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Palace of Versailles Facts & Worksheets

The Palace of Versailles is an opulent complex and former royal residence outside of Paris. It has held sway in the public imagination for years because of its architectural grandeur and political history.

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The Palace of Versailles is an opulent complex and former royal residence outside of Paris. It has held sway in the public imagination for years because of its architectural grandeur and political history. It is located in the department of Yvelines, about 20 kilometers southwest of the centre of Paris.

See the fact file below for more information on the Palace of Versailles or alternatively, you can download our 21-page Palace of Versailles worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

ORIGIN

  • France’s kings were first attracted to Versailles because of the area’s prolific game. Louis XIII, who lived from 1601-1643, bought up land, built a chateau and went on hunting trips. At the time, much of the land around Versailles was uncultivated, allowing wild animals to flourish.
  • The chateau Louis XIII built was little more than a hunting lodge with enough space to house the king and a small entourage. It was his successor, Louis XIV, the “Sun King”, who would radically transform Versailles, making it the seat of France’s government by the time of his death.
  • Louis XIV ruled France for 72 years, and transformed Versailles by encompassing Louis XIII’s chateau with a palace that contained north and south wings, as well as nearby buildings housing ministries.
  • Versailles was built to impress. “The most important message Louis XIV sent through the architecture of Versailles was his ultimate power,” says Tea Gudek Snajdar, an Amsterdam-based art historian.
  • The painter Lebrun who designed the iconographic program of the Palace, created the paintings, sculptures and architecture with one goal only – to celebrate the King.

DESCRIPTION

  • It began with the original chateau, with the brick and stone and sloping slate mansard roofs of the Louis XIII style used by architect Philibert Le Roy.
  • The palace was largely completed by the death of Louis XIV in 1715. The eastern facing palace has a U-shaped layout.
  • Flanking the Royal Court are two enormous asymmetrical wings that result in a facade of 402 meters (1,319 ft) in length.
  • The palace is covered by around a million square feet (10 hectares) of roof and has 2,143 windows, 1,252 chimneys, and 67 staircases.
  • The facade of Louis XIII’s original chateau is preserved on the entrance front.
  • The facade is made from red brick and cut stone embellishments. The U-shaped layout surrounds a black-and-white marble courtyard.
  • In the center, a 3-storey avant-corps fronted with eight red marble columns supporting a gilded wrought-iron balcony is surmounted with a triangle of lead statuary surrounding a large clock, whose hands were stopped upon the death of Louis XIV.
  • The rest of the facade is completed with columns, painted and gilded wrought-iron balconies and dozens of stone tables decorated with consoles holding marble busts of Roman emperors.
  • The garden front and wings were encased in white cut ashlar stone.
  • The exterior features an arcaded, rusticated ground floor, supporting a main floor with round-headed windows divided by reliefs and pilasters or columns.

THE HALL OF MIRRORS

  • The Hall of Mirrors is the most famous room in the Palace. It was built to replace a large terrace designed by architect Louis Le Vau.
  • Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Le Vau’s successor, produced a more suitable design that replaced the terrace with a large gallery. The work started in 1678 and ended in 1684.
  • The whole length of the Hall of Mirrors (73m) pays tribute to the economic, political, and artistic success of France.
  • The political successes are illustrated through the 30 painted compositions on the vaulted ceiling by Le Brun. It depicts the glorious history of Louis XIV during the first 18 years of his reign, from 1661 to the peace treaties of Nijmegen.
  • Economic prosperity is revealed in the number and size of the 357 mirrors bedecking the 17 arches opposite windows, demonstrating that the new French manufacture could rival the Venetian monopoly on mirror manufacturing.
  • Artistic success is shown by the Rouge de Rance pilasters topped with capitals of gilded bronze based on a new design, which was referred to as the “French Style”. It was created by Le Brun upon the request of Colbert. The design incorporates the national emblems, with fleur-de-lis topped by a royal sun between two Gallic roosters.

Palace of Versailles Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Palace of Versailles across 21 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Palace of Versailles worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the Palace of Versailles which is an opulent complex and former royal residence outside of Paris. It has held sway in the public imagination for years because of its architectural grandeur and political history. It is located in the department of Yvelines, about 20 kilometers southwest of the centre of Paris.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Neptune and The Palace of Versailles in France Facts
  • History Timeline
  • Five Facts
  • Boxes in Order
  • 700 Rooms
  • Narrative Words
  • Fact or Bluff?
  • Palace Collage
  • Latest News
  • Sentence Completion
  • Reaction Paper

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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