Versailles.com

The Hall of Mirrors

John — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:07:14 +0000

The Hall of Mirrors

The Hall of Mirrors is one of the most famous monuments in Versailles, France. The above photo gives you a good look at the intricate paintings on the ceiling of the hall.

Bataille de Rivoli

John — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:02:57 +0000

Bataille de Rivoli Painting

The Bataille de Rivoli (the Battle of Rivoli) was a battle won by Napoleon in 1797. The above painting is by Felix Philippoteaux, who painted it in 1844. It is just one of the many paintings that can be found at the Palace of Versailles.

Louis XIV – The Sun King

John — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:02:51 +0000

Louis XIV - The Sun King

Louis XIV, also known as the sun king, was responsible for making the Palace of Versailles the enormous and beautiful palace that it is today. He wasn’t a humble man either. The above picture shows one of the many, many locations throughout the palace where Louis XIV emblazoned his own image.

Palace of Versailles – 45th Most Popular Tourist Attraction

John — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:05:38 +0000

Palace of Versailles Painting

Forbes Travel has ranked the Palace of Versailles the 45th most visited tourist attraction in the world. How many visitors a year does that translate to? 3,450,000 people a year!

To put those numbers in perspective, the Palace is more visited than Yosemite National Park (3.44 million visitors), the Pyramids of Giza (3 million visitors), and the Taj Mahal (2.4 millions visitors)!

It’s not surprising that the Palace receives so many visitors. France is the most popular tourist destination in the world, and Versailles is just a short commuter train ride from Paris. Still, 9452 people a day, 365 days a year is an incredible number!

If you’re interested in Versailles yourself, check out our Versailles hotels or Versailles tour pages to get more information.

Louis XIV Art at the Palace of Versailles

John — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:24:00 +0000

Louis XIV

The Chateau de Versailles is opening up a new exhibition tomorrow entitled “Louis XIV – l’homme et le roi” (Louis XIV – the man and the king). On display is over 300 works of art relating to Louis XIV, the Sun King. The exhibition is displaying art owned by the king (including one of his ballet costumes!), as well as contemporary portraits and sculptures of the king himself.

Louix XIV was a great lover of the arts in his day and surrounded himself with artists, including playwrights (Molière!), artists, writers, musicians, and gardeners. Over his lifetime he amassed an enormous amount of art (as you would imagine from the man who built most of the Palace of Versailles). This is the first exhibition that the Palace has held that displays this collection of art and should be very interesting to check out.

Google at Versailles

John — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:48:51 +0000

I saw a neat video on YouTube today which showed the Google Street View tricycle filming the Chateau. I was aware of the Street View cars, but didn’t realize that there was a Street View tricycle. After a quick look at Google Maps, it doesn’t seem like the Versailles street view images are available yet, but the video is definitely worth a watch.

Versailles Revisited

John — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:20:46 +0000

I was looking for some pictures of Versailles today when I found a fantastic Flickr group called Versailles Revisited, which shows pictures of the Palace and Gardens of Versailles in some unusual way. The definition of “unusual” is left up to the photographer, but the results are stunning!

I really enjoyed checking out these photos. My personal favorites are some of the shots of the different statues in the gardens. Let us know in the comments which ones you like!

A Typical Day at the Versailles Market

John — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:43:37 +0000

Versailles' market place

Obiwi, a French language online magazine, has an interesting article about the Place du Marché in Versailles. The article breaks down a day hour by hour and just gives an overview of this charming location. The article is in French, but you can check out a translated version here.

For those who don’t know, the Place du Marché is an open-air market in Versailles, and is definitely worth checking out. For more information, check out our page on the Place du Marché.

Modern Art at the Palace of Versailles

John — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:00:36 +0000

What do a purple horse, a large statue of Yuri Gagarin, and images projected by 1,000 lightbulbs have in common?

Answer: They’re all coming to the Palace of Versailles!

Starting on September 13 a new exhibition of modern art will open at the Château de Versailles. The items described above, along with many others, will all be on display until the end of the year. Xavier Veilhan, an artist from France, has made all the pieces in the exhibition and most of them have been made specifically for this exhibition. The exhibition will be included in the price of admission, so you’ll get to see the artwork at no extra charge! To learn more visit the exhibition’s website.

Royal Opera of Versailles Reopening This Month

John — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:01:36 +0000

The Royal Opera of Versailles

The Royal Opera at the Palace of Versailles (Opéra Royal de Versailles) will be reopening on September 21 after being closed the last two years for renovations. The famous opera house is a part of the Palace of Versailles and was originally opened in honor of the marriage of Marie-Antoinette to Louis XVI.

The Opera’s 2009-2010 season will kick off with a fancy reopening concert, featuring Mireille Delunsch, Richard Croft, and Bryn Terfelfollowed. After the concert, a catered dinner will be served in the Hall of Mirrors, a location usually reserved for receptions for foreign dignitaries. The concert will be attended by France’s Minister of Culture and Communication, Frederic Mitterand and will cost 1000 euros to attend.

The official season will include plays by Molière, operas by Mozart, and concerts by the French singer Camille. To order tickets or to see the all the performances for this season, visit the Opera’s official site.