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Young World
Grand abode
K.S.S. SESHAN
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The Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles was Louis XIV’s favourite.
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The Palace of Versailles was built by the Bourbon king, Louis XIV, who ruled France from 1643 to 1715 A.D. Louis was considered one of the most despotic rulers of the entire dynasty. He believed that as the “Grand Monarch”, he should live in a palace worthy of his stature. He decided to construct a new abode that would overawe the European world.
Simply amazing
Louis selected Versailles, about 15 km south west of Paris. The construction of the new palace began in 1669 and was completed only in 1701. However, Louis could not wait till the completion but moved in by 1682. Over 35 thousand people worked on the palace, the grounds and the canal. The cost of the construction of the palace was so huge that Louis destroyed all the accounts fearing a revolution if the people came to know of the amounts spent.
The finished palace amazed the contemporary world. There were numerous apartments and rooms each one named after stars and planets. Most famous of them all was the ‘Hall of Mirrors’, 240 feet in length with 17 large windows matched by an equal number of Venetian mirrors. It was Louis’ favourite room.
Outside the palace, a vast park came up studded with fountains, ponds and innumerable marble statues. The plants were laid with mathematical precision. Special envoys were sent all over Europe by the emperor to procure exotic plants at great expense. Versailles remained as the abode of the Bourbon rulers till 1789 when during the famous French Revolution, an unruly mob of Parisian women went on a procession and brought back the king, the queen and the prince to Paris. Versailles, never afterwards was the residence for any royalty. It served as a venue for many international treaties including that of the 1919 treaty after the end of World War I.
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