Today the Palace contains 2,300 rooms spread over 63,154 m2. In 1789, the French Revolution forced Louis XVI to leave Versailles for Paris. The Palace would never again be a royal residence and a new role was assigned to it in the 19 th century, when it became the Museum of the History of France in 1837 by order of King Louis-Philippe , who ...

At Versailles, the king sought to honour the Empire in a number of spaces on the ground floor of the Palace’s South Wing, under the Gallery of Battles. He displayed most of the large paintings Napoleon commissioned for his political communications, and …

The Hall of Mirrors, the most famous room in the Palace, was built to replace a large terrace designed by the architect Louis Le Vau, which opened onto the garden.

This room, as well as the Diana Room, constituted the main entrance to the King's State Apartment because it was at the top of the great staircase known as the “Ambassadors’ Staircase”, before it was destroyed in 1752. Like all the other rooms, this room was named after a planet, following a running theme linked to sun mythology which ...

The Palace architect Frédéric Nepveu replaced the Ancien Régime’s five residential stories with three levels: kitchens on the ground floor, for receptions the king held at the palace; the Crusades Rooms at garden level, with first one and then five rooms; and spaces on the history of Louis-Philippe’s reign on the 1st floor, now the ...

As the only remnant of the rooms Louis-Philippe devoted to the French Revolution, the 1792 Room offers the keys to understanding the king’s political and historic project.

In Versailles the queen had a series of small rooms beyond her State Apartments which were reserved for her personal use and for service by her ladies-in-waiting. Marie Leszczyńska used to retire here to read, paint, reflect, or receive private visits.

The story of Louis XIV’s reign - from his childhood to his death - unfolds through the series of ten rooms presenting the family and the court. The works on display provide a unique eye-witness account of the period’s main characters and different insights into the great political, military and artistic events of the time, by precise ...

This room occupies the place where the Oval Room, created by Louis XIV in 1692, was once situated. The decoration is composed of Corinthian pilasters and four niches containing sculpted bronze groups, including the famous andirons by Algardi (Louvre).

This large space adjoining the royal apartments first served as the palace’s second chapel (1672-1682), and then the Great Guard’s Room “for both the King and the Queen” (1682-1789). In 1833 it became a room devoted to the glory of Napoleon Bonaparte, First …