The story of the Palace of Versailles is not just a story of the construction of a magnificent structure, but rather it is a story of intrigue, love, mystery, power, and the glory of France herself. The physical construction began in 1623 under Louis XIII and has continued until the latest restoration of the ground floor Royal Apartments in 1986. However, the greatest builder of Versailles was Louis XIV. It is to this king that we owe the splendor that is Versailles.

Versailles began as a hunting lodge of Louis XIII and was eventually expanded by Philibert Le Roy into the Chateau at Versailles-au-Val-de-Galie. The Galie Valley was a wild marshy woodland but it was rich in game and not far from the royal residence of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Louis XIII frequented the valley before he decided to secure the land, where he built a modest brick and stone hunting lodge, which is the core of Versailles today. Louis XIII spent his first night in his new lodge on March 8, 1624. In addition to the hunting, the lodge soon became the refuge for the king from the court and from his queen, Anne of Austria. Evidently, it was made obvious to the queen that her presence was not desired at Versailles, and only two visits by Queen Anne have been recorded.

In 1631, Louis continued his construction by appointing Philbert Le Roy as the builder. The original brick and stone building was enlarged, and wings were added on the east side to form a square courtyard, which is now called the Marble Court. Four pavilions or large buildings were added at each corner. A moat was dug and small formal gardens were begun; however, the chateau remained an undistinguished maison de plaisance until the construction under Louis XIV.

Several events conspired to bring Louis XIV to his First Construction Campaign: Louis took personal responsibility for his reign upon the death of his regent and godfather, Cardinal Mazarin; intrigue at court involving the power of Nicholas Fouquet, the Marquis de Belle-Isle the Superintendent of Finance; the Peace of the Pyrenees; and a new love interest with Louise de La Vallière. In fact, we can note that about every ten years, Louis XIV renewed his interest in building at Versailles, and each of the construction periods was marked by a peace treaty and a new mistress.

After his arrest, Fouquet’s magnificent Chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte was plundered by Louis, and Louis retained the three artisans who had created Vaux: Louis Le Vau, designer and architect, Charles Le Brun, artist, and Andre Le Notre, gardener.

The Second Construction Campaign is most properly dated from the completion of designs for new construction at Versailles in 1669. However, it is important to look at the events which led to this second and perhaps most extensive construction campaign. In May 1667, Louis joined his army, which was fighting to claim the Spanish Netherlands for France after the death of his father-in-law, King Philip IV of Spain. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1668 brought extensive new territories to France. Louis was planning a celebration of this victory. The king’s first celebration was known as "The Pleasures of the Enchanted Island" and had been held in the gardens of Versailles in the summer of 1668. They featured, among other entertainments, Jean Baptiste Moliere’s La Princesse d’Elide and the first performance of an early version of Molière masterpiece, Le Tartuffe. This grand fete also assured the importance of Jean Baptiste Lully as the favorite composer of the court.

Louis called upon Molière and Lully to assist with the Grand Divertissement Royal at Versailles in June 1668. It was at this celebration that the court realized that there was another favorite at the court in the person of the Marquise de Montespan, one of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting.

Soon after the celebration, Louis announced plans for major construction at Versailles. A new chateau was to take the place of the old. Various architects, including Gian Lorenzo Bernini (b. 1598, d. 1680), were asked to give their ideas but it was the designs of Le Vau, who had done the earlier work at Versailles, that were accepted.

The concept was to envelop the old chateau inside a new and grander one. The east front was to remain as it was and new construction would be built around it on the other three sides. This plan became known as the Envelope Design. By 1671, the basic structural work had been completed. The Envelope was a set of structural elements in the shape of a "U" around the Old Chateau on the three garden sides, thus forming two symmetrical enclosed courts.

The new construction created the magnificent and famous west front of the building and provided two royal apartments for both the king and the queen: one for formal occasions in the new construction and more personal and informal apartments in the Old Chateau. The new western front was richly decorated with statues, medallions, and reliefs that had been symbolic motifs. It is on this front that we find the twelve bas-reliefs, represent the twelve months of the year, placed above the first floor windows. Below on the keystones of the ground floor windows are the masks that show the progress of the face of a child to that of an old man. On the south front, overlooking the terrace that leads to the Orangery, were depictions of Greek gods with whom flowers are associated, thus tying this front into the gardens located on the South Terrace. On the north front, facing the Grotte de Thetis and the reservoirs beyond it, are the decorations and statues connected with water and the sea.

It was during the Second Construction Campaign that the Marble Court received its marble paving that gives the court its name. This was the original entrance court of the Louis XIII chateau. The court was also raised three steps higher and a pool was sunk in its center. It was during this construction period that the walls of the original structure were decorated with antique elements such as busts and columns. Much of the decorative work that we now see on the original chateau comes from this period.

Other construction during this time included the addition of many of the fountains and their sculptures, among them the famed Apollo Fountain. The grounds were expanded and several additional buildings and pavilions were constructed. The most well known was the Porcelain Trianon, which was built for the Marquise de Montespan, the king’s mistress. This was also the last building designed by Le Vau, who died before it was finished. He was succeeded by his assistant Francois Dorbay, who was to have a major impact upon the design of Versailles. It was during this time that the Grand Canal was extended and many of the garden walks were created or widened.

The Third Construction Campaign began after the Treaty of Nijmegen, in 1679. This treaty virtually insured the pathway for Louis and France to become the dominant power in Europe. Before this Third Construction Campaign, Louis had built the Chateau de Clagny for the Marquise de Montespan and Chateau de Marly, using the talents of a new young architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart (b.1646, d.1708). (Mansart was the creator of the "Mansard roof" that is popular in American architecture, especially during the Victorian era, and examples are seen at Versailles.) Another new figure was also introduced, Francoise Scarron, a friend of Mme. de Montespan. She became the governess for the illegitimate children of Mme. de Montespan and the king. Her popularity with the new king grew and eventually she was made the Marquise de Maintenon and was installed at the Royal Court.

The construction during the Third Construction Campaign completed the buildings of Versailles as we know them today, with the exception of the Chapel, which belongs to the Fourth Construction Campaign, and the Opera House under Louis XV. The Third Construction Campaign of Louis XIV was the most ambitious of all the campaigns. Under Mansart, the Grand Dessein (Grand Design) was created and much of the political intrigue and vying for favor was diminished, since Mansart became the dominant power and figure in overseeing the work at Versailles.

The Fourth Construction Campaign began in 1699 after the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697. This treaty did not bring with it the glory of the other treaties. In fact, this treaty marks the end of a long conflict that ended the threat of French domination in Europe. Although the French had retained military superiority against the League of Augsburg, it had been a war of attrition and no great victories were won, thus allowing members of the League to grow in power. This indecisive war was ended, but no settlements were made.

This Campaign is marked by the completion of the Chapel. Basic structural work was completed in 1702 but the Chapel was not consecrated until 1710, and many of its decorative elements were still incomplete at Louis XIV’s death in 1715. The chapel has been both criticized and acclaimed, but the design prefigured the Classicism ideal that would mark church architecture of the later 18th Century.

The woman in Louis XIV’s life during this time was not a love interest but Princess Marie Adelaid of Savoy, wife of his grandson the Duke of Burgundy. She was married to the Duke of Burgundy when she was 12 and he was only 14. The king was very fond of this affectionate and lively girl and he could deny her nothing. She was a very important woman in Versailles because of her youthful and vibrant inspiration. She was given a theater and the Menagerie was enlarged to provide her with her own house. The Duchess of Burgundy brought life to a declining court.

Construction under Louis XVI perhaps should be called construction under Marie-Antoinette. This period was marked by remodeling and redecoration rather than construction. It is during this time that the style known as Louis XVI was developed by the First Architect, Jacques Ange Gabriel (b. 1698, d. 1782), the designer of the Petit Trianon. This style, marked by simple classical ornamentation, and simple gilded paneling, is readily seen throughout Versailles.

The remodeling under Marie-Antoinette was notable by extravagance. The enormous amounts of money that she spent stretched an already failing royal treasure and income. The extravagances of her building in difficult financial times added to her unpopularity with the public and was another element in the fall of the royal family.

The construction during this time was prompted by Marie-Antoinette’s desire to live her own private life. She spent increasingly less time in the palace and retreated to the Petit Trianon. Here she spent enormous amounts of money on the grounds. Hills were removed, and lakes and streams were created. Overlooking the lake, the Belvedere was built (1774-77), a small pavilion with eight sides. The Temple of Love was built (1777-78) on an artificial island. This structure was a shallow cupola supported by twelve tall columns that provided a setting for Bouchardon’s statue of the God of Love carving his bow from Hercules’ club.

Perhaps the most well known of Marie-Antoinette’s construction was the Hameau (the hamlet constructed in 1783-85). The Hamlet was a miniature village which contained a farm, twelve thatched cottages with gardens, a dovecote, a mill, and a tower from which the whole scene could be viewed. But the Hamlet was not just a toy, it was a working village populated with peasants who lived in the cottages and worked in the fields. Marie-Antoinette would visit, wearing a plain muslin dress and straw hat. It was said that the queen herself would help make the butter. But these simple pleasures of the queen were not known to the public. They preferred to believe outrageous rumors of life at the palace, and Marie-Antoinette was blamed for most of the country’s problems. She became the symbol of the discontent.

After the execution of Louis XVI (January 21, 1793), the gates and doors of Versailles were locked, but the furniture had been carried off or sold, the books and ornaments dispersed, royal motifs destroyed. The building itself had been saved. Stoves were placed in empty rooms to battle the cold and damp, and some repairs were done from time to time. In 1797, Versailles was designated as a museum devoted exclusively to French works. This museum opened in 1801, but the opening was short-lived. Both Napoleon and Louis XVIII had dreams for Versailles, but the expense and the political implications of living in the Chateau would have been folly. In 1833, Versailles was designated as the Museum of French History, and construction and repairs were completed for an 1837 opening.

In 1871, the French government came to Versailles and in 1879, the government returned to Paris. In 1887, a young historian, Pierre de Nolhac, was given an appointment at Versailles, and in 1892 he became chief curator. From 1892 to 1920, he developed and led the plan to restore the interior of Versailles to its original state as a chateau. This plan continues to drive the restoration today.

The meticulous and solid research of de Nolhac still provides the guidance for the restoration of Versailles. He had carefully reconstructed the topography of the palace before the Revolution and identified the original rooms and their use. In one case, he found that the room in which the cleaning staff was keeping mops and cleaning supplies was the delicately painted bathroom of Louis XV. The slow work of restoring the previous decorations began. He replaced, repaired, refurbished, creating replicas when needed, and removed later additions. He published and lectured on Versailles, and slowly interest in Versailles began to grow. Eventually his work caught the interest of an American, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and during the years of 1925-28 the Rockefeller Foundation gave a total of $2,166,000 for the restoration of Versailles.

The key dates of the restoration are 1925-1928—the first contributions of the Rockefeller Foundation; 1953—legislation making the preservation of Versailles compulsory; 1962—the Debre Decree ordering that the chateau be refurnished; and 1978—budgetary legislation providing five years of endowments for restoration. These key restoration campaigns have resulted in work on the Opera House (completed in 1957), the Large Trianon (1965), the queen’s bedroom (1975), the king’s ceremonial bedroom and the Hall of Mirrors (1980), and the apartments of the royal family on the ground floor of the Envelope (1986). Other restoration is being planned. The Mississippi Commission for International Cultural Exchange is currently providing financial assistance to restore two rooms at Versailles: the "After the Hunt Dining Room" and " Room of the King’s Dogs."

Versailles was deliberately created as the symbol of ultimate sovereign power. Every aspect of its construction, decoration and setting was designed to demonstrate the power of kings who governed by divine right. Today, crowds flock to Versailles, and it is recognized as one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world. People come to see and experience the magnificent architecture, gardens, furnishings, sculptures, and art. They come to celebrate the Splendor that is Versailles.