Château de Versailles

Versailles

It was May 6th, 1682, when Château de Versilles first opened their doors. Decades of work went into the palace, where French Royalty would reside until forced to leave due to the French Revolution in 1789. The entire castle is fifty one thousand square meters and has two thousand one hundred and fifty three windows and sixty seven staircases. Construction cost approximately 116,438,892 Livres, which today would amount to right around two billion dollars. That's an insane amount of money. The extravagance did not stop in the buildings though; Versailles has nearly two thousand acres of gardens, structured in the French Garden style. For a palace that large there would be many people involved in designing and building. While this is true for Versailles, the château and more particularly the royal stables, are considered to be Jules Hardoin-Mansart's masterpiece (you go Jules!).

You may see Versailles reference to as both a castle, and a palace; this is because both terms are true. I'm going to be honest, I though that the terms castle and palace were pretty much the same. Turns out they have their differences. A castle is a fortified building, or series of buildings in some cases, designed to withstand enemy attacks. So you'd be better off in a castle during war. A palace is meant more for luxury and leisure. Something to impress guests with, which let's face it, Versailles is all about impressing people. All in all, Versailles seems like the best place to be, seeing as it's both a castle and a palace.

The Hall of Mirrors

Not that I've ever been (yet) but The Hall of Mirrors would have to be my personal favorite room in the entire palace. Originally it was known as simply The Great Hall, or in French, 'Grande Galerie'.  It was first an outdoor terrace, but was later converted into an incredible indoor space to showcase one of Louis XIV's most prized collections, which would be his sculptures of antiquity. He got to collect expensive statues, while I collect worthless bottles. Oh, the life of a royal.

On especially grand occasions, such as Marie Antoinette's wedding I would imagine, every candle would be lit, their light bouncing off the three hundred and fifty seven mirrors around the room, transforming the Hall of Mirrors into a magnificent corridor of light. In all there are 43 chandeliers made of pure silver, seventeen large ones, and twenty six small. I've looked high and low, but I cannot find a definite amount on how many candles each chandelier can hold. Some say one thousand, one crazy sounding one said ten thousand, and just looking at the picture it looks more like fifteen or twenty, so maybe they were referring to the total candles in the room. Either way, that much light bouncing off the walls would be a truly breathtaking sight. I wonder how it would appear from the outside, looking through the seventeen glass doors looking into the Grande Galerie.

Attic above the Hall of Mirrors

You might wonder what prompted the idea of such a room. The candles used to light rooms, back before light bulbs were invented, would emit smoke and that would damage the walls over time. To help preserve Versailles, rooms were dimly lit, and mirrors were used to focus light and spread it without using as many candles. As beautiful as it is, The Hall of Mirrors is more than just a showcase room though. Important events such as the signing of The Treaty of Versailles took place within the long halls of the Grande Galerie. It's also the room that, almost five decades earlier, Germany had declared itself an empire.

Next we have The Queen's Apartments, which are are made up of five different rooms, The Queen's Bedchamber, The Queen's Private Cabinets, The Room of the Queen's Gentlemen, The Queen's Antechamber, and The Room of the Queen's Guard; the main room being The Queen's Bedchamber.

The ceiling of the Queen's Bedchamber dates back to the days of Maria Theresa, Louis XIV's Spanish queen, for whom the room was designed for. The paintings by François Boucher and the wooden panels were later made for Marie Leszczyńska. Only the furniture and fireplace were upgraded for the last Queen of France, Marie Antoinette.

The Queen's Bedchamber

Nineteen royal children were born in the Queen's Bedchamber, the room where the queens spent a large amount of their time. It's where they slept, and received visitors in the morning, and the place they preformed their toilette. This ceremony, the toilette, is where the queen would rise each morning, and be dressed and get ready for the day in full view of a large group of courtiers and noble women. The same ceremony happened with the king, dauphins and dauphines. Similar ceremonies include spectators watching the royal family dine each meal, and the birth of a royal, which was a public event where everyone would cram into the Queen's Bedchamber to watch the queen give birth (though after Marie Antoinette's first child, she broke this etiquette for the rest of her children's births). Hence the balustrade, to keep everyone back.

In October 1789 rioters stormed the palace. Marie Antoinette fled through a secret door to the left of the bed, the passage leading to the Queen's Private Cabinets and the Kings Apartment. The rioters did not loot the palace during the French Revolution, but after items were sold at an auction that lasted a year. Over time the original furniture has been recovered, and is now on display in Versailles. It took over thirty years of work to restore The Queen's Bedchamber. The original Schwerdfeger jewel case and the firescreen were eventually returned to the room. Other items have been replaced with equivalents. The fabric on the walls and bed was rewoven from cartoons of the period. The bed and balustrade were rebuilt from documents in the archives. All of this required tedious research and delicate reconstruction. Even the 1745 Baillou and Crescent clock Marie Antoinette placed in the bedchamber has been restored to it's place. Other items returned to the room include Sené's chimney piece and the bedspread by Desfarges. Some of the original furniture (already mentioned) has been recovered including the andirons by Boizot and Thomire. Other items have been replaced with facsimiles: armchairs by Tilliard and folding stools taken from the suite of rooms belonging to the Countess d'Artois. The Savonnerie carpet was rewoven from documents.

Areal view of the Gardens of Versailles

Versailles extravagance and beauty did not stop inside the castle, but continued in the enormous gardens. There are two hundred thousand trees and two hundred and ten thousand flowers planted every year. As I said before, Versailles has nearly two thousand acres of gardens. Among all the greenery, there are fifty fountains with six hundred and twenty jets of water. Apparent Lousis XIV had a love for fountains, and they're great to entertain the guests. It cost around a third of the entire buildings budget to keep the water supply running, and many of the fountains still use the same network of hydraulics that was built by the royal family.

Fountains in the Garden of Versailles

At some stages, Louis XIV put more focus on the Garden of Versailles than the château itself. There's a clear theme in the gardens, with a specific focus on the sun god, Apollo, and other solar imagery as well. This was because Louis related himself with the sun, and was commonly known as the Sun King. The Gardens of Versailles's design would remain the same, until the eighteenth century.

After the French Revolution, some of the gardens trees were cut down, on order from the reigning National Convention. Some prominent people sensed a potential threat to Versailles, since is has strong links to the monarchy the revolution sought to destroy, so they convinced the National Convention to open the gardens for the public instead of destroying it. Luckily the suggestion was accepted, which likely saved the Gardens of Versailles from destruction.

In conclusion, Versailles is a place full of fantastic history, and this post only barely touches the surface of this historic monument.

Maria Antonia Josepha (Josephina) Johanna; What a Name!

Maria Antoinette, Queen of France and
 Navarre, by Louise Èlisabeth Vigée Le
Brun, c. 1779.

Famously tragic. I think that's the best and shortest way to describe Marie Antoinette. Though her fate cannot be blamed entirely on her, or any one person in my opinion.

To start off, Marie Antoinette was not always know by such a grand name. As a child she was Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, so as of the moment I'm not entire sure where the name Marie Antoinette even came from. I'll have to do more digging to find out.

Antonia, as she was known, was born on November 2nd, in the year 1755 at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna Austria. She was the 8th living daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, ruler of the Habsburg dominions, and Emperor Francis I. It was the day after her birth that she was baptised with her long name, also know as Maria Antonia Josephina Johanna.

Turns out Antonia was not to be the last child of Empress Maria. Most people have a few kids, like three, or maybe four. But she ended up having a total of sixteen children, including Antonia. Unfortunately four of her children didn't make it through their childhood. One of them died shortly after birth sadly.

Because of all the children she had, and the duties of ruling the Holy Roman Empire, Empress Maria did not have much time for her children. I read once that Antonia grew up with an 'awe-inspired fear' of her mother. But of course, back in those days the royals were all about marriage and alliances. The Empress was able to marry off her daughters and sons in order to create great alliances.

A gorgeous view of  the Hofburg Palace in Vienna Austria,
taken by  Peter Talke c. 2011

To the left is a modern day photo of the palace that Antonia and her siblings grew up in. I can only wonder what it must have looked like, or been like, back in the day.

Interestingly enough, life for Antonia was quite relaxed compared to other royal courts, especially the French court she was going to marry into. Deviating from protocol was more common during Antonia's childhood. The Habsburgs lived a more private life than many royals, and the royal children played with non-royals, and were even encouraged to do so by their parents. Not exactly something you'd have thought to happen, don't you think?

Though her life was more private from the outside world Antonia was rarely, if ever, alone. She shared a special friendship with her sister Maria Carolina. They were the youngest girls, and even shared the same governess for a time.

Even though the Empress planned to marry off her daughters to the sons of kings, and other nobles or royals their education lacked greatly. While Antonia learned the protocols of manners, dance, appearance, and music she lacked the knowledge that a future ruler should obtain. She knew nothing of statecraft or running a county, and this is partly to blame as to her rather drastic fate. Her handwriting was careless, and it's said that her tutors would sometimes finish her work for her, so that they would not lose their position.

Marie Antoinette's signature

During the period in which Antonia lived German and French were considered the 'universal languages' that basically everyone knew. But Antonia, at age ten, had trouble reading and writing German. She spoke little French, and when she did it was rather difficult for her; and Italian she barely spoke at all. The Empress fired Mme de Brandeis after deeming her responsible for the princess' lack of education. She then appointed Mme de Lerchenfeld, also known as Gluck, who helped Antonia excel in her musical endeavors. Antonia drew often, and drew a good chalk likeness of her father around the age of ten.

Some of the instruments that Antonia grew to play quite well included the harpsichord, spinet, clavichord, and harp. She was said to have sung French songs and Italian arias during the family's musical evenings. Antonia was a wonderful dancer, and Horace Walpole once quoted Virgil as to her gait, saying, "vera incessu patuit dea" (she was in truth revealed to be a goddess with her step). As shown in a family portrait, Antonia loved dolls; in the portrait she is excitedly holding up a doll. When Marie Antoinette turned thirteen numerous dolls turned up at Hofburg Palace, all wearing miniature versions of evening gowns, evening dresses, and gold-trimmed gowns.

Of course it's hard to say if all of these words are true. You can only know so much about the past, before it all becomes a big hypothesis, or guessing game. I mean think about it, there are paintings of Marie Antoinette, but we don't know what she looked like for real. The paintings are good, but not lifelike like some of today's. So that leads me to wonder what Antonia actually looked like.