Photographs of the mirrored interpreter's booth in the palace. Country center for children and youth creativity “Mirror. Versailles from the courtyards
mirror gallery
Without a doubt, before us is the most marvelous hall of the most beautiful palace in the world. And when we admire its noble proportions, its scope (without any pretense of colossality!), when we admire the harmony and thoughtfulness of the decor that unites the gallery with two adjacent halls - the Hall of War, located from the north (the edge of storms and bad weather), and the Hall of Peace, adjoining from the south (the edge of the sun and abundance), it never occurs to us that the emergence of such an integral ensemble was a matter of chance.
The gallery is perceived by us as the unconditional center of the palace, as a core that attracts other rooms to itself; it seems as if the architects conceived it before other parts of the castle ... Nothing like that! In fact, it arose already during the period of reconstruction: it was erected on the site of a wide balcony decorated with a fountain, which connected two palace wings at the level of the second floor.
But we are endowed with a happy ability to adapt, to get used to it - a quality that at all times has saved the aesthetic sense. In addition, what is done impromptu often surpasses what is created with difficulty and effort ... Suddenly invented, limited by the size of the lower room, this "unforeseen" gallery could well turn out to be too long or too short, too narrow or too high. And how lucky: it turned out perfect!
But just think! Louis XIV, in order for Versailles to become the way we see it today, almost all his life had to endure the roar of masons' hammers, the cries of plasterers and humbly inhale the dust of endless construction projects. He did not even have time to properly enjoy his palace.
Judge for yourself.
It all started in 1665 with the remodeling of the Marble Court; two years later, Levo began to build the majestic colonnades of the northern and southern facades; before they are finished, ministerial buildings are built; almost simultaneously, the foundations of the Orangery are being laid, and when it rises above ground level, part of the newly built Levo building is destroyed in order to erect a gallery with its two side halls on the second floor; painters begin work here even before the northern wing was erected; and everything will end with the construction of the chapel.
From 1665 to 1710! Forty-five years of uninterrupted construction, when scaffolding and ladders are erected, marble is sawn, stones are hewn, earth and gravel are poured, when carts roll up, draft horses with carts get stuck in the mud and gypsum scatters dust ... Yes, you need to love construction very much to agree to such a life.
And it is amazing that everything together turned out so beautiful: after all, in fact, the Palace of Versailles is nothing more than a conglomeration of separate parts and premises that grew around the small castle of Louis XIII; it was not destroyed in time, and it was lost in the very core, like a truffle in an exquisite pate.
But back to the gallery. Even today, despite the finishing touches of the Louis Philippe era and the poor banquettes (which would rather fit a rural cinema), it seems beautiful. Can we imagine what she looked like in her best days?
Nothing shiny, nothing striking in the eyes: an intoxicating harmony of white, gray and gold; alabaster tables and vases in bronze frames; stools and tall floor lamps, cast and minted from silver according to Lebrun's drawings in the Gobelin workshops; between the windows on silver tables are placed impressive candelabra with eight candles depicting the exploits of Hercules - true masterpieces of jewelry art; banquettes, pedestals, boxes from which evergreen orange trees grow, candlesticks, jugs, bowls, stretchers - all this is made of pure silver; chandeliers of crystal and silver hang from flower-decorated cords; on seventeen windows there are curtains of blue silk embroidered with gold; the huge carpets of the Savoneri workshops cover the floor; pilasters of gray marble with gilded capitals divide high arches, where mirrors of the brightest water shine in bronze frames; the tonal restraint of the overall scale emphasizes the colorfulness of Olympus depicted on the ceiling.
What have these mirrors, cast in the then just founded workshop of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, not seen in their lifetime; what they did not witness! .. If we concentrate on these thoughts, we will not have the courage to pass them in our raincoats and hats.
In these glasses lived the reflection of the Great King, at first young and in love, then aged, heavy, bent over the years. How many queens, how many beautiful women they reflected in themselves: mannered and fragile Madame de Pompadour; trembling on the eve of her introduction to the du Barry court; sixteen-year-old Marie Antoinette, fair-haired, ruddy ...
Past these mirrors walked Condé and Villars; old Franklin, according to the legend, Jean Bart, with a pipe in his teeth, passed by in his rope shoes. The mirrors of the gallery saw how on January 7, 1689, with the text "Esther" under his arm, Jean Racine passed here, heading to the apartments of Madame de Maintenon, where his play was to be rehearsed. These high glasses once reflected the red cap of the Genoese Doge, and with the greatest amazement reflected the mirrors of the Siamese ambassadors, who ran the entire length of the gallery, backing away so as not for a second to turn their backs to the Sun King.
But in the mirror that masks the double door of the royal office, at noon on August 15, 1785, a frightened silhouette of Cardinal de Rogan flashed - the guards arrested him at the moment when he was going to celebrate mass. In May 1789, in front of each of these mirrors, the representatives of the States General who had gathered from their provinces paraded with solemnity ... All those whose image, like a trace of breath, has evaporated from the surface of the glass, fill these mirrors with a mysterious, ghostly life.
But despite its ceremonial appearance, the gallery saw not only majestic events and historical figures in it ... Indeed, our grandfathers and great-grandfathers idolized etiquette, but all the more they appreciated any opportunity to relax, and at the end of the ceremonies they willingly switched to good-natured simplicity.
During the monarchy, the Mirror Gallery was open to everyone. At least in the reign of Louis XV and Louis XVI people came here without any special permissions and formalities. On summer Sundays, ordinary Parisian people filled the gallery. The people walked freely here, enjoying the slipperiness of the parquet and crowding from time to time in the hope of seeing the king. The legendary Swiss, who was on duty in the Bull's Eye hall, only forbade entering the chambers of His Majesty. He himself lived right there behind the screen, where he had a stove, a toilet and a wardrobe, but in the evenings he moved the bed to the gallery; here he undressed, got into bed and sniffed comfortably, having every right to consider himself the owner of the most luxurious bedroom in France.
Twice or thrice in the morning hours Louis XVI could be seen leaving his study, heading towards the War Hall to look at the thermometer that hung on the window of the Apollo Room facing north. Here they lived quite in a bourgeois way, despite all the splendor, they got used to it so much that they perceived the gallery as an ordinary corridor.
What is the value of the document found by de Nolac (it refers to 1754 or 1755), where we read, for example, this: “Guards should not allow animals to be escorted into the palace without permission. Only princes and princesses of the royal family have the right to admit cows, goats or donkeys to their chambers; in the form of a special favor, these rights have been given to several more persons ... ”The peddlers of water and firewood also freely enter the palace. Street vendors roam all floors, stairs and reception areas; the street penetrates inside the castle, reaching the Mirror Gallery itself. Constant walking back and forth, noise, hustle... Only monks and people "with fresh traces of smallpox" are forbidden to enter the castle.
And then in a few days everything turned into a desert.
October 1789. Louis XVI is already in Paris. The colossal Versailles was evacuated in a matter of hours; in a beautiful palace that for a hundred years was the center of the world, oppressive silence reigns. Along the suite, doors opening and slamming noisily, drafts roam; the painting of the plafonds is peeling off... the mirrors are dimming... But every quarter of an hour in this vast emptiness one can barely hear the distant, gradually fading sound of the flute and harps: then the clock remaining in the queen's room continues to live; with their gentle song they measure every hour of the revolutionary era in the abandoned royal dwelling.
Of course, things have a soul: it is created from our memories, from our own experiences, from all the experienced joys and sorrows, of which they happened to be impassive witnesses.
The soul of the Gallery of Mirrors is then inextricably merged with the soul of France itself; the Germans felt this very well when in 1870 they chose the gallery as the place of the baptism of their Empire.
In Berlin, in the royal palace, a painting depicting this event is kept: how many figures filled with pride are in it, how many helmets, banners, boots, how many bearded faces radiating satisfied lust! And what a demonstrative arrogance in the landing of these reytars, whose broad shoulders are drawn against the silver-gray background of pilasters and mirrors, reflecting this spectacle with shame ...
But what a revenge! Less than half a century has passed, and the gallery, where cries in honor of the immortal monarchy were heard, witnessed its collapse ... History loves such one hundred and eighty-degree turns ...
From the very beginning, the gallery stretching between the Halls of War and Peace was intended for a brilliant role; to decorate it in 1681, Lebrun conceived a huge pictorial ceiling. Looking up at him, we distinguish there on the ceiling among the elegant crowd of countless Mars, Minerva, defeated giants, chained slaves, victorious palm branches, griffins and garlands, France, represented in the guise of an eternally youthful goddess; she is accompanied by the Graces, weaving wreaths; next to her is Prosperity, overshadowed by roses, and a female figure stretching an olive, Peace. A cloud is represented in the very center of the composition; it carries away Germany with its eagle, while the lust for power, angry at its defeat, wrests the crown from the defeated king with one hand, and sets fire to palaces and temples with a torch. Connoisseurs can say whatever they want about this painting, but no one will stop me from thinking: in those two days when Lebrun executed the sketch for the ceiling, he was more than a great artist - he was a prophet.
Painting a gallery on stones It is very interesting that similar scenes, which can be seen in a staged form near the Kalash, are depicted on rock paintings - petroglyphs discovered on the Angara by archaeologist Oktyabr Leonov. In 1975, the so-called
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Royal Palace at Versailles- this is the main pearl of France, which is located just 20 km from Paris in a small town. Exactly large Versailles castle served as a model for many European castles. The architectural and landscape masterpiece includes luxurious palace buildings and exquisite gardens with artificial and natural lakes. Versailles became a symbol of the power and authority of the French monarch Louis XIV.
Reasons for the construction of the royal palace in Versailles:
- Due to the revolutionary movement, living in the royal family was dangerous.
- ambition. In the 17th century, France was actively developing, becoming a new superpower. A powerful state needed a worthy political center, which became Versailles . Paris at that time was a provincial city.
- Envy of the young king, which arose after Louis XIV saw the castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte Nicolas Fouquet. By the way, the owner of the castle was soon executed.
The palace at Versailles could simultaneously accommodate 10,000 people - of which 5,000 courtiers and 5,000 servants. The domestic policy of Louis XIV was the vigilant control of the aristocracy. Those courtiers who left the Palace of Versailles were forever deprived of royal grace and, as a result, property and ranks.
The best French masters were involved in the construction of the architectural and landscape complex: Louis Levo, Andre Le Nôtre, Charles Le Brun. In total, 25 million livres or 259.56 billion modern euros were spent from the state treasury. This despite the fact that the construction of a large palace in France was carried out under extremely austerity, due to which some windows did not open and fireplaces did not work. In winter, living in the Palace of Versailles was uncomfortable.
Mirror Gallery, Palace of Versailles, France.
The Hall of Mirrors is rightly considered the most grandiose and impressive sight of the Palace of Versailles. The brilliant masters of the Renaissance embodied in him the ideas of absolutism. The hall amazes and delights with wealth and luxury. Every detail of the interior is generously decorated with gold. Huge mirrors, sculptures and numerous crystal chandeliers are harmoniously combined in a single ensemble.
Interestingly, it was in the Mirror Gallery that the famous Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919.
Royal Chapel, Versailles, France.
The Royal Chapel is located on the right side of the palace complex in Versailles. The gilded royal altar contrasts with the snow-white columns decorated with stucco. The exquisite bronze figures of the Greek gods immediately catch the eye. The chapel consists of 2 floors. Only monarchs had the right to climb to the upper tier.
An interesting fact: every second court lady dreamed of becoming the favorite of the loving Louis XIV. That is why the fair sex never missed a service.
Hall of Apollo, palace in Versailles, France.
The throne room was intended for ceremonial receptions of foreign delegations. In the evening, holidays were sometimes arranged here.
Salon of War, palace in Versailles, France.
Salon War is dedicated to the military triumph of France. The walls of the hall are decorated with canvases glorifying the legendary victories of the French.
Salon of Diana, palace in Versailles, France.
The interior of this salon is decorated with golden vaults and painted walls, antique sculptures and busts. Once in this hall there was a large billiard table, at which monarchs and courtiers had fun.
Queen's bedroom, Palace of Versailles, France.
The queen's bedroom is decorated with woven portraits, picturesque panels, stucco, and crystal chandeliers. Every detail of the decor is covered with the purest gold.
Interesting: in the 17th century, queens gave birth in public.
Bedroom of the king, palace in Versailles, France.
The extravagant king of France loved pomp and luxury most of all. This is exactly what his bedchamber is, located in the heart of the Palace of Versailles. The royal box is decorated with scarlet silk canopy.
The narcissistic monarch Louis XIV adored the theatre. And so he turned his whole life into a pompous performance, which was given with dignity on a magnificent stage - at the royal palace at Versailles!
The Mirror Gallery (fr. Galerie des Glaces) is the most famous interior of the Palace of Versailles. Together with the disappeared staircase of the Ambassadors and the Palace Chapel, it was one of the three largest interiors of the residence of Louis XIV. The dimensions of the hall in terms of 73.0 m × 10.5 m. Height - 12.3 m.
Construction history
In 1678, Jules Hardouin-Mansart began to rebuild the "Envelope" of the palace, created by Louis Leveau. On the site of the open terrace on the second floor, a Grand Gallery was built (it would be called the Mirror Gallery only in the 19th century). Together with the halls of War and Peace flanking it (the latter would be completed only under Louis XV), it connected the King's Grand appartements with the queen's chambers, becoming the apotheosis of Louis XIV's Grand style. At the same time, it should be noted that the construction of the gallery violated the logic of the Planets Apartments (the name of the group of halls of the Large Apartments): during its creation, the salons of Jupiter, Saturn and Venus, located in the left risalit of the Envelope, were destroyed. (The salon of Venus was re-made at the beginning of the enfilade, at the Stairs of the Ambassadors). When designing the space of the new interior, Hardouin-Mansart was based on the gallery of the Clagny castle he had created earlier. The scheme of completion from the ends with salons connected with the main volume by open arches was used in the residence of the Duke of Orleans. The subjects of the painting were originally supposed to be dedicated to Apollo (as in the Louvre) or Hercules (as in the Lambert Hotel). But after the conclusion of peace in Niemwegen, which became the apotheosis of the reign of Louis XIV, Charles Lebrun sketched out sketches of the History of the King in two days. According to his sketches, the capitals of the pilasters were made in the national "French" order (which is actually a modified Corinthian) with fleur-de-lys and Gallic roosters in the decor, and numerous elements of the furniture of the gallery: there were alabaster tables and vases in a bronze frame, stools and floor lamps made of silver, made in the workshops of the Gobelins, eight-horned silver candelabra with the image of the exploits of Hercules were installed between the windows on silver tables, which was a reflection of the original design concept. The gallery was decorated with orange trees planted in silver pots. The same metal is used in the fittings of crystal chandeliers. Seventeen windows are framed with curtains of blue silk embroidered with gold. The mirrors that gave the interior its name were made in the newly founded workshops of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. The floor was covered with huge carpets from Savoneri workshops. Almost all silver items were melted down after the first edict against luxury in 1689, issued to cover military expenses. And today, despite all the splendor, the interiors of Versailles are only a pale shadow of their former glory.
Historical events
On May 15, 1685, in the newly completed Grand (Mirror) Gallery, the king receives representatives of the Doge of Genoa, who, after a ten-day bombardment of the city by the French, were forced to publicly apologize to him for building four galleys for Spain. This event was captured…
Versailles. Part one. Castle. October 27th, 2010
I decided to talk about Versailles briefly, with photographs rather than text.
A sea of excellent descriptions of the palace can be found on the Internet, for example, in Wikipedia .
Paris is the most visited city in the world. The Palace of Versailles, located in the suburbs of Paris, is the most visited palace in the world. Every year, 2.6 million people come here to see with their own eyes how the most absolute monarch of European history lived - the "sun king" Louis XIV.
Pearl of the Palace of Versailles - Mirror Gallery
Main square in front of the Palace of Versailles. On the right is a monument to Louis XIV
At school, we all learned about King Louis XIV of France, " Sun King". Fearing for my life and for power, he was forced to move from Paris. As the new residence of the monarch, he chose the small hunting lodge of his father, Louis XIII in the suburbs of Paris. On these lands, Louis XIV built the largest royal residence of France, a symbol of himself, his country and the absolutist power that he personified.
On the square in front of the palace, facing the arriving guests and with its back to Versailles, there is an equestrian monument to Louis XIV. Previously, such monuments stood in every city in France, but during the French Revolution, most of the monuments were destroyed.
The facade of the palace is made in the style of French classicism (not to be confused with classicism and neoclassicism in Europe). This is due to the fact that at the time of the beginning of the construction of the palace, there was already a small hunting lodge of Louis XIII, built in the style of classicism. I am not sure how right I will be if I say that the central 7-window part of the palace is all that is left of the hunting lodge.
Front square in front of Versailles
In the right wing of the palace is the royal chapel (pictured right). The facade of the chapel contrasts sharply with the even geometric lines of the facade of the palace. Many architects opposed such an architectural solution, one architect even called the chapel " huge hearse"But who will argue with the king!
Interior of the royal chapel. It was here that Marie Antoinette married King Louis XVI of France. Today, symphony concerts are held from time to time in the court chapel. This chapel is the fifth chapel in Versailles and the largest royal chapel in France (apparently, there are even larger chapels somewhere).
The second tier of the royal chapel
French Kings Gallery
On the first floor of the palace there is a museum of the history of France, opened in 1837. Most tourists fly by this place like a bullet. Probably, French schoolchildren are brought here without fail
One tip: the entrance to Versailles, like all other state museums in France ( Louvre, d "Orsay, Orangerie etc.) is free for EU residents who are under 26 years old. This list, of course, includes all students of European universities, including scholarship holders of exchange programs. Take advantage!
The main premises of the palace are located on two tiers. The staircase on the frame leads to the second floor, to the living quarters of the king
Most of the money spent on the construction of the palace went to the creation of interior decoration. Sadly, most of the furniture from Versailles was destroyed during the French Revolution. Modern Versailles is furnished with furniture that comes from the same era as the lost examples, or those originals that could be found.
front room in front mirror gallery- Hall of War ( Salon de la guerre). In every room of the palace you can find an image of Louis XIV, just like here, above the fireplace
The most famous room of the Palace of Versailles is, without a doubt, mirror gallery(original name - Great Gallery). Imagine, it was the first place in the world where people saw their own reflection in full growth! The old technology of glass blowing did not allow the production of large mirrors. Because of this, mirrors were small and very expensive. AT hall of mirrors for the first time in the world, many small mirrors were stacked together. Now the guests who came to the king to the ball could see themselves in full growth! Ironic, but only a few years after the decoration mirror gallery an alternative technology for the production of mirrors appeared, and mirrors fell sharply in price.
Masterpiece mirror gallery in Versailles - crystal chandeliers. Previously, all the furnishings of the Great Gallery were made of silver, even the stools. In 1689, all silver objects were melted down to cover military expenses.
I have heard negative reviews after a visit to Versailles, they say, " it is not so luxurious, we have better" or " he's not that big"And so on. I categorically disagree with such arguments. I believe that Versailles, as a masterpiece of human thought, is one of those places that a person must visit in his life, at least to broaden his horizons. The only thing that leaves much to be desired is the crowds tourists. Frankly, there is no time to think in the interior of the palace, no time to stand and look at the details of decoration and no time to think. The incessant stream of tourists carries you, and you can only escape from it on the street. What can you do, this is the reputation of the palace!
In the second part of my report I will talk about the royal park of Versailles - one of the largest parks in Europe!
The Mirror Gallery was not one of the first large building projects erected in Versailles by the architect Levo. In the project of stone buildings around the small castle of Louis XIII, proposed by him in 1668, this place was reserved for a terrace. And only a few years later, the architect J. Hardouin-Mansart presented to the king on September 26, 1678, the year the Nimwegen peace treaty was signed, the project for the construction of the Mirror Gallery. Construction was completed in the same year.
The Hall of War, the Gallery of Mirrors and the Hall of Peace are a single ensemble with decor dedicated to the military and political successes of Louis XIV. Here the enfilade principle of planning triumphs. The picturesque medallions by Lebrun on the gallery's box vault, 75 meters long and 10 meters wide, glorify the military victories of Louis XIV.
Versailles from the courtyards
The marble finish seems to radiate a cold blue light and emphasizes the severity and grandeur of this front hall. The arched high windows on the inner longitudinal wall are echoed by mirrors similar in shape and size, and this creates the impression of the boundless width of the hall, which at the ends is closed by the Hall of Peace and the Hall of War.
At first, Louis XIV ordered that silver furniture, made according to the sketches of Charles Lebrun, be placed in the Mirror Gallery. However, in 1689 this furniture was melted down to replenish the state treasury, which was empty as a result of military campaigns. The set included high candelabra, round low tables for lamps and large vases of the finest chased work, made by the best jewelers of that time. The fireplace, designed by Lebrun, is decorated with a bas-relief by Antoine Coisevox. The large medallion above it is dedicated to one of the main events of the Dutch War: here Louis XIV is represented in the costume of an ancient warrior on horseback during the crossing of the Rhine on June 2, 1672. At the bottom, the relief depicts the patroness of history, Muse Clio, writing down the history of the King of France in the annals.
In the era of the pre-revolutionary monarchy, the Mirror Gallery led to the Great Royal Apartments. Here the courtiers gathered in the hope of seeing the king, who every morning passed to the chapel. Some took the opportunity to petition. When, during especially solemn audiences, Louis XIV received foreign ambassadors, such as the ambassador of Siam in 1686, the silver throne of the monarch was installed in the Mirror Gallery, which was transferred from the Salon of Apollo. Lush festivities, ceremonial balls and masquerade balls, which were given in honor of royal marriages, were also held here. The ambassador of Venice, who was present at one of these receptions, wrote that the gallery was brighter than during the day, and the eyes refused to believe that such a bright, unprecedented spectacle was happening in reality.
The mirror gallery of the Palace of Versailles was the result of a search for new spatial and lighting effects, and in addition, it was supposed to demonstrate the achievements of the French glass industry, its first victories over Venice.
On June 28, 1919, an agreement was signed in the Mirror Gallery to end the First World War.
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