Palace of Versailles

The clock above the Marble Courtyard marks the older centre of a palace that grew around a royal residence. Louis XIII lived here before his son, Louis XIV, enlarged Versailles and brought his court and government here in 1682. Courtyards, guard rooms and antechambers controlled how close a visitor could come to the royal family. The State Apartments and Hall of Mirrors preserve that setting for public ceremony. On the ground floor, the apartments of Louis XV’s daughters and of the heir to the throne show other ways the family occupied the building. In the nineteenth century, King Louis-Philippe turned much of Versailles into a museum of French history. The Gallery of Great Battles belongs to that later project. Leave time to look at a few rooms closely rather than treating every wing as the same visit.