The founder of the Bourbon dynasty, Henry IV, begins to hunt in the forests of Versailles. His son, Louis XIII, builds a small hunting castle and begins to lay out a park. Louis XIV, son of Louis XIII and grandson of Henry IV, turns it into a huge palace and from 1682 officially moves to Versailles.
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Thus, while the Capetings lived in Île de la Cité, the Valois in Le Marais and on the Loire, the Bourbons’ “nest” was Versaille.
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Since the middle of the XVII century and for almost 150 years, up to the Great French Revolution, here decide the fate of Europe and the world, people’s fates and careers, from here fashion is dictated, here are born the most incredible rumors and legends…. The luxury and refinement of Versailles, which amaze even today, seem in the XVII, XVIII and XIX centuries to surpass any imagination.
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Here are just some of the names associated with Versailles: Madame de Pompadour, Cardinal Richelieu, Madame de Maintenon, Jean-Baptiste Molière, Marie Antoinette, Jean Racine, Jean de La Fontaine, Napoleon, François Mansart, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart…. In the endless list of its guests we will find Russian names – from Peter the Great to Leonid Brezhnev.
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The Grand Palace, remarkable in its beauty, is surrounded by luxurious parks, where landscape compositions by Andre Lenotre, the most famous garden architect of the time, are complemented by numerous fountains. It is safe to say that the bosquet (boschetto, from Italian boschetto – woods, grove) and fountains of Versailles are one of the modern wonders of the world. Except that the fountains only run on Saturdays and Sundays from 15h 30min. to 17h and exclusively in the summer period between Easter and the beginning of October. But even without the fountains, the park takes us to another era, to another dimension.
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Apparently, the largest and most impressive chateau-palace in France… is located at a distance of just over 20 km. from Paris, the duration of the tour varies, depending on the desire and time, from a few hours to… several days! In addition to the Grand Palais itself and its park with bosquets, the museum complex of Versailles also includes the Petit Trianon and Le Grand Trianon, and Marie Antoinette’s village (le Hameau de la Reine:bergerie de Marie-Antoinette)…
