h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello Mina and 100 Watt Warlock and IanG!

I thought maybe you would be interested to know certain informations about the architecture/construction of both the chateau and the city of Versailles. I'm a graduate student in architecture and i did in 1999 a research about the formation of this city, and maybe you'll find here some informations worth a look... Feel free to take or leave anything! You'll may have to correct spelling and syntax mistakes as well as upgrade the vocabulary, though!!! I'm still learning English...

The first chateau of Versailles was built by Louis XIII as a place he could go for the Hunt. Kings of France (like many Kings, i suppose) really liked to Hunt. They had a *lot* of domains to go to for their passion, still they were often very far from Paris and the Louvres and in those times, a King had to bring all the gouvernement with him where ever he went. So it was always a *big* deal to go from the Louvres to Villers-Cotterêts, Chambord or Fontainebleau or any other hunting chateau. So, in a very little village by the name of Versailles, probably founded at the very end of the 10th century (first traces to be found in written texts about a settlement in this area are dated from 1038), Louis the XIII decided to built a "petite maison" dedicated to the pleasures of Hunting. It became a prosperous domain, where he liked to go as often as possible. A first building called "chateau de cartes" is built in 1624-1625 but in 1631, another bigger one is built on the same spot. From this second castle all that remains is the façade (of course redecorated afterwards by Le Vau) and the "retour d'équerre" (i dont know the equivalent in English... sorry ) facing the famous Cours des Marbres (the place just in front of les appartements du Roi).

As you already said, it is really Louis XIV, who decides to continue the work of his father and transforms Versailles onto a celebration of his Royal Person, that makes of Versailles the palace we all know (with the help, of course, of three of the Greats: Le Vau, Le Brun and Le Notre). What you may find interesting, though, is that Versailles from the beginning was not meant to be that big. But as his power and the crowd around him is increasing exponentially, L XIV has to extend the initial chateau. Subsequent campaigns of construction occurs in 1671, 1673, 1678 and 1684. Versailles being more than just one building, there is a lot of other dates of construction, but i will spare you... A precision has yet to be done, though. As Le Vau died in 1670, he is replaced by François d'Orbay, who does nothing else than follow plans and instructions of Le Vau. He is soon replaced (before the decade is finished) by Jules Hardouin-Mansart (nephew of the Great Mansart) who is responsible for a lot of very interesting building and rooms in Versailles. For instance, he is the architect behind la Galerie des Glaces, but also behind la Surintendance (1670-71), l'Hôtel de la Chancellerie (1673), les Ecuries du Roi (1682) and le Grand Commun (1684), to name a few. Le vau had left the building , but not without planning various components of Versailles-city, for example the Place Royale and the Trident (composed by the avenues de Paris, de Saint-Cloud and de Sceaux). Hardouin-Mansart, building both la Petite et la Grande Ecurie , is the one that has really made le Trident perceptible, but the idea was one of Le Vau.

In the chateau, the apartements du roi were meant to be the focus point of everything: life, view, power, etc. making the chateau a very symbolic building. This is readable in the urban planning of Versailles-city, mostly around the chateau (wich is the part of the city that has not suffered from much demolition and re-planning.

It can also be perceived in the way the gardens are planned. The perspective created by Le Grand Bassin and La Grande Allée are very interesting. It can have two meanings: first if you look from the place the King would be (near the chateau, facing the Gardens) the persepctive is what we call a "perspective baroque" wich means that it goes on infinitely and that nothing stops it. If you place it in a symbolic frame, it represents that you are the center from where everything begins. On the contrary, if you place yourself opposit to the end of the perspective, (meaning at the end of the gardens, after the Grand Bassin (wich is a very nice place to escape the unbelievable crowd of tourists in Versailles, by the way. Because it is so far, fewer people go there... )) and you look in the direction of the chateau, you have now a "perspective classique" wich is one that has an end, a center of attention. Symbolicly speaking, you are not anymore the important one, but rather a contemplating one. The building (or the person, or the institution) is placed on a "pied d'estale" and is stealing your own importance away. Now of course, you may say, this situation is found where ever a "perspective classique" is, but i thought it could be meaningful talking (or should i say writing) about L. XIV.

Just a little note by the way: L. XIV's popular name was Roi Soleil and not Roi du Soleil wich means a slightly different thing, the same difference, in fact, as Sun's King and King Sun.

I know there is more information that i could find on the subject, but i don't have my complete reading notes with me, so i'll stop now. I will post later the bibliography i used for this research. I just have the authors' name here, so it would'nt be of much help. I haven't talked much about Versailles-city, but since the entry is on Versailles-chateau, i thought it probably wasn't the right place. Tell me if you'd like the infos though...

I hope you can find some use to this *very long* posting

cheers

Hello everyone!

I just re-read the posting I made and here some corrections and clarifications, in no particular order:

The Great Mansart wich i was referring to is a well-known French architect (Paris 1598 - id. 1666).

Hardouin-Mansart is also the architect of Place Vendôme, Place des Victoires and la Chapelle des Invalides in the city of Paris.

The statuary in the gardens was elaborated under the direction of Coyzevox and Girardon.

It is also in the Palace of Versailles that the German Empire has been declared (january 18th 1871).

Louvre has no "s" and Roi-Soleil takes a hyphen. My apologies.

Before L XIII, the land and the village of Versailles were the property of some unknown noble, from a family far from the throne. It seems that the land was then bought by a family closer to the throne and offered to the King. That last information should be doubled check because i've seen it in only one source.

"Chateau de Cartes" means literally "Playing Cards' Castle".

If you happen to go to Versailles, i very highly recommend that you go during the "Grandes Eaux" wich is the time you were talking about when all the Fountains work to their maximum capacity. I know 30FF is sometimes a high price to pay when on a tight budget but it is sooooo worth it!!! The music, the water, the garden, the chateau, everything comes to a poetic and unforgetable perfection. Of course, on this day of Grandes Eaux (Great Waters) there is an incredible amount of people... The crowd is just unimaginable... That's definitely the downside of it. But as the Garden is very large, you can find some very beautiful places if you walk a bit. The main group of tourists stays near the major fountains and the Grand bassin, because most part of the action is there, but if you need a break from the crowd, take a few deserted alleys, and you'll get to some amazing places... The Gardens of Versailles are a treasure of hidden magnificient places and you feel just like you're the only one who knows about it (I remember arriving in some sort of cathedral of trees that was so huge and so... i'm really at a loss of word to describe the beauty of it...) These gardens really have to be walked in and i'd say they're probably more interesting than the palace itself... What do you think?

Did you know that famous anecdote about a homeless couple believed to have inhabited the gardens for a few years now? They just built a shelter somewhere in the remote parts of the Gardens and found a way to avoid the guardians for a fairly long time!! Well, you may have to be cautious about that rumor, of course, but i found it not too hard to believe when i walked along some parts of the Gardens...

Well, i thought that this woudn't be a long and tedious posting, but look at that...

So i'll go to sleep now! It's past three in the morning... What you wouldn't do to help h2g2!!!

Well so long now!
r145666
PS: i have a little question very irrelevant to the subject, but maybe you know the answer... If i change my h2g2 nickname, does all my previous postings and entries change the name too?? 'coz you'll agree with me that "researcher XXXX" is not that much of a *funky* nick', eh?

Yes, if you change your nickname it will change on every posting you have made in the past.
Thanks for all this information, I'm not sure what we can do with it, as the project is with the editors now. I'll try and find out if we can get the thread moved to the entry's page.

Thanks for the input, and taking the time to read the piece.

I had forgotten that Louis XIII had a hunting lodge there to start with, I must say. Some of this stuff will find it's way into the article, though we weren't looking at Versailles in that much detail , we were looking at interesting places in Paris as a whole.