coppersmiths, carvers and organized a special school. A tapestry manufactory and two hundred and fifty workers worked under the leadership of Lebrun.

During the period of work with Levo, Lebrun's work had baroque tendencies, clearly expressed in the Ambassadors' staircase, which leads to the king's large apartments. The master uses the techniques of illusory perspective, applied very skillfully and interestingly.

The chambers of the royal apartments were located in such a way that between the starting point of the movement (the Ambassadors' staircase) and its final point (the King's bedroom) there was the greatest number of intermediate links.

This sequence of rooms is reflected in the colorful and spatial solutions of individual interiors. Their architecture in the Palace of Versailles strives to create a holistic spatial impression in each room, with a subtle emphasis on the back wall. Each hall had, as it were, its own front side, its own facade.

“The enfilade principle of planning triumphs in the famous Mirror Gallery as well. This, in fact, is not a throne room, but a real avenue 173 meters long. It was important here to decorate the vault and walls so as not to overload the spaces and not to obstruct the flow of people. Lebrun placed on the vault images of Louis' victories. Painting has lost its independent meaning, but the space has acquired grace and lightness. Instead of tapestries, paintings of statues that catch the attention and stop the viewer, the gallery is covered with light, wide mirrors.

A chapel is also included in the enfilade arrangement of the premises. True, from the outside, it looks like a foreign body, but inside it is connected with the enfilade of ceremonial halls through a special vestibule, which is directly adjacent to the choirs.

Even the royal bedroom is included in the suite system. Only a low balustrade separates the king's bed from the stream of courtiers flowing past. Living quarters are sacrificed for the ceremonial halls. In this sense, Versailles is a complete type of ceremonial arrangement of premises, characteristic of the absolutism of the 18th century. ”The interiors of Versailles break with the tradition of the 16th century. The ceilings are always smooth or vaulted, covered with paintings with allegorical themes. Panels of marble, plaster or bronze appear on them. Stairs, usually winding until the 17th century, acquire straight flights in this era, with wide platforms, balustrades and iron gratings. Basically, gilding on a white background is used; polychromy plays a very limited role.

The buildings located next to the palace are united with it in their architectural images. The Levo's greenhouse was enlarged four times in 1681-1688 and rebuilt by Mansar on the model of Roman baths. It is connected to the southern parterre by two colossal staircases, between which it is located. It seems that the idea of ​​the grandiose has found its form in the image of these stairs. When viewed from the Swiss parterre, which lies at the foot of the greenhouse, the meaning of the whole concept is especially clear. The scale of the stairs, the huge planes of which seem to go into the sky, are incommensurable with a person: they were created for the "idea" reigning here.

In the same plan, the Big and Small stables were built by Mansar in 1679-1686 (opposite the palace, from the side of the city). They took their place between the beams of the road trident.

We will begin our journey with Museum of carriages. Housed in large stables, it is a collection of carriages collected mainly by Louis Philippe for the Historical Museum of Versailles. At that time, Louis-Philippe bought out the carriages of historical value and at one time serving the monarchs. Thus, the wedding Berliners of Napoleon I were delivered to Versailles - seven festive carriages illustrating the splendor of the imperial court during its heyday on April 2, 1810, as well as the carriage of Charles X, in which he traveled on the day of coronation and which was designed by the architect Persier for Louis XVIII , but in the context of the political differences of the era of the Restoration, Louis XVIII did not dare to use it. In addition, Louis-Philippe acquired a sled and stretcher. In 1833, a new exhibit was added to the collection - the funeral carriage of Louis XVIII, previously kept in the Small Stables. This carriage, used in 1809 for the funeral of Marshal Lannes, Duke of Montebello, and then converted for the Duke of Berry (son of the future Louis XVIII), who was killed in 1820, was redesigned for the funeral procession of Louis XVIII, held on September 23, 1824. Despite all the changes that this crew underwent at different times, it was restored in the form that it had on that day.

Courtyards... Three wide highways rush to the castle: from the north - the Avenue Saint-Cloud, from the south - the Avenue de Saux, and between them - the Parisian Avenue. From the north they go around the Big, and from the south - the Small Stables, gradually built by Arduin - Mansart, starting in 1679.

Behind them stretched Armory Square, crossing which, visitors enter the Main Court of Honor. On both sides of this courtyard, there are the Ministerial wings, built in 1671-1679, at the entrance there is an openwork fence, crowned with the Royal coat of arms. On the flanks, the fence is framed by four sculptural groups symbolizing War ("The King's Victories over the Empire and Spain") and Peace ("Peace and Abundance"). The last two were located on both sides of the grate, which before the Revolution separated the Honorary and Royal Courts. During the Revolution, the inner fence was demolished, and in its place in 1837 Louis Philippe ordered the installation of an equestrian statue of Louis XIV. The inner lattice began directly from the two pavilions that stood on the site of the North Wing (architect Gabriel, late Louis XV) and the South Pavilion (architect Dufour, Louis XVIII era). Only a few of the people bestowed with the Louvre Honors had the right to enter the Royal Court in a carriage. At the bottom, on an elevation of five steps, is the Marble Courtyard - (its name comes from the marble slabs) - which gives an idea of ​​the size of the courtyard during the existence of the castle of Louis XVIII.

Royal chapel- the fifth in a row in the castle, however, unlike others that were equipped in existing buildings, the premises for the Royal Chapel were built on purpose. On the corner formed by the central building of the palace and its North wing, from 1699 to 1708, that is, until his death, the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart erects this chapel; its construction was completed in 1710 under the direction of the architect's son-in-law, Robert de Cott. The scheme of the structure as a whole corresponds to the traditional canons of the Palatine three-story chapels, but it is made in the classical interpretation. The decor emphasizes continuity

Of the Old and New Testaments, as in the reliefs of Coustoux, Fremen, Lemoine, Van Cleves, Magnier, Poirier and Vasier, and in the painting of vaults imbued with the spirit of the Holy Trinity: whether it be the plafond of the apse with the "Resurrection of Christ" by de Lafos, or the vault of the central the nave with the "Almighty in glory, foreshadowing the coming of the Savior" by the artist Antoine Coypel, or the ceiling above the royal gallery with the composition "The Appearance of the Holy Spirit to the Theotokos and the Apostles" by Jouvenet, as well as the decor of a large organ inspired by the theme of King David.

The King of France listened to Mass from the Royal Gallery opposite the altar. The gallery was located on the same floor with his apartments, so the King descended to the lower floor of the chapel only in exceptional cases. To enter the gallery, the King passed through a hall with a vaulted ceiling and stone walls, rhythmically decorated with pilasters and Corinthian columns. This lobby was built at the same time as the chapel; in its decor, it is combined with the style of the chapel, linking it with the Great Royal Apartments. In two niches of the hall, there is a statue of Glory, holding a medallion with a portrait of Louis XV by Vasse, and the "Magnanimity of the Monarch" by the sculptor Boussot.

The Royal Chapel dedicated to Saint Louis served as a place for ceremonies in honor of the Holy Spirit, the hymn "Te Deum" was performed here on the occasion of the victories of the French army and the birth of the Children of France, and weddings of princes of the blood were celebrated.

Through the Royal Gallery you can get to the second floor of the castle, to the Salon of Hercules. Magnificent receptions were held in this spacious hall, located at the junction of the North Wing and the central building of the castle. The salon was set up at the top of the fourth chapel, where religious services lasted from 1682 to 1710. In 1712 Robert de Cott began to create the interior of the salon. But in connection with the death of Louis XIV in 1715, the work was interrupted and resumed only in 1725.

The decoration of the walls rhythmically combines polychrome marble and twenty pilasters, the base and Corinthian capitals of which are made of gilded bronze. The cornice, decorated with consoles and trophies, rests on the pilasters.

A marble fireplace made by Antenna is crowned with Paolo Veronese's painting "The Meeting of Eleazar with Rebekah." Another of his paintings - "Supper at Simon the Pharisee" - is located opposite; Louis XIV received it as a gift in 1664 from the Venetian Republic. The ceiling painting, made according to the sketches of François Lemoine in 1733-1736, earned the artist the title of the First Royal Painter. Nine intricate compositions uniting 142 figures make up Lemoine's creation. “In the first composition, Juno and Jupiter offer young Hebe to marry Hercules. In the second, we see Bacchus supported by the god Pan. Above depicts Amphitrite and Mercury, below - Venus surrounded by Graces, as well as Cupid, Pandora and Diana. The third composition unites Mars, Vulcan and Cupids. Envy, Anger, Hatred, Strife and other vices cast down by the chariot make up the fourth composition. The fifth represents Cybele in her chariot, Minerva and Ceres, Neptune and Pluto. In the sixth one can see Aeolus, Zephyr and Flora, Dew watering the clouds, and below - Dreams shower the sleeping Morpheus with poppy. The seventh composition includes Iris and Aurora, and around them are figures representing the Stars. Apollo and the Muses appear in the eighth composition. The ninth group includes the constellation Castor and Pollux. Silena, surrounded by children and Fauns, symbolizes the Bacchic festival in honor of Hercules. "

The Hall of Hercules smoothly turns into the Great Royal Apartments, consisting of several salons: the Salon of Abundance, the Salon of Venus, the Salon of Diana, the Salon of Mars, the Salon of Mercury, and the Salon of Apollo. Located on the second floor of the castle and overlooking the northern parterre, the Great Royal Apartments were built from 1671 to 1681. Their purpose was determined only in 1682, when the King ordered to turn Versailles into an official state residence. In these chambers, "the King provided receptions, but did not live", one could get here via the Ambassadorial Staircase, two flights of which led, respectively, to the Salons of Venus and Diana. Levo's ingenious creation - the Ambassadorial Staircase - was built by François d'Orbet; in 1752 it was demolished by order of Louis XV.

Until 1678, when the construction of the Mirror Gallery began, the Great Royal Apartments included seven rooms. Noting the splendor of the picturesque decor of the apartments, Felibien wrote in 1674: "Just as the sun was chosen for the emblem of the King, the seven planets made up the scenes of the paintings that adorn all the rooms of these apartments."