Château de Versailles

When we were in France, we went to the Château de Versailles. The last members of the Royal Family to live at Versailles were Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and their children. They were forced to leave Versailles 3 months after the Storming of the Bastille during the French Revolution.

When I learnt about the French Revolution, I learned about the 3 Estates - the Clergy, the Nobility and 'the rest'. Some people in the third estate didn't have enough money for basic things like bread but the clergy and the nobility weren't even taxed. Louis XVI tried to change things but he wasn't able to get the nobility and the clergy to agree. 

Versailles with all of its excess became a symbol of the Ancien Regime. 

People didn't like Marie Antoinette. They thought she was to blame for everything that was going wrong.

We went to the Château de Versailles 2 years ago and they have changed it up a bit.

You can see that they are doing some construction.

They are putting in a new Visitors' Entrance which will have a new lobby and information for visitors. They are also putting in a restaurant and an auditorium.

This is what the first Versailles looked like from 1624 - 1668.
It was originally a hunting lodge but Louis XIV wanted it to be his residence and so he added on to it.

Here is a painting of Louis le Grand (Louis XIV).

This painting is of Marie-Antoinette, Madame Royale and the Dauphin in the gardens of the Trianon.

We went through the Hercules Drawing Room,

The Drawing-Room of Plenty,

The Venus Drawing room,

And the Diana Drawing Room.

But I really liked the Mars Drawing Room.
It had a painting of Marie Leszcynska who was married to Louis XV.

I really liked the paintings on the ceiling,

And the gold details.

The Mercury Drawing Room was the "State Bed Chamber".

In the War Drawing Room we saw the piece which has Louis XIV crossing the Rhine in the war with Holland.

This was the King's Bedchamber.

We could see into Louis XV's bed chamber.
Louis XVI spent his last night at Versailles in October 1789 in this room.

The Hall of Mirrors was humongous and very bright.
I wonder how they clean all of the windows, mirrors and crystals. And was there any mercury in the mirrors?

Here is a picture of me and Mom in the Hall of Mirrors.

This was the Queen's Bedchamber.
This is where people would rush in to see the Queen give birth to her children.

This was in the antechamber of the Grand Couvert where the King and Queen would eat meals in 'public'.

We got to see what it looks like when they are restoring the paintings on the ceiling.

There's a painting of Napoleon's Coronation in the Coronation Room.

And here is a painting of young Napoleon.

This is a statue of Louis XV.

And Louis Philippe.

We got to go through the entrance from the Marble Courtyard.

We got to see the Apartments of Madame Victoire.

We got to see Madame Adelaide's Apartment as well.

The last room we saw was the Archer's Room.

I think it was amazing that during the revolution the people wanted to keep Versailles for the people. They wouldn't let Louis XVI empty out the furniture and they didn't sell it and they didn't tear it down.