Palace of Versailles
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Versailles [...] was the seat and tomb of the old dynasty of French monarchs, and has held a great place in the history of France."--Wonders of Architecture |
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The Palace of Versailles, or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles, the Île-de-France region of France. In French, it is known as the Château de Versailles.
When the château was built, Versailles was a country village; today, however, it is a suburb of Paris, some twenty kilometers southwest of the French capital. The court of Versailles was the center of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of French Revolution. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime.
Gardens of Versailles
Evolving with the château, the gardens of Versailles represent one of the finest extant examples of Garden à la française.
