History of the Palace of Versailles.
The history of Versailles is the history of France in miniature — from Louis XIII's 1623 hunting lodge, through the absolutism of the Sun King, to the humiliation and rebirth of the 1919 Treaty. Read the timeline.
Versailles began as a swampy patch of forest twelve miles south-west of Paris where Louis XIII liked to hunt. The lodge he built in 1623 could sleep only the King himself and a few companions. Within a century it had become the largest palace in Europe, home to some ten thousand people, and the working headquarters of an absolute monarchy that governed twenty million French subjects.
The transformation was almost entirely the work of one man. Louis XIV chose to make Versailles the seat of his court not because it was convenient but because it wasn't Paris. The Fronde uprisings of his childhood had taught him that Paris could not be trusted; by moving thousands of nobles into a Palace where every ritual — the rising, the meals, the coucher — was choreographed around his person, he could keep the aristocracy under permanent watch.
A timeline.
- •1623
Louis XIII's hunting lodge
Louis XIII commissions a modest brick-and-stone hunting lodge on marshland belonging to the Gondi family, on land his father Henri IV had first hunted. The lodge has just eight rooms.
- •1634
The first château
The lodge is enlarged into a small three-winged château around a central courtyard — today's Marble Court — by architect Philibert Le Roy. The U-shape becomes the seed of the entire future Palace.
- •1661
Louis XIV takes personal rule
On the death of Cardinal Mazarin, the 22-year-old Louis XIV assumes personal government. He commissions Louis Le Vau, Charles Le Brun and André Le Nôtre to transform Versailles into a royal residence worthy of the Sun King.
- •1668–1670
The 'envelope' of Le Vau
Le Vau wraps the old château in a new envelope of stone façades on the garden side, creating the first version of what visitors see today. Charles Le Brun begins the interior decoration.
- •1678
Hardouin-Mansart & the Hall of Mirrors
Jules Hardouin-Mansart replaces the aging Le Vau. He designs the Hall of Mirrors (Galerie des Glaces), the North and South Wings, the Grand Trianon (1687) and the Royal Chapel — begun in 1699 and completed in 1710.
- •6 May 1682
The court moves to Versailles
Louis XIV formally transfers the court and government from the Louvre and Saint-Germain-en-Laye to Versailles. Roughly 10,000 people — nobles, servants, ministers — take up residence at or around the Palace.
- •1715
Louis XV inherits the Palace
The five-year-old Louis XV inherits Versailles from his great-grandfather. He commissions the Petit Trianon (1762–1768) and the Royal Opera, inaugurated on 16 May 1770 for the wedding of the future Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.
- •1783
The Queen's Hamlet
Marie-Antoinette commissions the Hameau de la Reine — a rustic model village of twelve cottages, a working farm and a dairy — to escape the etiquette of court. It becomes the defining image of her retreat from public life.
- •6 October 1789
The Women's March on Versailles
A crowd of several thousand Parisian women, angered by bread shortages, marches the twelve miles to Versailles. They force Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and the Dauphin to leave the Palace for the Tuileries in Paris. The French court never returns.
- •1793–1837
Revolution, empire, restoration
The Palace is stripped of much of its furniture during the Revolution and narrowly avoids demolition. Napoleon uses the Grand Trianon as a residence. In 1837 King Louis-Philippe reopens Versailles as a museum 'to all the glories of France'.
- •18 January 1871
The German Empire is proclaimed
Following the Prussian victory in the Franco-Prussian War, Wilhelm I of Prussia is proclaimed German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors — a deliberate humiliation of the French state.
- •28 June 1919
The Treaty of Versailles
The peace treaty ending the First World War between Germany and the Allied Powers is signed in the Hall of Mirrors, in the same room and on the same table as the 1871 proclamation — a symbolic reversal.
- •1979
UNESCO World Heritage status
The Palace, gardens and the Trianon Estate are inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List. The listing covers 1,070 hectares and cites Versailles as 'the outstanding example of a royal residence' of the 17th and 18th centuries.
- •2007–present
The Grand Versailles restoration
A rolling €400 million restoration programme — including the reconstruction of the Royal Gate in 2008 with 100,000 leaves of 24-carat gold — continues to return rooms and gardens to their pre-Revolutionary appearance.
The Revolution and after
When the royal family was forced back to Paris in October 1789 the Palace was left almost intact but stripped of its furniture in a series of revolutionary auctions between 1793 and 1794. Much of what had lined the King's Apartment was sold to Parisian dealers and exported; some pieces have since been repurchased by the estate.
Napoleon considered making Versailles the seat of the Empire but used only the Grand Trianon. The Palace was saved from demolition by King Louis-Philippe, who reopened it in 1837 as a museum "to all the glories of France" — a phrase still inscribed above the entrance to the Battle Gallery today.
The twentieth century
Versailles was the setting for two of the most consequential diplomatic events of modern European history. On 18 January 1871 Wilhelm I was proclaimed German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors, following Prussia's defeat of France. Almost fifty years later, on 28 June 1919, the same room witnessed the signing of the treaty that ended the First World War — an intentional reversal that would shape the twentieth century.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Who built the Palace of Versailles?
- The Palace of Versailles was originally built as a hunting lodge for Louis XIII in 1623–1634. It was transformed into a royal palace by his son Louis XIV, with architects Louis Le Vau, Jules Hardouin-Mansart and landscape designer André Le Nôtre working on it from 1661 until 1710.
- Why did Louis XIV move the court to Versailles?
- Louis XIV moved the French court and government from Paris to Versailles on 6 May 1682. He wanted to remove the nobility from Paris — where the Fronde uprisings had threatened his childhood rule — and centralise power in a location where he could personally supervise the aristocracy through daily court ritual.
- When did Versailles stop being a royal residence?
- Versailles ceased to be the seat of French government on 6 October 1789, when a crowd of Parisian women marched on the Palace during the French Revolution and forced Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and their children to return to Paris. The court never returned.
- What was signed at Versailles in 1919?
- The Treaty of Versailles, which formally ended the First World War between Germany and the Allied Powers, was signed in the Hall of Mirrors on 28 June 1919 — exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
Continue with what to see in the Palace today or read our essay on why Louis XIV moved the court.
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