VERSAILLES

Versailles (Wonders of Man) transports the reader into one of Europe’s most extravagant symbols of power, where architecture becomes theater and politics masquerades as beauty. Hibbert’s narrative reveals how the palace functioned not only as a royal residence but as a performance of authority—an aesthetic system designed to reshape society. For the Institute of Black Imagination, this text embodies Liberative Design by showing how spaces can reinforce—or challenge—systems of domination. To study Versailles is to interrogate luxury built from the labor of the unseen and the oppressed. Yet, within its halls, we also witness the transformative potential of artistic intention: how design can influence culture, shape identities, and provoke awe. In reflecting on Versailles, we see a call to reimagine opulence with equity, and beauty with belonging.