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Versailles was built in the mid 1600's (over 30,000 workers and soldiers toiled on the structure) during the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King. He wanted to project the absolute power of the French monarchy at home and abroad (the monarchy was at the height of it's glory at that time).
The picture on the far right is the 75 m long, 10.5 m wide and 12.3 m high ballroom, the Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors) which has 17 huge mirrors on one side and an equal number of windows on the other side that look out over the gardens and the setting sun. The mirrors were designed to reflect the ceiling frescos (which depict the obviously shy and modest early life of Louis XIV) and also enabled guests to watch themselves and each other while dancing. |
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The gardens were huge and incredible. There were lots of beautiful flowers, numerous statues and unending fountains. In the middle picture is the Grand Canal which is 1.6 km long, 62m wide and is oriented to reflect the setting sun. The Petite Canal intersects the Grand Canal and is 1 km long and creates a cross shaped body of water. Louis XIV held boating parties there and they have paddle boats in the summer that you can rent. We could probably have walked around the gardens the whole day and maybe still not have seen everything (they also have a tram that takes you around).
It was a beautifully warm day and we stopped to rest in the shade. |
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This is the Dragon Fountain and is one of the oldest in Versailles and the is the highest water jet of all the fountains at 27 metres. It sits in front of the Fountain of Neptune which is the largest fountain, has 58 jets, 147 hydraulic effects and water shoots out in bubbles, waves, streams or showers.
If you look in the center photo, you can see what looks like a serpant coming out of the fountain behind the dragon, we walked all the way around to the other side to get the picture of the fountain of Neptune and the serpant on this side is part of the shell seat that Neptune and Amphitrite sit on. |
