France of Louis XIV / Versailles       Versailles In 1624 Louis XIII begins to acquire land in Versailles, where he likes to come hunting and withdraw from society. The original pavilion, modest at the outset, surrounded by a warren, undergoes numerous modifications over the following years to become a small château with 26 principal rooms and surrounded by a park. In 1632 Louis XIII obtains the seigneurial rights of Versailles, until then in the hands of the archbishop of Paris. Louis XIV discovers this secondary residence at the age of thirteen and in turn becomes attached to the estate cherished by his father. He first uses it to hunt, and later appreciates its isolation from Paris, auspicious for his discreet and tranquil love affair with Melle de La Vallière. It is therefore natural that this place should be the one on which he decides, in 1661, to build a palace destined to celebrate his genius. He gathers some precise ideas of his architectural requirements from the examples of his royal residences, Saint Germain, Fontainebleau and the Louvre, and those realised by Richelieu, in his city or Fouquet at the castle of Vaux-Le-Vicomte. Retaining the same artists as Fouquet, he wishes to keep his father's initial castle. The architect Le Vau, the painter and decorator Le Brun and the gardener Le Nôtre undertake this vast enterprise being later joined by Mansard. The King wants to make this palace his definitive residence and that of the Court. His bedroom is located in its centre from where he radiates in the manner of the sun in the universe. Thus at the beginning of the 18th century, Versailles truly becomes an exceptional setting in which majesty, order and measure echo the King's personality, a perfect example of the classic spirit. The palace, an immense vessel in all its symmetry, is set on the edge of gardens whose manifest success incontestably participates in the splendour of the whole design. The centre of state, the centre of life, and the centre of culture, Versailles is all of these at the same time. During the reign of Louis XIV, this nerve centre of the kingdom is the setting for every plot, feast, and decision. Excessive but balanced, immense but harmonious, a city within the city, Versailles, finished after forty two years, is a sovereign's incomparable achievement, demonstrating the monarchy in the splendour of its walls.