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The palace inside the palace
Marble Courtyard ↗From the Royal Courtyard, follow the visitor approach to the Marble Courtyard. Face the central facade with the clock.
Find the clock and balcony in the centre of the brick-and-stone facade.
The red brick and pale stone in front of you belong to the older core of Versailles. Louis XIII, the father of Louis XIV, had a residence here before the long wings and grand garden facade took shape. His son kept that centre as he enlarged the palace. You can still read the smaller building inside the much larger one.
Find the clock, then the balcony just below it. Behind the central windows on the first floor is the bedchamber Louis XIV adopted in 1701. Its position put the king’s room on the main axis of the palace. We are looking at its place in the building from outside. The bedroom is separate from the state rooms we will follow.
In 1682, Louis XIV settled his court and government at Versailles. The people arriving here included courtiers, officeholders, servants and visitors with very different reasons for approaching him. The sequence of courtyards and doors helped sort those encounters. As we go inside, watch how the scale changes from a facade everyone can recognise to rooms where rank governed access.
The marble paving gives this courtyard its name. Keep the clock and balcony as a reference before turning back toward the Royal Courtyard. They locate the royal bedchamber in the facade.
Return to the Royal Courtyard and follow the signs for the State Apartments and the Gallery of the History of the Palace. Follow the visitor route to the first floor by the staircase at the end of the history gallery. At the first-floor Royal Chapel viewing opening, pause before continuing to Hercules.
