Arquitetura

Palace of Versailles 1623–1677
At the beginning of the 17th century Versailles was a small village, located in an undulating, wooded region about 10 km from the royal château of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

In 1623 Louis XIII, an enthusiastic hunter, acquired land in the district and a hunting-lodge was built for him, a modest, two-storey building, with three ranges of apartments, and surrounded by a moat.

The King first stayed there in 1624. As he gradually spent more time on his Versailles estate, the hunting-lodge soon became too small, and in 1631 Philibert Le Roy demolished it and built in its place a château of brick and stone.

Between 1631 and 1634 the principal range of apartments, flanked by two square blocks, was built at the back of the courtyard, followed by the north and south wings, the courtyard being enclosed by an arcaded portico. During the same period the King purchased surrounding land, and a garden was laid out byJacques Boyceau and Jacques de Nemours.

The young Louis XIV first visited Versailles in 1651, but the château was too small to receive the royal family and the accompanying nobility, and from 1661 Louis began to have the building enlarged by Louis Le Vau.

Two wings were built in the forecourt, one for kitchens and domestic accommodation, the other one for stables. During the same period the King commissioned André Le Nôtre to design new gardens.

Le Vau proposed in 1668 a plan which preserved the original château at the centre, surrounding it by an enveloppe, which entirely screened it from the garden side but left it visible from the courtyard. The new building, the enveloppe, was in white ashlar.

The north wing, reserved for the King, contained the Appartement des Bains on the ground floor, the Grand Appartement on the first floor and private apartments around the Cour de Marbre. The south wing, a long block of 25 bays, contained the apartments of the Queen, her children and the King’s brother, Philippe I, Duc