The Palace of Versailles is visited by more than 15 million people each year making it one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world! This massive royal residence started at as a simply hunting lodge built in 1623 by Louis XIII, which then became a small château between the years 1631 and 1634. During King Louis XIV’s reign, the château was expanded into a palace between the years 1661 and 1715. In 1682, Louis XIV moved his entire court and government to the palace making it the de facto capital of France. As kings came and went, each one added a little more and a little more to the Palace. It was also during this time that Queen Marie Antoinette resided within her own apartments within the Palace when she married King Louis XVI until 1789 when the royal family returned to Paris. The French Revolution caused the Palace to be abandoned as the entire city surrounding the Palace was plummeted. When touring the Palace, you can see the “hidden” door to left of her bed where she was able to escape from rioters who stormed the Palace on October 6, 1789.

Following the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte took over France and made the Palace of Versailles his summer residence from 1810 to 1814. It was further restored in the 1830s when King Louis-Philippe ascended the throne and added a museum dedicated to French history. The museum has grown over the years to included over 60,000 works of art illustrating 5 centuries of French History.

The Palace of Versailles has had a long history of restoration and abandonment. Though it was chosen as a place of importance for the signing of the the peace treaty of 1919 (The Treaty of Versailles 1919) in the Hall of Mirrors, thus effectively ending World War I, it was then left crumbling until 1927 when John D. Rockefeller made a 40 million francs donation to France reserving 23 million francs specifically for the restoration of the Palace of Versailles. What we see today is the great effort of many to preserve French history and nationalism.

When we first entered the grounds, we were all amazed by the golden gate the surrounds the Palace. We waited in line patiently as our passes were checked. Make sure to purchase your tickets online prior to visiting. They try to maintain a certain number of patrons due to Covid-19. However, we found the Palace to be packed room to room with people visiting during the pandemic of 2021. In fact, we lost our youngest child in the sea of people. She got caught in a group of tourists and made her way to the exist unbeknownst to us. My wife lost years off her life as she begged the security team to find our daughter. I will say that the staff was amazingly helpful and calm (unlike my wife) as they coordinated a search team within the Palace. My daughter was found patiently sitting on a bench by the exit waiting for us to find her. They escorted our family and daughter to a meeting place. We were then able to tour the Palace with my wife gripping my children with white knuckled determination. Once past the fear and fury, we were able to enjoy walking around the palace with our history pamphlets in hand.

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Fit for a King, fit for a Queen…let them eat cake!!