Opening of the Gallery of the history of the Palace

The Palace of Versailles is opening a new Gallery of the history of the Palace in honour of its 400th anniversary. This Gallery aims to provide visitors with insight into the creation, transformation and upheavals that have marked the history of the Palace, from its beginnings as a modest hunting lodge built by Louis XIII in 1623 up to the current day. The itinerary will feature more than 120 works of art from the Versailles collections – some of which have never before been displayed – complemented by a digital and educational programme.

THE GALLErY OF HISTOrY, rEDESIGNED

During their exploration of Versailles, visitors pass without interruption from King Louis XIV’s State Apartment to Marie-Antoinette’s Private Chambers to the historical galleries dating from Louis Philippe, thus moving through eras, fashions and styles. The Gallery of the History of the Palace was created to help visitors understand the history of Versailles and its successive layout and decoration. Once the apartments of key personalities of the Court, since 2011 this succession of 11 rooms on the ground floor of the North Wing has been conceived as an introduction to one’s visit to the Palace.

Organised chrono-thematically, this new arrangement features over a hundred artworks from the Versailles collection. Portraits of kings, queens and artists reveal the faces of those who shaped Versailles over the centuries. Paintings depicting the Palace and Gardens of Versailles illustrate the architectural transformations of the estate, while the vestiges of the Versailles of yesteryear rekindle memories of mythical places lost to history, such as the Ambassadors’ Staircase, Louis XIV’s Bath Chamber and Marie Leszczynska’s Chinese Chamber.

The gallery also shows what became of Versailles after the French Revolution, from the fall of the Ancien Régime to its transformation into a museum of French history by Louis Philippe in the 19th century, not to mention its political role as a venue for extravagant festivities and contemporary artistic creation.

To bring to light these different eras and the multiple facets of the Palace, a wealth of digital and educational content is available throughout the tour – 3D replicas, aerial views of the estate from drone-mounted cameras, archival videos and tactile displays – to transport visitors through four centuries of the history of the Palace of Versailles and France itself.