11 Secrets from The Palace of Versailles

The gardens of Versailles are some of the largest and most spectacular in the world and contain 372 statues, 55 water features, 600 fountains, and over 20 miles of water pipes. Hundreds of thousands of plants and trees have been continually planted over the years.While this makes the gardens look amazing, in the 17th century the fragrance from these blooms in Trianon was so overpowering it made guests feel ill and drove them away. 

The Hall of Mirrors has played host to plenty of splendor over the years, with the room originally being lit by as many as 20,000 candles to transform it into a “corridor of light” during special occasions. But it has also been a witness to some of the most important moments in history, the most significant being the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.The Treaty was the most important of the peace treaties that brought World War I to a close, ending the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919 in Versailles, exactly 5 years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that directly led to the war beginning.

Marie Antoinette was the wife of Louis XVI and she had her own estate called “The Petit Trianon”. She used the residence as her own personal retreat and it included a theater and farm area that produced fresh vegetables and dairy products.Also on the site was a “temple of love”, consisting of a round colonnade centered with a statue of cupid. Near the temple, Marie-Antoinette had a private grotto built, which was a secluded cave-like area overgrown with vegetation. It supposedly had a moss bed and two entrances, which seems like the perfect escape for secret meeting – although its purpose has never been confirmed, wink wink.

It’s well known that Versailles played host to thousands of people at a time, but did you also know the palace once housed several menageries full of all kinds of wild animals and birds from all over the world?One of the original features of the palace was an elaborate menagerie built by architect Louis le Vau. It was the first place to divide animal species into separate and specially adapted enclosures which could be seen from the balcony of the central pavilion of La Ménagerie. This model and approach was soon adopted throughout Europe, and menageries of this kind were eventually called zoos.

With all that luxury and opulence kept within the palace, it’s no surprise the people of France ultimately detested Versailles, with many people outside of the palace’s gate poor and starving. Marie-Antointette’s lavish lifestyle was especially loathed for its extravagance. During the French Revolution that began in 1789, the French revolutionary government ordered to dismantle the front gate, which was completely covered with gold. In 2008, the gate was recreated and decorated with 100,000 gold leaves.

Members of the royal family were lucky enough to have a cupboard in their rooms that housed a sort of a toilet chair, where a chamber pot would be placed under a seat with a hole and be changed by staff when they got round to it. While everyone else also had chamber pots, they didn’t always have the dignity of a separate room, with many pots simply being placed in the corners of rooms throughout the palace. Not wanting to avoid an opportunity to show off though, even the chamber pots at Versailles were cast in silver. It’s a fancy touch, yet the distinct lack of toilet facilities did mean that with a full house of guests and staff, it often got a little smelly. Eventually, under Louis XV facilities called “toilettes à l’anglaise” were installed in his private apartments.