While my mom was here, one of the places we visited was Versailles. I was so amazed by the grandeur (and gaudiness) of the palace! The history of it was that King Louis XIV had it built in the early 1600s because he wanted to get further out of Paris (away from all those yucky commoners!). Before Versailles was built, do you know where the royal residence was (aka where the kings lived)? At the Louvre! I never knew that the Louvre was a palace before it was a museum! On a side note, I have to say, I've never been much into history. But it's so interesting and alive being able to visit all these places!
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| Kevin looking up at the huge Louis XIV statue |
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| This is Kevin's regal look... |
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| Here's the ceiling of the two story chapel |
I was fascinated by Rick Steves' commentary about this chapel. He said that Versailles celebrates man, not God, and this chapel is the first, last, and only hint of Christianity in the whole huge complex! We learned about why Louis XIV was called the Sun King. It's because he thought of himself as giving life and warmth to all he touched. Wow, talk about thinking highly of yourself! It was interesting, though, because he was actually pretty smart too. He had all the nobles moved to Versailles with him, and so they were pretty out of touch with the reality of the commoners, and plus they had all sorts of diversions and play things to do at the palace. So Louis XIV pretty much got to rule however he wanted!
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| One of the ceilings - most of the ceilings were this elaborate! |
Here's the Hall of Mirrors:
Before going into the gardens, we stopped by the gift shop. I couldn't believe they had some sort of Versailles Nintendo DS game! Of course Daniel had to check it out.
And then we went to explore the gardens. There were huge fountains everywhere. Unfortunately, they weren't turned on the day we went (they only run a few days a week). Back when Louis XIV was here, they didn't run the all fountains at the same time, because it used so much water. The gardeners would signal each other when Louis XIV was about to pass a fountain, so they could turn it on when he was passing.
Anyway, even though the fountains weren't on, it was still amazing to see all the statues in the fountains. Most, if not all of them, were some sort of god. Alot of the decor inside the house was like that as well, somehow showing the divine right of Louis being king.
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| So much nude art!! |
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| There were no ancient Roman ruins at Versailles, so Louis built some! |
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Random picture. We couldn't tell what was coming out of this
gargoyle's mouth. Camera? Paper? |
Closing history note, only three kings lived at Versailles, and then the French Revolution happened.
While Versailles was very interesting, and I learned a lot, it was too gaudy for me! It was fascinating to learn about how Louis XIV lived and ruled, but I like the old rustic castles better.
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