Versailles

ver-salz', a French town and royal residence ten miles southwest of Paris. A highroad, two railways, and a tramway connect it with the city. Versailles owed its origin to Louis XIV. He built a palace and laid out a park here at the enormous expense of $200,000,000. The site is entirely artificial. Thirty-six thousand men and 6,000 horses are said to have been employed in building terraces, leveling the park, and building a road from Paris. The palace itself fronts Paris. The facade is a quarter of a mile in length and three stories in height. The rear is provided with wide verandas and magnificent colonnades. It presents a more imposing view than the front. The bedchamber of Louis XIV with its original features, the chamber in which Louis XV died, the balcony from which, on the death of a king, the chamberlain was wont to break his wand of office and exclaim, "The king is dead," and taking another, exclaim, "The king lives," the apartments and furniture of Marie Antoinette, and many other features of interest are shown the visitor.

Terraced gardens, a four-armed lake, and smooth sward stretch away for two miles in the rear, forming the most extensive artificial park in the world. There are numerous basins containing groups of statuary designed to spout jets of water on occasion. The giant Enceladus, half buried beneath Etna, sends out a jet of water seventy-four feet high. One fountain has twenty-two groups of three metal children each, supporting goblets from which the water descends into basins. During the summer season the fountains play at stated times, usually the first Sunday of each month. A supply of water for a display costs about $2,000. At such times seemingly half of Paris goes out to see the exhibition. The Grand Trianon, about half a mile northwest of the palace, is a handsome villa erected by Louis XIV for Madame de Maintenon. She declared that the main palace was all for show--nothing for comfort or use. The Trianon contains a large collection of vases. The Little Trianon, also a handsome villa, was erected by Louis XV for Madame Du Barry. It was a favorite resort of Marie Antoinette, who, with her maids, delighted to play at dairying and making cheese and butter. After expending five millions in restoration, Versailles was abandoned as a royal residence by Louis Philippe. He converted the greater part of the building into a historical and art museum. The history of France from the day of Charlemagne may be traced in painting and sculpture. There are pictures representing the noted events in the reign of each sovereign; Charlemagne, Louis XIV, and Napoleon figure largely.

The palace and gardens cost so much money and the state in which the royal family lived there was so in contrast with the misery of Paris that Versailles may be regarded as one of the immediate causes of the French Revolution. In 1789 the starving women of Paris marched in a body to Versailles and forced the unfortunate king, Louis XVI, to return with them to the city. Versailles was occupied by the German troops during the siege of Paris. A large part of the palace was used as a military hospital. The pictures, however, were covered carefully to protect them from injury. After the departure of the troops Versailles was for a time the seat of the French government. The surrender of Paris and the treaty of peace were arranged here. The princes of the German Empire assembled in the great Hall of Mirrors in the palace to establish the new German Empire and to hail William I as their emperor. The treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States was signed at Versailles in 1783.

See Paris