Versailles

Versailles
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Versailles was the unofficial capital city of the kingdom of France from May 1682 (King Louis XIV moves the court and government permanently to Versailles) until September 1715 (death of Louis XIV and regency, with the regent Philippe d'Orléans returning to Paris), and then again from June 1722 (King Louis XV returns to Versailles permanently) to October 1789 (King Louis XVI forced to move back to Paris by the people of Paris). During the entire period, Paris remained the official capital city of France, and the official royal palace was the Palace of the Louvre, but in practice government affairs were conducted from Versailles, and Versailles was regarded as the real capital city.

Reasons for inscription:
- unique artistic realisation
- influence on other palaces and gardesn in frenchified Europe
- best formulated and best adapted cadre
for French court life

Year Decision Comments
1979 Inscribed Reasons for inscription

Reviews

():
Plan ahead! Lines can get relly crazy! Also plan some time to explore the garden (wich is a sepreate charge from the palace). Also be careful of pickpocketers in the Queens Bedroom and in the garden!
 
Sally Thompson (Saouth Africa):
This is an amazing part of world heritage history! I believe that this is one of the most fantastic structures i have ever seen!
Date posted: August 2006
Ian V. (Canada):
When it comes to the Palace and Park of Versailles, be sure to focus most of your time and energy on the grounds, and not the palace. The palace is great, but crowded, and the grounds are what has made the locale famous, for good reason.

Spend the time to reach the outer edges of the grounds, where the majority of tourists don't make it to. We took the trolley train to one of the pre-determined stops, and were amazed at how few people were around. You can almost find yourself alone, surrounded by the majesty of the gardens and tailored forests.

Boats are for rent on the cross-shaped canal, and worth the few euros to paddle on the most famous pool in the world.

In short, avoid the crowds in the palace and spent your time wandering through the grounds. There are so many nooks and crannies to investigate and explore that you will find the effort well worth it.
Date posted: April 2006
Ian Cade (England):
I am not a big fan of Palaces, however Versailles made it on to my list of visited sites for perhaps being the premium example of the European Royal Palace, it is the point of reference for all the grand residences on the continent and beyond, and I am pretty sure that if the WH list was just an exclusive list of the best example of certain types of building, this would be the one that would be inscribed.
The palace is the absolute height of Monarchical absolutism and Baroque decadence. This was essentially the seat of French government until the revolution, as Louis XIV proclaimed 'L'Etat, c'est moi' (I am the state). Every wall ceiling and floor space seems to be crammed with decoration (I must admit to not being in the best shape to view this as we were hit by a particularly dizzying bout of seasickness whilst in the royal apartments).
The Hall of Mirrors (pictured) was pretty astounding, even if only half is currently visible, as there were very impressive restoration works whilst we visited. This is also where the famous Versailles Treaty of 1919 was signed, one of the most important moments in modern European History. The royal apartments were the usual parade of bed chambers and anti rooms with paintings of princes walking their favourite dogs. The Battle Gallery is an impressive pictorial account of French military victories.
The grounds were massive and well worth spending a few hours walking around. We visited in winter so the fountains were offm the statues covered and the trees bare, but it was still a pleasant way to spend our time and entry was free. I was also quite surprised to find that the surrounding town was also very well planned and much in keeping with the Palace itself perhaps worth exploring.
Versailles is easy to reach from central Paris especially by rail. I am sure the site is always busy as it was on a Thursday in February but it is defiantly worth a visit and I am pleased that I have seen it but it is not a site I think I could even grow to love.
Date posted: March 2006
Emiliae (U.S.A.):
I went to Versailles when I was 14 but the Hall of Mirrors and the gardens are what I remember most. Spectacular!
Date posted: February 2006
Kerri (USA):
On my second trip to Paris, I decided to spend ~1/2 day at Versailles and took the train out to it. It turns out that I could have used that much time for just the gardens! The palace was amazing, as they usually are; in particular, the enormous paintings were beautiful. However, the gardens, with the elaborate water fountains and landscaping were amazing. I would suggest allowing one full day to explore Versailles.
Date posted: November 2005
Sharon (Australia):
WOW. This palace is hectic. To tell the truth i never even knew it exhisted until i got it for my World Heritage Site assignment. Its sctructure is extraordinary. It would be a wonderful opportunity and experience to go and visit this place one day. I'm only thirteen and im pretty sure none of the kids my age would know about this astonoshing palace, if they did i think they would have the same reaction as i did. I'm really glad i got this for my assignment.
Date posted: November 2005
Dominique bratton (Australia):
Hi im 12 years old and at first the palace of vrsailles was really boring but then when we started learning about the french revolution in history it became clear to me i was finnally understanding and it was actually really interesting. It was amazing to see how the french king and queen were living with all their gold furniture, painted roofs and amazing gardens while the rest of the counry was dying on the streets becuase they were all homeless and starving that so many of them died. I hope pur country will never end up like that.
Date posted: September 2005
A. ORiordan (US):
I confess...I thought it was gaudy. You really understand why the French rebelled against their spendthrift rulers when you see the place. The relatively simple Hall of Mirrors is a welcome change to the heavy red-green-white-and-black marble combinations with the heavily patterend gold furniture... The tight rooms and immense crowds don`t help, and neither do the long lines for the pay-restrooms. I didn`t get a good chance to tour the gardens, but from what I saw they were preferable to the palace itself.
Date posted: July 2005
Klaus Freisinger (Austria):
Versailles is the model after which most European royal palaces were modeled, from Schönbrunn to Caserta and Drottningholm, but none quite matches its splendour and simple greatness. It is just vast in every respect, including the gardens that are about the size of Liechtenstein. The interior is just as impressive as the exterior, and its opulence and ornateness are hard to describe. Versailles is so well known that it is on almost every tourist's trail, and it shows. I was there twice, once in June and once in October, and both times the number of visitors was just incredible. So to experience Versailles at some amount of solitude, you probably have to come one early February morning, but nonetheless Versailles is a must-see, even with tens of thousands of other people sharing your visit.
Date posted: June 2005
Rajeev Aloysius (Sri Lanka):
This is truly worth the visit, and still costs a very reasonable amount. €9 at the time of writing for the palace and its gardens.

You can reach there using the metro, the stop is the last one on that line, Versailles Rive Gauche (now, maps conveniently state "Chateau de Versailles"). Do not get off on the earlier halt, also called Rive Gauche.

The Chateau is only a very short walk. Just turn right from the main entrance from the station and then turn left. You will see the walk up to the palace. There are souvenir shops on both sides of the street.

The palace grounds and gardens are awe-inspiring. You can spend a week here, but I had about 6 hours. Be sure to rest occasionally, or better use the mini-trains if you are not used to walking. The length of the tour is supposed to be 5km. The gardens seem to stretch as far as the eye can see, with lakes and ponds with little boats on them. There are innumerable bronze fountains in the gardens if you walk in any direction, several large sculptured fountains in the walk directly facing the rear of the palace proper. This is one of the most awesome palaces I have ever been to, only Sanssouci in Potsdam, Germany may be slightly bigger in area if you take the new palace and the whole park into account.

The state rooms themselves are gilded and very ornate with quite a lot of Louis XIV furniture, but perhaps not as ornately as say, Windsor Castle's restored wing and Schönbrunn in Vienna. The rooms are also always very crowded and you can keep bumping into people taking photographs if you are not careful.

There is a war gallery, which has art depicting great French battles from the 5th Century to the 19th. Be sure to spend some time in studying these giant canvasses. They are as interesting as those in the Louvre in central Paris and the Getty in L.A.
 


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