Hurepoix ( French pronunciation: [yʁpwa] ) is an area of the Île-de-France , to the southwest of Paris , situated between the departments of Yvelines , Hauts-de-Seine and Essonne . It was an old province of the French Kingdom and the main city was Dourdan .
94-723: This area is one of the biggest of the Île-de-France . Limits : Main cities Main rivers Main forest Main Castles This area is not far from Versailles , and the castle of Louis XIV . In this period, Princes and Dukes built castles not far, in Hurepoix. The economy of the west part of the area consists of farming, as in the past. The economy of the eastern part is more industrial. 48°33′N 2°01′E / 48.55°N 2.02°E / 48.55; 2.02 Versailles (city) Versailles ( French pronunciation: [vɛʁsɑj] )
188-752: A Ministry of Foreign Affairs (where the Treaty of Paris (1783) ending the American Revolutionary War was signed in 1783 with the United Kingdom), and a Ministry of the Navy. By 1789, the population had reached 60,000 inhabitants, and Versailles was now the seventh or eighth-largest city in France, and one of the largest cities in Europe. Seat of political power, Versailles naturally became
282-564: A Parisian mob forced Louis XVI and the royal family to move to Paris. Versailles again became the unofficial capital of France from March 1871, when Adolphe Thiers ' government took refuge in Versailles, fleeing the insurrection of the Paris Commune , until November 1879, when the newly elected government and parliament returned to Paris. During the various periods when government affairs were conducted from Versailles, Paris remained
376-580: A balustrade and a view of the sky. The General Assembly chamber was first a chapel, then, under Price Napoleon, a gallery of paintings. It has been changed more than any of the other rooms in the Council. At one end is a long table, with a seat in the center for the Vice President of the Assembly, who chairs the meetings, and the six presidents of the sections of Council. The decoration of the room
470-649: A city built symmetrically with respect to the Avenue de Paris (which starts from the entrance of the castle). The roofs of the buildings and houses of the new city were not to exceed the level of the Marble Courtyard, at the entrance of the castle (built above a hill dominating the city), so that the perspective from the windows of the castle would not be obstructed. The old village and the Saint Julien church were demolished to make room for buildings housing
564-456: A fair amount of sunshine. in the winter, sunshine is scarce; days are cool, and nights are cold but generally above freezing with low temperatures around 3 °C (37 °F). Light night frosts are however quite common, but the temperature seldom dips below −5 °C (23 °F). Snow falls every year, but rarely stays on the ground. The city sometimes sees light snow or flurries with or without accumulation. The name of Versailles appears for
658-687: A general site plan, showing the Palais-Royal before these alterations were made. When the Duke of Orléans died in 1701, his son became the head of the House of Orléans . The new Duke and Duchess of Orléans took up residence at the Palais-Royal. Two of their daughters, Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans , later the Duchess of Modena , and Louise Diane d'Orléans , later the Princess of Conti , were born there. At
752-497: A lot in the new city for free. There were only two conditions to acquire a lot: 1- a token tax of 5 shillings ( 5 sols ) per arpent of land should be paid every year ($ 0.03 per 1,000 sq ft (93 m ) per year in 2005 US dollars); 2- a house should be built on the lot according to the plans and models established by the Surintendant des Bâtiments du Roi (architect in chief of the royal demesne). The plans provided for
846-754: A second wife, the Princess Palatine , who preferred to live in the Château de Saint-Cloud . Saint-Cloud thus became the main residence of her eldest son and the heir to the House of Orléans , Philippe Charles d'Orléans known as the Duke of Chartres . The Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture occupied the Palais Brion from 1661 to 1691 and shared it with the Académie Royale d'Architecture from 1672. The royal collection of antiquities
940-453: A social highlight. In 1692, on the occasion of the marriage of the duke of Chartres to Françoise Marie de Bourbon , Mademoiselle de Blois , a legitimised daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, the King deeded the Palais-Royal to his brother. The new couple did not occupy the northeast wing, where Anne of Austria had originally lived, but instead chose to reside in the Palais Brion. For
1034-538: A string of parliamentary elections, defeating the parties supporting a restoration of the monarchy, and the new majority decided to relocate the government to Paris in November 1879. Versailles then experienced a new population setback (48,324 inhabitants at the 1881 census). After that, Versailles never again functioned as the seat of the capital of France, but the presence of the French Parliament there in
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#17327984812011128-533: A weekly market on Thursdays. The population of Versailles was 500 inhabitants. Martial de Loménie was murdered during the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre (24 August 1572). In 1575, Albert de Gondi , a man from Florence who had come to France with Catherine de' Medici , bought the seigneury of Versailles. Henceforth Versailles was the possession of the Gondi family , a family of wealthy and influential parliamentarians at
1222-536: Is a commune in the department of the Yvelines , Île-de-France , renowned worldwide for the Château de Versailles and the gardens of Versailles , designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites . Located in the western suburbs of the French capital, 17.1 km (10.6 mi) from the centre of Paris , Versailles is a wealthy suburb of Paris with a service-based economy and is a major tourist destination. According to
1316-500: Is another small square, Place André Malraux. The Council of State , created by Napoleon in 1799, inherited many of the functions of the earlier Royal Council , acting both as a consultant to the government and a kind of Supreme Court. It was installed in the Palais-Royal in 1875. The Conseil has its own courtyard, facing out onto the Place du Palais-Royal and the Rue de Rivoli. Inside is
1410-567: Is served by Versailles-Chantiers station , which is an interchange station on Paris RER line C , on the Transilien La Défense suburban rail line, on the Transilien Paris-Montparnasse suburban rail line, and on several national rail lines, including low-frequency TGV service. Versailles is also served by two other stations on Paris RER line C: Versailles-Château–Rive Gauche (the closest station to
1504-611: Is similar to Latin seminare ("to sow") which gave French semailles ("sowings", "sown seeds"). During the Revolution of 1789 , city officials had proposed to the convention to rename Versailles Berceau-de-la-Liberté ("Cradle of Liberty"), but they had to retract their proposal when confronted with the objections of the majority of the population. From May 1682, when Louis XIV moved the court and government permanently to Versailles, until his death in September 1715, Versailles
1598-561: Is still considered an immigrant in French statistics. On the other hand, persons born in France with foreign citizenship (the children of immigrants) are not listed as immigrants. The headquarters of the Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University is located in the city, as well as the ISIPCA , a post-graduate school in perfume, cosmetics products and food flavour formulation. Versailles
1692-795: Is still there. In 1786, a noon cannon was set up by a philosophical amateur, set on the Paris meridian , in which the sun's noon rays, passing through a lens, lit the cannon's fuse. The noon cannon is still fired at the Palais-Royal, though most of the ladies for sale have disappeared, those who inspired the Abbé Delille 's lines: Dans ce jardin on ne rencontre Ni prés, ni bois, ni fruits, ni fleurs. Et si l'on y dérègle ses mœurs, Au moins on y règle sa montre. ("In this garden one encounters neither meadows, nor woods, nor fruits, nor flowers. And, if one upsets one's morality, at least one may reset one's watch.") The Cirque du Palais-Royal, constructed in
1786-508: Is the Palace , with its ornately decorated rooms and historic significance. The Potager du roi is a kitchen garden created under Louis XIV to supply fruits and vegetables to the Court. It is officially recognized as a Remarkable Garden of France . The town also has other points of cultural notability; in recent times, its position as an affluent suburb of Paris has meant that it forms a part of
1880-464: The Parlement of Paris. Several times during the 1610s, the de Gondis invited King Louis XIII to hunt in the large forests around Versailles. In 1622, the king purchased a parcel of forest for his private hunting. In 1624, he acquired more and entrusted Philibert Le Roy with the construction of a small hunting lodge of red bricks and stone with a slate roof. In 1632, the king bought the totality of
1974-568: The 1st arrondissement of Paris . The screened entrance court faces the Place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre . Originally called the Palais-Cardinal , it was built for Cardinal Richelieu from about 1633 to 1639 by architect Jacques Lemercier . Richelieu bequeathed it to Louis XIII , before Louis XIV gave it to his younger brother, Philippe I, Duke of Orléans . As the succeeding Dukes of Orléans made such extensive alterations over
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#17327984812012068-647: The National Assembly and the Senate , meet – gathers in the Château de Versailles to vote on revisions to the Constitution . The argument over the etymology of Versailles tends to privilege the Latin word versare , meaning "to keep turning, turn over and over", an expression used in medieval times for ploughed lands, cleared lands (lands that had been repeatedly "turned over"). This word formation
2162-520: The Palace of Versailles and consequently the station most frequently used by tourists) and Porchefontaine . Versailles is also served by two stations on the Transilien Paris-Saint-Lazare suburban rail line: Versailles-Rive Droite and Montreuil . Versailles is twinned with: Palais-Royal The Palais-Royal ( French: [pa.lɛ ʁwa.jal] ) is a former French royal palace located on Rue Saint-Honoré in
2256-542: The Paris Opera at that time). The Opera's theatre was destroyed by fire in 1763, but was rebuilt to the designs of architect Pierre-Louis Moreau Desproux on a site slightly further to the east (where the rue de Valois is located today) and reopened in 1770. This second theatre continued to be used by the Opera until 1781, when it was also destroyed by fire, but this time it was not rebuilt. Moreau Desproux also designed
2350-588: The Seine-et-Oise département in 1790, then of Yvelines in 1968. It is also a Roman Catholic diocese . Versailles is historically known for numerous treaties such as the Treaty of Paris , which ended the American Revolution , and the Treaty of Versailles , after World War I. Today, the Congress of France – the name given to the body created when both houses of the French Parliament ,
2444-576: The Théâtre des Variétés-Amusantes , formerly on the boulevard du Temple but since 1 January 1785 playing in a temporary theatre in the gardens of the Palais-Royal. This company changed its name to Théâtre du Palais-Royal on 15 December 1789, and later moved into the new theatre upon its completion, where they opened on 15 May 1790. On 25 April 1791 the anti-royalist faction of the Comédie-Française , led by Talma , left that company's theatre on
2538-683: The rue Saint-Honoré (on a site just to the west of what is now the rue de Valois ). It was built from 1637 to 1641 to designs by Lemercier and was initially known as the Great Hall of the Palais-Cardinal . This theatre was later used by the troupe of Molière beginning in 1660, by which time it had become known as the Théâtre du Palais-Royal. After Molière 's death in 1673 the theatre was taken over by Jean-Baptiste Lully , who used it for his Académie Royale de Musique (the official name of
2632-542: The tricolour flag that had been adopted during the Revolution made the restoration of monarchy impossible for the time being. Versailles became again the political centre of France, full of buzz and rumours, with its population briefly peaking at 61,686 in 1872, matching the record level of population reached on the eve of the French Revolution 83 years earlier. Eventually, however, left-wing republicans won
2726-596: The 1870s left a vast hall, built in one aisle of the palace, which the French Parliament uses when it meets in Congress to amend the French Constitution, as well as when the President of France addresses the two chambers of the French Parliament. Only in 1911 did Versailles definitely recover its level of population of 1789, with 60,458 inhabitants at the 1911 census. In 1919, at the end of
2820-412: The 1960s and 1970s, and somehow Versailles has become the main centre of the western suburbs of Paris. In the present times, the centre of the town has kept its very bourgeois atmosphere, while more middle-class neighbourhoods have developed around the train stations and on the outskirts of the city. Versailles is a chic suburb of Paris, well linked with the centre of Paris by several train lines. However,
2914-534: The 2017 census, the population of the city is 85,862 inhabitants, down from a peak of 94,145 in 1975. A new town founded at the will of King Louis XIV , Versailles was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789, before becoming the cradle of the French Revolution . After having lost its status as a royal city, it became the préfecture (regional capital) of
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3008-527: The Council is the Hall of the Tribunal of Conflicts, a kind of courtroom installed in the former dining room of Duchess of Orleans, built by the architect Pierre Contant d'Ivry in 1753. It still preserves much of its original decoration, with pilasters and columns, and decorative medallions of putti representing the four seasons and the four elements. The ceiling has a trompe l'oeil painting from 1852 depicting
3102-670: The Cour d'Honneur and the Palais-Royal Garden. Following the July Revolution of 1830 when the Duke of Orléans ascended the throne as Louis-Phillipe I, the palace remained the principal residence of the new monarch. In the Revolution of 1848 , a Paris mob attacked and looted the royal residence Palais-Royal, particularly the art collection of King Louis-Philippe. During the Second French Republic ,
3196-490: The Duchess's maids and staff. Several of the women who later came to be favourites to King Louis XIV were from her household: Louise de La Vallière , who gave birth there to two sons of the King, in 1663 and 1665; Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan , who supplanted Louise; and Angélique de Fontanges , who was in service to the second Duchess of Orléans. The court gatherings at the Palais-Royal were famed all around
3290-538: The Duke's father. Fontaine's most significant work included the western wing of the Cour d'Honneur, the Aile Montpensier, and with Charles Percier , what was probably the most famous of Paris's covered arcades, the Galerie d'Orléans, enclosing the Cour d'Honneur on its north side. Both were completed in 1830. The Galerie d'Orléans was demolished in the 1930s, but its flanking rows of columns still stand between
3384-625: The First World War, Versailles came into the limelight again as the various treaties ending the war were signed in the castle proper and in the Grand Trianon . After 1919, as the suburbs of Paris continued to expand, Versailles was absorbed by the urban area of Paris and the city experienced a strong demographic and economic growth, turning it into a large suburban city of the metropolitan area of Paris. The role of Versailles as an administrative and judicial centre has been reinforced in
3478-442: The French army, a tradition going back to the monarchy with, for instance, the military camp of Satory and other institutions. Versailles is located 17.1 km (10.6 mi) west-southwest from the centre of Paris. The city sits on an elevated plateau, 130 to 140 metres (430 to 460 ft) above sea level (whereas the elevation of the centre of Paris is only 33 m (108 ft) above sea level), surrounded by wooded hills: in
3572-613: The Grande Galerie along the rue de Richelieu (1719–20; visible on the 1739 Turgot map of Paris ). All of this work was lost, when the Palais Brion was demolished in 1784 for the construction of the Salle Richelieu , now hosting the Comédie-Française . After the Regency, the social life of the palace became much more subdued. Louis XV moved the court back to Versailles and Paris was again ignored. The same happened with
3666-727: The Ministry of Culture and Communication. The two wings of the building have triangular fronts filled with sculpture, inspired by classical architecture and typical of the Louis XIV style . On the west side of the Council building is Place Colette , and the Salle Richelieu of the Comédie Française . Behind that are the offices of the Constitutional Council. On the left side of the Salle Richelieu
3760-506: The NATO unified command in 1966, nearby Rocquencourt functioned as the site for SHAPE . Versailles is an important military centre, with several units and training schools headquartered at the Satory military base, which hosted the headquarters of the famed 2nd French Armored Division until 1999, and where a military exhibition is organized annually. Versailles' primary cultural attraction
3854-469: The Palais-Royal as their main Paris residence. The following year the new duchess gave birth to a daughter, Marie Louise d'Orléans , inside the palace. She created the ornamental gardens of the palace, which were said to be among the most beautiful in Paris. Under the new ducal couple, the Palais-Royal would become the social center of the capital. The palace was redecorated and new apartments were created for
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3948-425: The Palais-Royal became one of the first of the new style of shopping arcades and became a popular venue for the wealthy to congregate, socialise and enjoy their leisure time. The redesigned palace complex became one of the most important marketplaces in Paris. It was frequented by the aristocracy, the middle classes, and the lower orders. It had a reputation as being a site of sophisticated conversation (revolving around
4042-577: The Palais-Royal face south to the Place du Palais-Royal and the Louvre across the Rue de Rivoli . The central part of the palace is occupied by the Conseil-d'État, or State Council. It has three floors, and is topped by a low cupola and a rounded pediment filled with sculpture. Two arched passages under the central building lead to the Courtyard of Honor behind. In the east wing, to the right, are offices of
4136-538: The Palais-Royal. Louis d'Orléans succeeded his father as the new duke of Orléans in 1723. He and his son Louis Philippe lived at the other family residence in Saint-Cloud, which had been empty since the death of the Princess Palatine in 1722. Claude Desgots redesigned the gardens of the Palais-Royal in 1729. In 1752 Louis Philippe I succeeded his father as the duke of Orléans. The Palais-Royal
4230-576: The Paris artistic scene, and musical groups such as Phoenix , Air , Fuzati , and Daft Punk have some link to the city, as does the director Michel Gondry . Football Club de Versailles 78 is a semi-professional association football club founded in 1989. Their home stadium is the Stade de Montbauron, which has a capacity of 6,208 people. An immigrant is a person born in a foreign country not having French citizenship at birth. An immigrant may have acquired French citizenship since moving to France, but
4324-449: The Revolution, was left abandoned, with only Napoleon briefly staying one night there and then leaving the castle for good. Louis-Philippe , who took the throne in the July Revolution of 1830, transformed the palace into a National Museum dedicated to "all the glories of France" in 1837. Versailles had become a sleepy town, a place of pilgrimage for those nostalgic for the old monarchy. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 put Versailles in
4418-413: The adjacent surviving entrance façades of the Palais-Royal. At the request of Louis Philippe II two new theatres were constructed in the Palais-Royal complex shortly after the fire. Both of these new theatres were designed by Victor Louis , the architect who also designed the shopping galleries facing the garden (see below). The first theatre, which opened on 23 October 1784, was a small puppet theatre in
4512-619: The administrative services managing the daily life in the castle. On both sides of the Avenue de Paris were built the Notre-Dame neighbourhood and the Saint-Louis neighbourhood, with new large churches, markets, and aristocratic mansions, all built in a very homogeneous style according to the models established by the Surintendant des Bâtiments du Roi . Versailles was a vast construction site for many years. Little by little came to Versailles all those who needed or desired to live close to
4606-399: The apartments of the Duchess on the ground floor in 1716 and to decorate the Grand Appartement of the Palais Brion in the light and lively style Régence that foreshadowed the Rococo , as well as the Regent's more intimate petits appartements . Oppenord also made changes to the Grande Galerie of the Palais Brion and created a distinctive Salon d'Angle, which connected the Grand Appartement to
4700-400: The capital as well as all of France. It was at these parties that the crème de la crème of French society came to see and be seen. Guests included the main members of the royal family like the Queen Mother, Anne of Austria ; Anne, Duchess of Montpensier , the Princes of Condé and of Conti . Philippe's favourites were also frequent visitors. After Henrietta Anne died in 1670 the Duke took
4794-424: The castle of his father, as well as the park, in order to accommodate the court. In 1678, after the Treaty of Nijmegen , the king decided that the court and the government would be established permanently in Versailles, which happened on 6 May 1682. At the same time, a new city was emerging from the ground, resulting from an ingenious decree of the king dated 22 May 1671, whereby the king authorized anyone to acquire
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#17327984812014888-401: The center of the garden, has been described as "a huge half-subterranean spectacle space of food, entertainments, boutiques, and gaming that ran the length of the park and was the talk of the capital." It was destroyed by fire on 15 December 1798. Inspired by the souks of Arabia, the Galerie de Bois, a series of wooden shops linking the ends of the Palais-Royal and enclosing the south end of
4982-489: The chaos that characterised the noisy, dirty streets; a warm, dry space away from the elements; and a safe-haven where people could socialise and spend their leisure time. Promenading in the arcades became a popular eighteenth century pastime for the emerging middle classes. From the 1780s to 1837, the palace was once again the centre of Parisian political and social intrigue and the site of the most popular cafés. The historic restaurant " Le Grand Véfour ", which opened in 1784,
5076-439: The city is extremely compartmentalized, divided by large avenues inherited from the monarchy which create the impression of several small cities ignoring each other. Versailles was never an industrial city, even though there are a few chemical and food-processing plants. Essentially, Versailles is a place of services, such as public administration, tourism, business congresses, and festivals. From 1951 until France's withdrawal from
5170-571: The convenience of the bride, new apartments were built and furnished in the wing facing east on the rue de Richelieu . It was at this time that Philippe commissioned a Grande Galerie along the rue de Richelieu for his famous Orleans Collection of paintings, which was easily accessible to the public. Designed by the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart , it was constructed around 1698–1700 and painted with Virgilian subjects by Coypel . The cost of this reconstruction totaled about 400,000 livres . Hardouin-Mansart's assistant, François d'Orbay , prepared
5264-415: The cradle of the French Revolution . The Estates-General met in Versailles on 5 May 1789. The members of the Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath on 20 June 1789, and the National Constituent Assembly abolished feudalism on 4 August 1789. Eventually, on 5 and 6 October 1789, a crowd of women joined by some members of the national guard from Paris invaded the castle to protest bread prices and forced
5358-469: The death of Louis XIV in 1715, his five-year-old great-grandson succeeded him. The Duke of Orléans became Regent for the young Louis XV , setting up the country's government at the Palais-Royal, while the young king lived at the nearby Tuileries Palace . The Palais-Royal housed the magnificent Orleans Collection of some 500 paintings, which was arranged for public viewing until it was sold abroad in 1791. He commissioned Gilles-Marie Oppenord to redesign
5452-420: The death of Louise Henriette, her husband secretly married his mistress, the witty marquise de Montesson , and the couple lived at the Château de Sainte-Assise where he died in 1785. Just before his death, he completed the sale of the Château de Saint-Cloud to Queen Marie Antoinette . Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans was born at Saint-Cloud and later moved to the Palais-Royal and lived there with his wife,
5546-466: The first time in a medieval document dated 1038. In the feudal system of medieval France, the lords of Versailles came directly under the king of France, with no intermediary overlords between them and the king; yet they were not very important lords. At the end of the 11th century, the village curled around a medieval castle and the Saint Julien church. Its farming activity and its location on the road from Paris to Dreux and Normandy brought prosperity to
5640-504: The garden, was first opened in 1786. For Parisians, who lived in the virtual absence of pavements, the streets were dangerous and dirty; the arcade was a welcome addition to the streetscape as it afforded a safe place where Parisians could window shop and socialise. Thus, the Palais-Royal began what architectural historian Bertrand Lemoine [ fr ] describes as "l’Ère des passages couverts" (the Arcade Era), which transformed European shopping habits between 1786 and 1935. During
5734-467: The garden: the rue de Montpensier on the west, rue de Beaujolais to the north, and rue de Valois on the east. He commercialised the new complex by letting out the area under the colonnades to retailers and service-providers and in 1784 the shopping and entertainment complex opened to the public. Over a decade or so, sections of the Palais were transformed into shopping arcades that became the centre of 18th-century Parisian economic and social life. Though
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#17327984812015828-464: The grand horseshoe stairway of honor, which curves upward along the walls to the landing on the first floor. It is decorated with theatrical effects, including ionic columns, and blind arches giving the illusion of bays. A trompe-l'oeil painting in an archway appears to give a view of a classical statue, above which putti hold wreathes around a bust of Cardinal Richelieu . The stairway was made by Pierre Contant d'Ivry in 1765. The most lavish room of
5922-430: The heirs of Cardinal Richelieu. Louis had it connected to the Palais-Royal. It was at the Palais Brion that Louis had his mistress Louise de La Vallière stay while his affair with Madame de Montespan was still an official secret. Henrietta Anne was married to Louis' younger brother, Philippe I, Duke of Orléans in the palace chapel on 31 March 1661. After their marriage, Louis XIV allowed his brother and wife to use
6016-407: The land and seigneury of Versailles from Jean-François de Gondi . The hunting lodge was enlarged to the size of a small château between 1632 and 1634. At the death of Louis XIII, in 1643, the village had 1,000 inhabitants. This small château was the site of one of the historical events that took place during the reign of Louis XIII, on 10 November 1630, when, on the Day of the Dupes , the party of
6110-416: The left bank (at that time known as the Théâtre de la Nation, but today as the Odéon ), and joined the company on the rue de Richelieu, which promptly changed its name to Théâtre Français de la rue de Richelieu. With the founding of the French Republic in September 1792 the theatre's name was changed again, to Théâtre de la République. In 1799 the players of the split company reunited at the Palais-Royal, and
6204-446: The limelight again. On 18 January 1871, the victorious Germans proclaimed the king of Prussia , Wilhelm I , emperor of Germany in the very Hall of Mirrors of the castle, in an attempt to take revenge for the conquests of Louis XIV two centuries earlier. Then in March of the same year, following the insurrection of the Paris Commune , the French Third Republic government under Thiers relocated to Versailles, and from there directed
6298-472: The main part of the palace ( corps de logis ) remained the private Orléans seat, the arcades surrounding its public gardens had 145 boutiques, cafés, salons, hair salons, bookshops, museums, and countless refreshment kiosks. These retail outlets sold luxury goods such as fine jewelry, furs, paintings and furniture to the wealthy elite. Stores were fitted with long glass windows which allowed the emerging middle-classes to window shop and indulge in fantasies. Thus,
6392-453: The maximum power. At the death of the Sun King in 1715, the village of Versailles had turned into a city of approximately 30,000 inhabitants. When the court of King Louis XV returned to Versailles in 1722, the city had 24,000 inhabitants. With the reign of Louis XV, Versailles grew even further. Versailles was the capital of the most powerful kingdom in Europe, and the whole of Europe admired its new architecture and design trends. Soon enough,
6486-465: The military suppression of the insurrection. The government and the French parliament stayed in Versailles after the quelling of the Commune (May 1871), and it was even thought for some time that the capital of France would move definitely to Versailles in order to avoid the revolutionary mood of Paris in the future. Restoration of a monarchy almost occurred in 1873, with parliament offering the crown to Henri, comte de Chambord , but his refusal to accept
6580-421: The night lingered, and smart gambling casinos were lodged in second-floor quarters. The Marquis de Sade referred to the grounds in front of the palace in his Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795) as a place where progressive pamphlets were sold. Upon the execution of the Duke, the palace's ownership lapsed to the state, whence it was called Palais du Tribunat. The Comédie-Française , the state theatre company,
6674-421: The north the forests of Marly and Fausses-Reposes, and in the south the forests of Satory and Meudon . The city ( commune ) of Versailles has an area of 26.18 km (10.11 sq mi; 6,470 acres), which is a quarter of the area of the city of Paris. In 1989, Versailles had a population density of 3,344/km (8,660/sq mi), whereas Paris had a density of 20,696/km (53,600/sq mi). Born out of
6768-528: The northwest corner of the gardens at the intersection of the Galerie de Montpensier and the Galerie de Beaujolais . Initially it was known as the Théâtre des Beaujolais, then as the Théâtre Montansier, after which Victor Louis enlarged it for the performance of plays and operas. Later, beginning with the political turmoil of the Revolution , this theatre was known by a variety of other names. It
6862-561: The official capital of France. Versailles was made the préfecture of the Seine-et-Oise département at its inception in March 1790 (at which time Seine-et-Oise had approximately 420,000 inhabitants). By the 1960s, with the growth of the Paris suburbs, the Seine-et-Oise had reached more than 2 million inhabitants, and was deemed too large and ungovernable, and thus it was split into three départements in January 1968. Versailles
6956-704: The palace was briefly renamed the "Palais-National". During the Second French Empire of Napoleon III , the Palais-Royal became home to the cadet branch of the Bonaparte family, represented by Prince Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte , Napoleon III's cousin. A lavish dining room was constructed in the Second Empire style , and is now known as the Salle Napoleon of the Council of State. During the final days of Paris Commune , on May 24, 1871,
7050-482: The palace was the residence of the exiled Henrietta Maria and Henrietta Anne Stuart , wife and daughter of the deposed King Charles I of England . The two had escaped England in the midst of the English Civil War and were sheltered by Henrietta Maria's nephew, King Louis XIV. The Palais Brion, a separate section near the rue de Richelieu to the west of the Palais-Royal, was purchased by Louis XIV from
7144-666: The palace, seen as a symbol of aristocracy, was set afire by the Communards, but suffered less damage than other government buildings. As a result, it became the temporary (and later permanent) home of several state institutions, including the Conseil d'Etat , or State Council. Today, the Palais-Royal is the home of the Conseil d'État , the Constitutional Council , and the Ministry of Culture . The buildings of
7238-571: The queen mother was defeated and Richelieu was confirmed as Prime minister. King Louis XIV , son of Louis XIII, was only four years old when his father died. It was 20 years later, in 1661, when Louis XIV commenced his personal reign, that the young king showed interest in Versailles. The idea of leaving Paris, where, as a child, he had experienced first-hand the insurrection of the Fronde , had never left him. Louis XIV commissioned his architect Le Vau and his landscape architect Le Nôtre to transform
7332-474: The revolutionary period, Philippe d'Orléans became known as Philippe Égalité and ruled at the Palais de l'Égalité, as it was known during the more radical phase of the Revolution . He had made himself popular in Paris when he opened the gardens of the palace to all Parisians. In one of the shops around the garden Charlotte Corday bought the knife she used to stab Jean-Paul Marat . Along the galeries , ladies of
7426-501: The royal family to move to Paris. The National Constituent Assembly followed the king to Paris soon afterwards, and Versailles lost its role as capital city. During this turbulent time, Jean-François Coste , who had also been the chief physician of the King's Armies, was appointed mayor of Versailles. From then on, Versailles lost a good deal of its inhabitants. From 60,000, the population had declined to 26,974 inhabitants by 1806. The castle, stripped of its furniture and ornaments during
7520-437: The salons, cafés, and bookshops), shameless debauchery (it was a favorite haunt of local prostitutes), as well as a hotbed of Freemasonic activity . Designed to attract the genteel middle class, the Palais-Royal sold luxury goods at relatively high prices. However, prices were never a deterrent, as these new arcades came to be the place to shop and to be seen. Arcades offered shoppers the promise of an enclosed space away from
7614-403: The strict building rules decided under Louis XIV were not respected anymore, real estate speculation flourished, and the lots that had been given for free under Louis XIV were now on the market for hefty prices. By 1744, the population reached 37,000 inhabitants. The cityscape changed considerably under kings Louis XV and Louis XVI . Buildings were now taller. King Louis XV built a Ministry of War,
7708-560: The theatre officially became the Comédie-Française, also commonly known as the Théâtre-Français, names which it retains to this day. Louis Philippe II also had Victor Louis build six-story apartment buildings with ground-floor colonnades facing the three sides of the palace garden between 1781 and 1784. On the outside of these wings three new streets were constructed in front of the houses that had formerly overlooked
7802-784: The village, culminating at the end of the 13th century, the so-called "century of Saint Louis ", famous for the prosperity of northern France and the building of Gothic cathedrals. The 14th century brought the Black Death and the Hundred Years' War , and with it death and destruction. At the end of the Hundred Years' War in the 15th century, the village started to recover, with a population of only 100 inhabitants. In 1561, Martial de Loménie , secretary of state for finances under King Charles IX , became lord of Versailles. He obtained permission to establish four annual fairs and
7896-452: The wealthy Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon whom he had married in 1769. The duke controlled the Palais-Royal from 1780 onward. The couple's eldest son, Louis-Philippe III d'Orléans , was born there in 1773. Louis Philippe II succeeded his father as the head of the House of Orléans in 1785. The Palais-Royal had contained one of the most important public theatres in Paris, in the east wing on
7990-427: The western suburbs of Paris. Since 1972, Versailles has been the seat of one of France's 30 nationwide académies (districts) of the Ministry of National Education. The académie de Versailles , the largest of France's thirty académies by its number of pupils and students, is in charge of supervising all the elementary schools and high schools of the western suburbs of Paris. Versailles is also an important node for
8084-436: The will of a king, the city has a rational and symmetrical grid of streets. By the standards of the 18th century, Versailles was a very modern European city. Versailles was used as a model for the building of Washington, D.C. , by Pierre Charles L'Enfant . Versailles has an oceanic climate ( Köppen : Cfb ). Summer days are usually warm and pleasant with average temperatures between 15 and 25 °C (59 and 77 °F), and
8178-495: The years, almost nothing remains of Lemercier's original design. The Palais-Royal is now the seat of the Ministry of Culture , the Conseil d'État and the Constitutional Council . The central Palais-Royal Garden (Jardin du Palais-Royal) serves as a public park; its arcade houses shops. Originally called the Palais-Cardinal, the palace was the personal residence of Cardinal Richelieu . The architect Jacques Lemercier began his design in 1629; Construction commenced in 1633 and
8272-591: Was completed in 1639. The gardens were begun in 1629 by Jean Le Nôtre (father of André Le Nôtre ), Simon Bouchard, and Pierre I Desgots , to a design created by Jacques Boyceau . Upon Richelieu's death in 1642 the palace became the property of the King and acquired the new name Palais-Royal . After Louis XIII died the following year, it became the home of the Queen Mother Anne of Austria and her young sons Louis XIV and Philippe, duke of Anjou , along with her advisor Cardinal Mazarin . From 1649,
8366-405: Was converted to a café with shows in 1812, but reopened as a theatre in 1831, when it acquired the name Théâtre du Palais-Royal , by which it is still known today. Louis Philippe II's second theatre was larger and located near the southwest corner of the complex, on the rue de Richelieu . He originally intended it for the Opera, but that company refused to move into it. Instead he offered it to
8460-408: Was installed there under the care of the art critic and official court historian André Félibien , who was appointed in 1673. About 1674 the Duke of Orléans had André Le Nôtre redesign the gardens of the Palais-Royal. After the dismissal of Madame de Montespan and the arrival of her successor, Madame de Maintenon , who forbade any lavish entertainment at Versailles , the Palais-Royal was again
8554-426: Was made the préfecture of the Yvelines département , the largest chunk of the former Seine-et-Oise . At the 2017 census the Yvelines had 1,438,266 inhabitants. Versailles is the seat of a Roman Catholic diocese (bishopric) which was created in 1790. The diocese of Versailles is subordinate to the archdiocese of Paris . In 1975, Versailles was made the seat of a Court of Appeal whose jurisdiction covers
8648-598: Was reorganised by Napoleon in the décret de Moscou on 15 October 1812, which contains 87 articles. After the Restoration of the Bourbons , at the Palais-Royal the young Alexandre Dumas obtained employment in the office of the powerful Duke of Orléans , who regained control of the palace during the Restoration. The Duke had Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine draw up plans to complete work left unfinished by
8742-513: Was soon the scene of the notorious debaucheries of Louise Henriette de Bourbon who had married to Louis Philippe in 1743. New apartments (located in what is now the northern section of the Rue-de-Valois wing) were added for her in the early 1750s by the architect Pierre Contant d'Ivry . She died at the age of thirty-two in 1759. She was the mother of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans , later known as Philippe Égalité . A few years after
8836-573: Was the unofficial capital of the kingdom of France. For the next seven years, during the Régence of Philippe d' Orléans , the royal court of the young King Louis XV was the first in Paris, while the Regent governed from his Parisian residence, the Palais-Royal . Versailles was again the unofficial capital of France from June 1722, when Louis XV returned to Versailles, until October 1789 , when
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