Description
The Palace of Versailles, whose origins date back to the seventeenth century, was successively a hunting lodge, a โseat of power andโ,โ from the nineteenth centuryโ,โ a museum. With the gardens and the โโPalaces of Trianon, the park of the Chรขteau de Versailles spreads over 800 hectares.
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Chรขteau de Versailles haveย The Hall of Mirrors,ย The Grand Trianon and The Fountains.
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The Hall of Mirrors, the most famous room in the Palace, was built to replace a large terrace designed by the architect Louis Le Vau, which opened onto the garden. The terrace originally stood between the Kingโs Apartments to the north and the Queenโs to the south, but was awkward and above all exposed to bad weather, and it was not long before the decision was made to demolish it. Le Vauโs successor, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, produced a more suitable design that replaced the terrace with a large gallery. Work started in 1678 and ended in 1684.
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The Grand Trianon was erected by Jules Hardouin-Mansart in 1687 on the site of the former โPorcelain Trianonโ. Commissioned by Louis XIV in 1670 to get away from the arduous pomp of life in the court and to pursue his affair with Madame de Montespan, the Grand Trianon is perhaps the most refined architectural ensemble found on the royal estate of Versailles.
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Water features of all kinds are an important part of French gardens, even more so than plant designs and groves. At Versailles, they include waterfalls in some of the groves, spurts of water in the fountains, and the calm surface of the water reflecting the sky and sun in the Water Parterre or the Grand Canal.
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ISBN:9782854954791
