Versailles

The Palace of Versailles (English: /vˈsvˈs/ ; French: Château de Versailles French: [ʃɑto d(ə) vɛʁsɑj]) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, under the direction of the French Ministry of Culture, by the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. About 15,000,000 people visit the palace, park, or gardens of Versailles ev…

The Bois de Boulogne (French: [bwɑ d(ə) bulɔɲ], "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by the Emperor Napoleon III to be turned into a public park in 1852. It is the second-largest park in Paris, slightly smaller than the Bois de Vincennes on the eastern side of the city. It covers an area of 845 hectares (2088 acres), wh…

The Grand Trianon (French: [ɡʁɑ̃ tʁijanɔ̃]) is a French Baroque style château situated in the northwestern part of the Domain of Versailles in Versailles, France. It was built at the request of King Louis XIV of France as a retreat for himself and his maîtresse-en-titre of the time, the Marquise de Montespan, and as a place where he and invited guests could take light meals (collations) away from the strict ''étiquette'' of the royal court. The Grand Trianon is set within its own park, which inc…

The Hameau de la Reine (French: [amo də la ʁɛn], The Queen's Hamlet) is a rustic retreat in the park of the Château de Versailles built for Marie Antoinette in 1783 near the Petit Trianon in Yvelines, France. It served as a private meeting place for the Queen and her closest friends; a place of leisure. Designed by the Queen's favoured architect, Richard Mique, with the help of the painter Hubert Robert, it contained a meadowland with a lake and various buildings in a rustic or vernacular style…

The Petit Trianon (French: [pəti tʁijanɔ̃]; French for "small Trianon") is a Neoclassical style château located on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, France. It was built between 1762 and 1768 during the reign of King Louis XV of France. The Petit Trianon was constructed within the park of a larger royal retreat known as the Grand Trianon. Design and construction The Petit Trianon was built on the site of a botanical garden developed about a decade earlier by Louis XV, within…

The Hall of Mirrors (French: Grande Galerie, Galerie des Glaces, Galerie de Louis XIV) is a grand Baroque style gallery and one of the most emblematic rooms in the royal Palace of Versailles near Paris, France. The grandiose ensemble of the hall and its adjoining salons was intended to illustrate the power of the absolutist monarch Louis XIV. Located on the first floor (piano nobile) of the palace's central body, it faces west towards the Palace Gardens. The Hall of Mirrors has been the scene of…

Parc des Princes (French: [paʁk de pʁɛ̃s]) is an all-seater football stadium in Paris, France. It is located in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin and Stade Roland Garros. The stadium, with a seating capacity of 47,929 spectators, has been the home of football club Paris Saint-Germain since 1974. Before the opening of the Stade de France in 1998, it was the home stadium of France's national football team and national rugby union team. …

Fort Mont-Valérien (French: Forteresse du Mont-Valérien) is a fortress in Suresnes, a western Paris suburb, built in 1841 as part of the city's ring of modern fortifications. It overlooks the Bois de Boulogne. History Before Thiers built the fortress, Mont Valérien was home to hermits. Since the 15th century a community of hermits lived on the slope of Puteaux similar to the one of Chartreux: private cells, communal holy Mass and holy Office, perpetual silence. Manual labor and prayer divided th…

The Château de Malmaison (French: [ʃɑto d(ə) malmɛzɔ̃]) is a French château situated near the left bank of the Seine, about west of the centre of Paris, in the commune of Rueil-Malmaison. Formerly the residence of Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais, along with the Tuileries it was the headquarters of the French government from 1800 to 1802, and Napoleon's last residence in France at the end of the Hundred Days in 1815. History Joséphine de Beauharnais bought the manor house in April 1799 for hers…

Piscine Molitor (French: [pisin molitɔʁ]; also known as the Piscines Auteuil-Molitor or the Grands établissements balnéaires d'Auteuil) is a swimming pool and hotel complex located in Porte Molitor, 16th arrondissement of Paris, Île-de-France, Paris, France. It is next to the Bois de Boulogne park, and between Stade Roland Garros and Parc des Princes. The complex was built in 1929 and inaugurated by Olympic swimmers Aileen Riggin, Matthew Gauntlett and Johnny Weissmuller. The pool is known for …

The Louis Vuitton Foundation (French: Fondation d'entreprise Louis-Vuitton), previously Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation (Fondation Louis-Vuitton pour la création), is a French art museum and cultural center sponsored by the group LVMH and its subsidiaries. It is run as a legally separate, nonprofit entity as part of LVMH's promotion of art and culture. The art museum opened on October 20, 2014, in the presence of President François Hollande. The Deconstructivist building was designed by Am…

The Galerie des Batailles (French: [galʁi de bataj]; English: "Gallery of Battles") is a gallery occupying the first floor of the Aile du Midi of the Palace of Versailles, joining onto the grand and petit appartement de la reine. long and wide, it is an epigone of the grand gallery of the Louvre and was intended to glorify French military history from the Battle of Tolbiac (traditionally dated 496) to the Battle of Wagram (5–6 July 1809). History The gallery was a major component of the Musée …

The Arboretum Vilmorin (4 hectares) is a private arboretum located at 2 rue d'Estienne d'Orves, Verrières-le-Buisson, Essonne, Île-de-France, France. It is open by appointment only. A newer portion of the family arboretum was acquired by the municipality in 1975, and is now open to the public as the Arboretum municipal de Verrières-le-Buisson. The arboretum is located on the site of a former hunting lodge of Louis XIV of France, acquired in 1815 by Philippe-André de Vilmorin (1776-1862), who als…

The Château de Louveciennes in Louveciennes, in the Yvelines département of France, is composed of the château itself, constructed at the end of the 17th century. It was then expanded and redecorated by Ange-Jacques Gabriel for Madame du Barry in the 18th century, and the music (or reception) pavilion was constructed by Claude Nicolas Ledoux (1770–71). The pavilion sits in the middle of a park that was designed in the 19th century. The Château The château is an approximately cubic construction,…

École polytechnique, also known as Polytechnique or l'X French: [liks], is a grande école university located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mathematician Gaspard Monge during the French Revolution and was militarized under Napoleon I in 1804. It is still supervised by the French Ministry of Armed Forces. Originally located in the Latin Quarter in central Paris, the i…

The Salon d'Hercule (also known as the Hercules Salon or the Hercules Drawing Room) is on the first floor of the Château de Versailles and connects the Royal Chapel in the North Wing of the château with the grand appartement du roi. Description Originally, the fourth and penultimate chapel, the salon d’Hercule occupies the tribune level of this chapel. Initially called the nouveau salon près de la chapelle (new salon near the chapel) when the room was started in 1710 by Robert de Cotte for Lou…

The Château de Bagatelle is a small Neoclassical style château with several small formal French gardens, a rose garden, and an orangerie. It is set on 59 acres of gardens in French landscape style in the Bois de Boulogne, which is located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. There is also a located near Abbeville in northern France. Origins The château is a glorified playground, actually a maison de plaisance intended for brief stays while hunting in the Bois de Boulogne in a party atmosphere.…

The Château de Marly was a French royal residence located in what is now Marly-le-Roi, the commune on the northern edge of the royal park. This was situated west of the palace and garden complex at Versailles. Marly-le-Roi is the town that developed to serve the château, which was demolished in 1806 after passing into private ownership and being used as a factory. The town is now a bedroom community for Paris. At the Château of Marly, Louis XIV of France escaped from the formal rigors he was con…

The Batterie de Bouviers is located in the commune of Guyancourt, Yvelines, France. It is a former fortification built beginning in 1879 and occupied by the army until 1932. From 1933 it was leased by the Hispano Suiza company as a factory, surrounded by other industrial structures. The site was abandoned by Hispano Suiza in 1990, and was sold by the Ministry of Defense in 1999. In 2006 the battery became the "Cafe Musiques", surrounded by office buildings and a music school. History In 1870 Fr…

Meudon Castle, also known as the Royal Castle of Meudon or Imperial Palace of Meudon, is a French castle located in Meudon in the Hauts-de-Seine department. At the edge of a wooded plateau, the castle offers views of Paris and the Seine, as well as of the Chalais valley. Located between Paris and Versailles, in the heart of a hunting reserve, the castle has an ideal topography for large gardens. It had many successive owners from the Renaissance until the fall of the Second French Empire. It sho…

The appartement du roi or King's Apartment is the suite of rooms in the Palace of Versailles that served as the living quarters of Louis XIV. Overlooking the Marble Court (cour de marbre), these rooms are situated in the oldest part of the chateau in rooms originally designated for use by the queen in Louis XIII's chateau. Owing largely to the discomfort of the grand appartement du roi and to the construction of the Hall of Mirrors, Louis XIV began to remodel these rooms for his use shortly af…

Musée Marmottan Monet (English: Marmottan Museum of Monet) is an art museum in Paris, France, dedicated to artist Claude Monet. The collection features over three hundred Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, including his 1872 Impression, Sunrise. The museum's fame is the result of a donation in 1966 by Michel Monet, Claude's second son and only heir. History Originally a hunting lodge for the Duke of Valmy, the building at the edge of the Bois de Boulogne was purchase…

Église d'Auteuil (French: [eɡliz dotœj]; literally "Auteuil Church") is a station of the Paris Métro in the 16th arrondissement, serving Line 10 (westbound service only). With around 172,812 passenger entrances in 2016, it is the least-entered station on the Paris Métro network. However, because this station serves westbound passengers only, and the RATP only records station entrances and not exits, it is possible that more passengers exit at Église d'Auteuil than enter. Location Église d'Auteui…

The Château de La Celle, also named Château de La Celle Saint-Cloud or the Petit Château, is a historical building located in the commune of La Celle-Saint-Cloud, in the French département of Yvelines (France), south-west suburbs of Paris, north of Versailles. It is owned by the Ministère des Affaires étrangères, the French Foreign Office. (48°51' 2°8')