The Château de Versailles and its gardens offer the image of a sumptuous and luxurious royalty.

For Louis XIII, Versailles was a simple hunting lodge, a small castle made of brick and stone. But his son, Louis XIV, transformed it into a magnificent palace. It was the image of his own power.

For the construction of Versailles, the Sun-King chose the creators of the Vaux-le-Vicomte castle which was the property of Fouquet whose fortune had attracted the King's jealousy.
And so, the architects Le Vau and Hardouin-Mansart, the painter Le Brun and the gardener Le Nôtre are at the origin of the Château de Versailles as we know it today.
Every year, more than 10 million people visit the gardens, the Royal apartments, the Galerie des Glaces (the Mirror Gallery), the Trianons, the Royal Chapel and the Opera and are dazzled by the splendour of the place.




The Versailles, the visit website presents the biographies of the builders and a selection of links to the castle, the fountains and the royal mistresses.