Versailles

 I had never visited Versailles on my other trips to Paris and was glad to finally change that.  Yesterday I learned that it began as a modest "hunting lodge" for Louis XIII and was greatly expanded by his successor Louis XIV.  I toured the grand apartments and then later, walked through the additional parts of the palace including the famed, "Hall of Mirrors".  The first room we entered was loaded with a gold-leafed cornice filled with many dogs involved in a hunt.  Initially I thought it was a reference to Diana, the Huntress.  However it turned out to be the room for Louis' hounds- where they were fed, three at a time, so that they could recognize his voice during the hunt.  The room was pretty well fixed for hounds.

Two of my favorite items took years to make and, as a result, are priceless.  The first was the King's roll top desk.  Nearly 10 years (!) in the making, it allowed the King's servants to refill the wells with fresh ink via a spring loaded door on the side of the desk.  The roll top cover was locked (usually in the afternoon when he retired to go hunting) so that no one could steal important documents to be sold to spies.

The second item was a clock that is still functioning (the top portion of the clock has a model that shows the movement of the planet around the sun, but is no longer working).  The clock keeps time, displays the date and takes into account leap years. While the clock took only eight years to make, twelve years were spent doing calculations for the date, leap year, etc. A total of 20 years were spent making this one clock. The clock is scheduled to work until the year 9999.

There are many items that have been sold to auction during the revolution.  Many of the art works were moved to the Louvre and reproductions of those works are displayed here.  Apparently the silk on the chairs, as well as the curtains, are all reproductions.  Even without use, silk is not able to withstand UV damage and other types of climactic threats- even without being used.  There are, however, several carpets from the 18th century here that are original.  Here are some additional pics of items and rooms.

Next was the famous Hall of Mirrors which was really remarkable.  I was so blown away by the entire experience.  The amount of wealth contained here is utterly jaw-dropping. I learned that the gold-leafed gate in the front reportedly cost 9 million EURO alone.  A man from the US donated the money.

The final rooms were as impressive.  My favorite contained one of David's Coronation of Napoleon paintings and, in front of the work, Napoleon's throne.