In French historical dramas and movies, there are often scenes of aristocratic gentlemen and female relatives dressed in costumes attending banquets, many of which take place in the most famous palace in France, the Palace of Versailles. This elegant and glittering place was not only once the political center of France, but also the residence of the emperor and his family. French history has no shortage of legendary harem women, such as Madame Pompidou, the mistress of Louis XV who created the Rococo style, and Louis XVI, who was pushed to the guillotine and asked the executioner why Louis XVI did not eat cake when he asked the executioner, "Why can't the common people eat bread and eat cake?". So, what was the scene of the female relatives living in versailles? In the 17 rooms on the second floor of the Palace of Versailles, a large area of the rooms behind the Hall of Mirrors and the King's Suite was their residence.
Turning left on the tour route is the Private apartments of The Queen on the south side of the main building. Although on the side, the queen's residence is much more magnificent than the king's, including 7 rooms, including the queen's bedroom, the queen's private room, the queen's waiting hall, the palace women's retreat room, and the queen's guard hall. Downstairs in this series of rooms corresponds to the Apartment du Dauphin.
The first is the Chambre De La Reine, where the queen spends most of her time. In the morning, according to the etiquette norms, many maids and even female relatives have to watch from the sidelines. Louis XIV had many mistresses throughout his life, and after the death of the first queen, María Teresa, in 1683, he spent most of his time with his favorite Lady Mantenon. Mrs. Mantenon was born a commoner, so the two married in secret (another said that the wedding was not held in public). But since then, Louis XIV has had no other mistresses. The two lived in the Grand Trianon, and the queen's bedroom was reserved for Maria Anna Christine Victoria, the Crown Princess of Louis. The last queen to live here was Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI. As a "fashionista", she pays special attention to room decoration and furniture, and the arrangements seen today basically restore the original appearance of her then.
At the top of the bedside is a rooster, the symbol of France.
The bed below is with a gold balustrade. As we mentioned before, the French people's beds are so short because they thought that sleeping flat represented death, so they all sat and slept.
The dome above the bed curtain tent
The ceiling of the king's bedchamber is decorated with male figures, and the queen's bedchamber is naturally decorated with female figures: above each of the two doors is a painting of great maternal tenderness.
The last queen to live here was Marie-Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI and the last queen of France, whose room retained the original appearance of her then-dwelling, with a bust of her on the fireplace.
Look closely at a small door to the left of the bedroom that leads to the queen's inner chamber. The Queen's Inner Chamber consists of 12 smaller rooms for the Queen's personal life. It is said that in 1789 an angry populace stormed the Palace of Versailles, through which Queen Mary escaped, but was eventually captured and executed.
Next up is the "Piece Des Nobles". During the reign of Queen Louis XIV, vips were officially received here, hence the name of the room. When a new princess or palace lady enters the palace, she also gathers in this room. It sounds like this room has similarities with the "Shenwu Gate" of the Forbidden City (when the Qing Emperor selected a woman, the candidate entered the palace from the Shenwu Gate).
Marie Leszczca, queen of Louis XV, sat under a canopy for grand and solemn receptions, or often held sorority meetings with the female relatives of the court. Marie, queen of Louis XVI, re-decorated the entire room, leaving only paintings on the ceiling, covering the walls with light cyan brocade and surrounded by gold lace.
On the front wall is the tapestry "Louis XV in Magnificent Royal Dress" by Michel Henri Cozette.
The French painter Michel II Corneille painted the zenith and the surrounding arches in 1672. The zenith painting is called Mercury Surrounded by the Arts and Science.
In ancient Roman mythology, Mercury was a messenger of messages to the gods. He was the son of jupiter and Maia, the gods of heaven Jupiter and Maia, and was the patron saint of medicine, travelers, and merchants. He usually wears a hat with wings on his head, a bipedal armor horse (flying shoes), and a scepter wrapped around his staff, walking as if flying. He invented the seven-stringed harp, knew medicine, knew magic, and often solved problems for his father. So in the West the wand in his hand was often used for the symbol of the drugstore.
East Arch Ticket Painting "Scientist"
South Arch Ticket Painting "Painting"
West Arch Ticket Painting "Harp Playing"
North Arch Ticket Painting "Woven Tapestry"
The next room is the "Antichambre Du Grand Couvert", also known as the "Grand Banquet Hall" because of the grand banquet of the royal family. At the banquet, only the royal family could take to the table, and at the table sat the duchess, the princess or the person in an important position, and the others and even the female dependents could only stand. From Louis XIV to Louis XVI, three generations of kings dined here. The king's character determined the scale of the banquet: Louis XIV experienced countless splendors in his life, so he preferred grand banquets; Louis XV was indecisive and held more private banquets; Louis XVI's energy was spent on studying locks, and he was not interested in banquets, but his queen Mary liked extravagant and gorgeous enjoyment, thinking that the atmosphere of the banquet could not be too serious, so he specially set up a orchestra pit to facilitate the accompaniment of music during the meal.
Delicate silver cutlery is laid out on the table
On the right wall hangs "Queen Antoinette and Her Children" by Elisabeth Louise Vigee LeBrun, the royal painter of Queen Mary of Louis XVI
In the queen's arms was Louis XVII, her eldest daughter, Mary Teresa, on the right, and Louis Joseph de France, the Grand Prince, who died of illness in 1789 (and was also a disaster). The eldest daughter was the only survivor of the family, and in 1789 she was only 11 years old, tortured, and witnessed her parents executed, beaten and sexually assaulted by jailers... Although he survived strongly, his spirit was greatly stimulated, and he once committed suicide by taking poison, but fortunately he was saved.
After the Restoration of Louis XVIII, the princess married a cousin, and later Louis XIX, became the Duchess of Angoulême, and her father-in-law was Charles X, the last Emperor of the Bourbon Dynasty. The Duchess took out a frenzied revenge, often openly declaring her hatred for the Republicans and the Jacobins, ordering people to set fire to clubs, sending people to bomb the Pantheon in an unsuccessful attempt, assassinating exiled revolutionary rulers...
Huge tapestries hang from the front.
The authentic ceiling painting of the dome is the work "The Tent of Darius" (aka: Alexander Forgives the Family of the Conquered Armenian King and His People), copied by the court painter Henry Testelling, which was copied by the court painter Henry Testrin.
The last room is the Salle Des Gardes/Queen's Guard Room.
In versailles, only the king, queen and prince have their own bodyguards, belonging to the emperor's four elite guard companies, 12 guards are on duty 24 hours a day to protect her safety, which is equivalent to the "Janissaries", there are strict regulations: it is strictly forbidden to enter any strange priests and strangers without permission, and the guards can only stay in the rooms of the royals; other attendants cannot stay in the queen's room;
As the only room in the Palace of Versailles that retains the original 17th-century decoration, the overall decoration has never changed, and in 1680, oil paintings were moved from the Jupiter Hall for decoration.
On the east wall is Noel Coypel's (1628-1707) book The Infant Zeus Is Protected by the Craits.
This story, which originates from Greek mythology, is a bit like the Chinese "Tanuki for Prince": Zeus's father, Kronos, succeeded in "usurping the throne" and overthrowing his father, and the old king predicted that he would also be overthrown by his own son. So Kronos stayed by the side of his wife, Rhea, the goddess of time, and swallowed every child he gave birth to. When Zeus was born she lied about giving birth to a stone, and Kronos swallowed the stone in one gulp. Zeus was sent to Crete's Mount Dickett, where he was protected by the Cretes. Growing up, Zeus overthrew his father and became the new king of Mount Olympus.
The west wall of the hall is a 1679 painting by Noel Coiber, The Sacrifice of Jupiter
In the center of the zenith painting is Noel's Jupiter riding a chariot of justice and piety. Rome conquered ancient Greece and renamed Zeus in Greek mythology as Jupiter, and the ancient Romans attached great importance to the sacrifice of Jupiter.
There is a painting in each of the four directions of the vault:
East: Trajan, The Just and Honest Consul. Trajan (reigned 53-117, 98-117) was one of the "Five Wise Emperors" of the ancient Roman Empire, who greatly expanded his territory during his reign and reached the height of his empire.
South: Solon, the founder of ancient Athenian law. Solon (638-558 BC) was a politician and legislator of ancient Athens, whose reforms were one of the most important social reforms in ancient Greek history, such as the abolition of cruel laws and the avoidance of the death penalty for all crimes, which opened the way for the revitalization and prosperity of the Athenian city-state.
West: Ptolemy, great mathematician, astronomer, and geographer. Claudius Ptolemy (90-168), who lived in ancient Roman Egypt, wrote the book "The Great Works of Astronomy". He proposed the "geocentric theory", which holds that all celestial bodies, including the sun, orbit the earth.
North: Alexander Distributes Relief Food to Roman Disaster Victims
At this point, the 17 halls of the main hall of the center have been visited
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【Author:Desert Rose】
Global travel expert, travel experience engineer, freelance writer, guest host. He has traveled to nearly 50 countries and more than 200 cities on five continents.