Grand+Appartments

 The Grand Apartments are rooms in the Palace of Versailles where French royalty used to reside. They have three components, the garden, the park, and the rooms. The rooms underwent various changes during the reign of Louis XIV in the 20th century and in the 1970’s by Pierre Lemoine. The rooms are chronologically spread out. All of the rooms and halls represent something different as well as having connections to history.

The King’s Grand Apartments were made up of seven rooms and were meant to act as parade apartments. During the day, all French people and foreigners who came to see the king were welcomed. On three evenings a week it was kept for the court. The Queen’s Grand Apartments are proportional to the King’s Grand Apartments. These apartments differ because the queen’s have always occupied them and they have been decorated differently by each queen/dauphine to live in them. The King’s interior apartments are on the first floor in the middle of the palace. In the 18th century, the rooms were actual living and working quarters and were often decorated and furnished to the occupants taste.

Apartments of the dauphin and the dauphine were rooms for the initial members of the royal family. These apartments are on the ground floor, but are currently closed. Mesdames’ Apartments were for the six daughters of Louis XIV. They were turned into museum rooms and were officially opened on April 25, 2013. The apartments of Marie Antoinette were a bunch of small rooms behind the State Apartments used for private use and the lady’s maids. Marie Antoinette added levels onto her own little apartment.

 The Hall of Mirrors is a passageway that is decorated with three hundred and fifty-seven mirrors on seventeen arches. The Hall of Mirrors was used for ceremonies and special occasions and is still used for the presidents of the Republic of France to receive the official hosts. The Congress room was built in the 19th century and is used for the deputies and senators as a meeting place to adopt constitutional revisions. The Battle Gallery occupies almost all of the two upper floors in the South Wing. It holds many paintings of the battles fought in France. The Opera Royal was the largest theater in Europe when it was installed and is one of Ange-Jacques Gabriel’s most important architectural designs. It was the largest auditorium for live entertainment and later hosted celebrations and shows.

Today, travelers visit the Grand Apartments and take tours of the rooms that the royal family and workers lived in. Visiting this attraction would be a once in a lifetime experience.