 |
| "I have seen all, I have heard all, and I have forgotten all."- Marie Antoinette |
Inside a lowly 550,000 square-footed palace lies a history darker than any room it harbors. The gilded rooms adorned with frivolous fabrics hides a violent past from it's 3 million yearly visitors. More after the jump!
Welcome to the Chateau de
Versailles, the home belonging to King Louis XIV and his wife Marie Antoinette.
It is a place where everything is gilded and provided in excess. It's hard to
imagine a single family calling this chateau a home, but with the company of hundreds
of hired staff members, Marie Antoinette and King Louis XIV did just that.
Outside of the palace gates,
Chateau de Versailles was seen as an unnecessary commodity. It reminded
the townspeople of where they stood in the scheme of things and how debt was a
trivial matter to the king and queen. Money was not an object for Marie Antoinette;
to her it was an outlet of fun on gambling nights. She and Georgiana, Duchess
of Devonshire happily gambled and devised new fashion trends together. It
didn't take long for her debt to rise higher than her powdered wigs. The more
lavishly the palace inhabitants lived, the hungrier her subjects became. Thus
giving them an incentive for revolution.
A calm breeze swept the cobblestone
streets of Versailles on October 6th of 1789. The revolution had already begun,
but Versailles was a fortress in which reality could not penetrate, but still
parties seized and grounds grew quiet as the inhabitants awaited the
worst. In the distance, a small light flickered on followed by a few more,
then a dozen. Soon the glittering torches greatly outnumbered the palace
guards. The lights grew larger and the people carrying them began to emit
a low rumble. The gates crashed down as the townspeople and members of the
revolution tumbled over them. Inside, Marie and her children huddled in one of
the many rooms, bracing for the sound of their home to come crashing down. And
it did.
After the revolution, the palace
was in shambles. Townspeople took what they could, and mercilessly destroyed the rest. Walking
through Versailles now, it seems as though the past has been erased and the
palace restored to its original glory. The fountains still operate with
original systems and the not one chip can be found in the paint. The only
reminder of its haunting past is the squeaking wood floors as they cry out with
each step, begging for clueless tourists to gain knowledge of the past lying
beneath the floorboards.
Pictures & words via Elise
Please do not take without asking permission.
No comments :
Post a Comment