Versailles
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Versailles. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
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
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a cit tal of the department of Seine-et-Oise; on a plain 11 miles S. W. of Paris. A city more of pleasure than of industry, long accustomed to find its mea es of a luxurious court, sustenance in the expenditures and subsequently a place of residence for many foreigners, attracted there by the salubrity of the climate, the fine promenades, and the economy of living, as compared with that in Paris, it has few manufactures and little trade. The town covers a large area in proportion to its population, and is of remarkably regular construction, consisting of long and straight streets, crossing at right angles. It is the see of a bishop, and contains a public library of 50,000 volumes, many palatial edifices, public fountains, spacious squares, and elm-planted avenues. The great attraction of Versailles is its palace, and the history of this structure may be said to be the history of the town. Louis XIII. built a hunting lodge here, afterward extended into a château. The site occupied by the palace is known to have been that of the ancient priory of St. Julien. Louis XIV. devoted enormous sums to its embellishment, or rather reconstruction, under the care of Mansard; and Louis XV., altered the arrangement of the interior. Here was signed in 1783 the peace of Versailles between England and the United States. Under Louis XVI. Versailles continued to be one of the usual residences of the court down to the period of the Revolution, which great event had its beginning here in the meeting of the States-General in May, 1789. At this date the population was 100,000; the palace and its park, the perfection of formal landscape gardening, have been the model of many capitals. Louis Philippe transformed the palace of Louis XIV. into a museum, to contain trophies of the victories of France. The approach to the palace is by the Place d'Armes and the Cour d' Honneur, in the latter of which are a large equestrian figure of Louis XIV. and other statues. The entire length of the palace is nearly 1,400 feet. The collections embrace pictures of events in French history, portraits of French heroes, etc. The most interesting are the pictures by David which illustrate the career of Napoleon, those by Horace Vernet, and some by Ary Scheffer and Delacroix. The gardens, with their broad terraces and long alleys, are imposing, but formal; the fountains are on the grandest scale. From the middle of September, 1870, till the conclusion of peace in 1871 Versailles was the center of all the operations of the Germans. On September 20 King William and the Crown Prince entered the town; and there, on Jan. 18, 1871, the former was proclaimed Emperor of Germany. On Jan. 28 the capitulation of Paris was signed in Versailles; after the peace it was the seat of the National Assembly and government till 1879, and headquarters rs of the army during the Commune. The Treaty of Peace which ended the World War was negotiated and signed at Versailles. See PEACE TREATY. Pop. about 60,000.