This splendid palace was founded by Louis XIV. “A building on this
ground,” says a late tourist, “had been used by his immediate
predecessors as a hunting-lodge; but in 1660, Louis commenced converting
it into a palace, and, after many additions, it became the royal
residence in 1681. For a century or more it was a favorite abode of the
kings of France, and no expense was spared upon its decorations. In
1792, the palace was devastated by the revolutionists. Everything
convertible into money was sold for the nation, and but for Napoleon, it
would have been completely destroyed. It was said, that he would have
made it his residence, had it not required fifty millions of francs to
put it in order. Louis XIV. expended upon it forty millions of pounds
sterling, and Louis Philippe fifteen millions of francs. The latter
restored it to splendor, and labored to concentrate in it splendid
illustrations of the glories of France. All the painted ceilings,
gildings, &c., were restored, and new galleries and saloons were formed.
An immense series of paintings, sculptures, and works of art,
illustrative of every important event that has reflected honor on the
annals of France, now fills the splendid halls of this noble palace,
forming a historical museum that has not its parallel in Europe, or in
the world. It would be a vain attempt to endeavor to describe the
palace. Its buildings and grounds are of very great extent. It is said
to contain one hundred and thirty-seven grand saloons and lesser
apartments, which are furnished with ten thousand pictures.
“Four hours are allowed for the inspection of the rooms and of their
contents: and this time we employed most industriously, passing through
the apartments with painful rapidity. No sooner were we attracted by a
room, or interested in a picture, than we were hurried on to another,
and another, and another apartment, until our faculties were tired, and
our eyes satiated with the brilliant display. Many of the pictures are
very large; and it appeared, from the delineations on some of the larger
ones, which were in an unfinished state, that the canvas was hanging on
the wall where the pictures now are when they were painted. Most of the
pictures are battle scenes, from Clovis, Charlemagne, and the crusaders,
down to Napoleon’s wonderful career, and even to the war in Algeria. The
figures are of such dimensions as generally to appear of the size of
life, notwithstanding the distance and elevation from which they are
seen. It is painful to observe how large a part of human effort has been
expended upon war. There are, however, many pictures of quiet scenes,
and an immense number of portraits. Although the productions of the
French pencil are here of unequal excellence, there are certainly among
them no small number of fine pictures. Here also we see a vast
collection of statues in marble and of casts in plaster, and a great
series of medals and coins. The pictures of royal residences represent
many that no longer exist, and with them are illustrations of the
costumes of past times. Some of the galleries in the palace are three
hundred feet long, and are filled with statuary. In order to see all the
works of art, it is necessary to walk three or four miles.
“We looked into the private theater and chapel. Prayers and divine
service were held in the one, and plays acted for the royal
entertainment in the other; and here members of the royal family
sometimes appeared on the stage. The confessional of Louis XIV. is a
small room, by the side of which is a window, where a soldier was always
stationed while the king was at confession; and the very chair in which
his confessor, Père la Chaise, sat, and the very cushion on which Louis
XIV. kneeled, are here in their places. Strange infatuation! The
confessor who urged and obtained the revocation of the edict of Nantes,
which was to let loose the dogs of persecution upon the Protestants, and
the pliable monarch who yielded himself to license this cruel work of
death on thousands, and of banishment upon many thousands more, could
here meet in a private act of devotion, while they were about to violate
the first laws of humanity! The bed in which the king slept, and in
which he died, is still to be seen in his bedroom, and no one has since
slept in that room. The private room of Marie Antoinette, queen of Louis
XVI., has a small door in the side, through which the queen escaped in
October, 1789, when the palace was forced. Through this door she was
compelled to fly in her night dress, while a faithful officer of her
guard was killed on the spot. All these melancholy places we saw, and
also the gallery in which the king and queen and their children
appeared, October sixth, 1789, to appease the fury of the Parisian mob,
many thousands of whom filled the immense court of the palace yard. In
this gallery La Fayette also appeared with them, and in sight of the
people kissed the queen’s hand, to testify his loyalty and fidelity. It
required no small share of courage and firmness thus to appear as the
friend and protector of the royal pair, and their children, in the face
of an infuriated multitude. This palace is associated with many other
interesting events. In the time of Louis XIV. it was the scene of more
splendor than any palace in Europe. And though for a time neglected
after the flight of Louis Philippe, yet more recently under the
government of Louis Napoleon, it has been adorned and restored in a very
lavish and expensive manner. I had no opportunity to see the splendid
play of the waters: the fountains were undergoing repair; besides, they
play only on Sundays, which is the great gala day of the French, and
when vast numbers of people, as in past times, resort to Versailles for
amusement. In the time of Louis XIV., XV., and XVI., there were here
extensive military establishments, which are now in decay. There was a
manufactory of arms, which produced annually fifty thousand stands; but
it was plundered by the Prussians, when the allies took Paris in 1814.
The court of the palace measures eight hundred feet by five hundred, and
is paved, as the courts of the French palaces generally are. In this
court there are statues of great men, Colbert, Turenne, and others, of
ultra-colossal size. In the center of the court there is an equestrian
statue of Louis XIV., also of enormous dimensions. Versailles, nourished
by the power, influence and money of Louis XIV., became a splendid city
of one hundred thousand people; but the population has now dwindled to
thirty thousand. Louis XVI. was an excellent mechanic: happy had it been
for him had a shop instead of a throne been his lot. We saw a good
door-lock of his construction, which was still serviceable; and there is
yet to be seen a brass meridian made by him, and inlaid in the floor.
Several of the royal carriages are here in a perfect state of
preservation. They are gorgeous in the extreme, being all covered
massively with gilded carving, and superbly lined.”