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Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles is a giant palace near Paris, France. Kings and queens once lived there. It has a hall full of mirrors and huge gardens.
The Palace of Versailles began as a small royal hunting lodge. King Louis XIV turned it into a vast palace, and from 1682 it was the center of the French government. Today it has 2,300 rooms, the famous Hall of Mirrors and enormous gardens.
Louis XIII's hunting lodge of 1623 was transformed from 1661 by Louis XIV, with Le Vau, Hardouin-Mansart, Le Brun and Le Nôtre, into the seat of court and government from 1682 to 1789. A museum of French history since 1837 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, it holds 2,300 rooms in 63,154 m² set in an 800-hectare park.
Photo: ToucanWings, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover the Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles is near Paris, in France.
Long ago, kings and queens lived here with lots of people. The palace has thousands of rooms. Outside, there are fountains, flower gardens and a long canal for boats.
The Palace of Versailles stands in the town of Versailles, about 17 kilometers from Paris. It began as a royal hunting lodge, but King Louis XIV made it enormous. From 1682 until 1789, it was where the king, his court and the French government lived and worked.
Today the palace has 2,300 rooms spread over 63,154 square meters. Around it are formal gardens and a park of about 800 hectares, with fountains, groves and the Grand Canal. The palace is now a museum, and UNESCO has listed it as a World Heritage Site since 1979.
Versailles lies about 17 km west of central Paris. The palace's own history calls it one of the greatest achievements of 17th-century French art. Louis XIII's hunting pavilion was transformed and extended by Louis XIV, who installed the court and government there in 1682; it remained the de facto center of the kingdom, though Paris was always the official capital, until 1789.
The palace now contains 2,300 rooms over 63,154 m². Beyond the gardens, a park of about 800 hectares, crossed by straight paths and enclosed by a wall, still keeps its original outline. Inscribed by UNESCO in 1979, the palace has been a museum of the history of France since 1837.
- Rooms
- 2,300, over 63,154 m²
- Main building works
- from 1661 under Louis XIV
- Seat of court and government
- 1682 to 1789
- UNESCO World Heritage
- since 1979
From hunting lodge to royal palace
Long ago, a young prince came to Versailles to hunt in the woods.
Later, as King Louis XIII, he built a small lodge there. His son, King Louis XIV, loved it so much that he made it into a giant palace.
In 1623, King Louis XIII built a small hunting lodge at Versailles, surrounded by woods full of deer and boar. He rebuilt it from 1631 to 1634. His son, Louis XIV, loved the place, and in 1661 he began huge building works.
In 1682 Louis XIV moved his court and the French government to Versailles. For more than a hundred years, kings ruled France from here. Then, in 1789, the French Revolution began, and King Louis XVI was forced to leave for Paris. The palace was never again a royal home. In 1837 King Louis-Philippe opened it as a museum of French history.
The future Louis XIII first hunted at Versailles in 1607; in late 1623 he decided to build a small lodge, first used in June 1624, and rebuilt it in 1631 to 1634, laying the basis of the present palace. Louis XIV began major works in 1661, shortly after the death of his first minister. Construction then continued throughout his reign: the forecourt (1662), the Le Vau "envelope" (1668 to 1670), the South Wing (1679 to 1681), the Grand Commun (1681 to 1684), the North Wing (1685 to 1689) and the Royal Chapel (1699 to 1710).
On May 6, 1682 Versailles became the seat of government. The palace says Louis XIV spent nearly 100 million livres over 50 years and still left it unfinished. The French Revolution broke out in 1789, and on October 6 the king's departure for Paris ended a century of royal residence. Louis-Philippe inaugurated its historic galleries on June 10, 1837.
Building a palace and its gardens
Building Versailles was a giant job.
Thousands of workers moved earth to make the ground flat. They dug pools and a long canal. They brought trees from all over France.
Louis XIV worked with a team of great artists. The architects Louis Le Vau and later Jules Hardouin-Mansart designed the buildings, the painter Charles Le Brun planned decorations and drew many statues and fountains, and the gardener André Le Nôtre created the gardens. The king checked every project himself.
The gardens took about 40 years. The land was meadows and marshes, so huge amounts of soil had to be moved to make it level. Thousands of men, sometimes whole regiments of soldiers, did the work. Digging the Grand Canal, 1,670 meters long, took 11 years.
In 1661 Louis XIV entrusted the gardens to André Le Nôtre, who worked for some 40 years with Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Superintendent of Buildings from 1664 to 1683, and Charles Le Brun, First Painter to the King from 1664, who drew many statues and fountains; the king reviewed each project. Louis Le Vau's design was followed by that of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, who also built the Orangery and simplified the park's outlines.
The site was meadow and marsh. Great volumes of soil were moved to level the ground, form parterres and dig the fountains and canal; trees were brought from other regions of France; and thousands of men, sometimes entire regiments, took part. The Grand Canal (1,670 m) took from 1668 to 1679, and a 12-hectare lake was dug from 1679 to 1686. The village of Versailles itself was destroyed in 1673 to make way for the new town Louis XIV wanted.
The Hall of Mirrors
The most famous room is the Hall of Mirrors. It is very, very long.
One wall has big windows. The other wall is covered in 357 mirrors that shine back the light. The ceiling is covered in paintings.
The Hall of Mirrors is the most famous room in the palace. Jules Hardouin-Mansart built it from 1678 to 1684, in place of a terrace that was exposed to bad weather. It is 73 meters long. Seventeen big windows look out over the gardens, and facing them are 17 arches holding 357 mirrors. In those days, mirrors were a great luxury, and making so many in France showed off the country's skill.
Charles Le Brun painted 30 scenes on the curved ceiling. Kings received foreign visitors here, and in 1919 the Treaty of Versailles, which ended the First World War, was signed in this hall.
Hardouin-Mansart's gallery (1678 to 1684) replaced Le Vau's garden terrace between the King's and Queen's apartments. Seventy-three meters long, it sets 17 windows opposite 17 mirrored arcades holding 357 mirrors, evidence, the palace says, that French manufacture could now rival Venice's monopoly on mirror-making. Le Brun's 30 ceiling compositions narrate Louis XIV's reign from 1661 to the peace treaties of Nijmegen, and the pilasters carry a new "French" capital with a fleur-de-lis and Gallic roosters.
Ambassadors from Genoa (1685), Siam (1686), Persia (1715) and the Ottoman Empire (1742) crossed its length to reach the king. Bismarck proclaimed the German Empire here in 1871, and the Treaty of Versailles was signed here on June 28, 1919. Restoration from summer 2025 replaces some 1980 chandeliers with lighting closer to Louis XIV's time.
- Hall of Mirrors built
- 1678 to 1684
- Length
- 73 m
- Mirrors
- 357, in 17 arches facing 17 windows
- Grand Canal
- 1,670 m long
Versailles today
Today, Versailles is a museum.
Visitors walk through the grand rooms and the gardens. From spring to autumn, the fountains dance to music. The big park is free to visit.
Since 1837, the palace has been a museum of the history of France, with paintings and sculptures of famous people and events. In the early 1900s, its central rooms were restored to look as they did when kings lived there.
The gardens are still replanted about once every hundred years to keep their design. After storms in the late 1900s, especially one in December 1999, they were fully replanted. From spring to autumn, the Musical Fountains Show brings water and music together, and entry to the 800-hectare park is free.
Louis-Philippe's Museum of the History of France (1837) filled the rooms with paintings and sculptures of great figures and events; in the early 20th century the curator Pierre de Nolhac led the restoration of the central part to its appearance as a royal residence. The palace notes that it was never a fortified stronghold: "château" here means a luxurious country residence, as opposed to the urban "palais" of the Louvre.
The gardens are replanted roughly once a century (under Louis XVI, under Napoleon III, and fully after the storms of the late 20th century, worst in December 1999). In 2026 the Musical Fountains Show ran from April 1 to November 1, and the park, open daily, is free to enter on foot or by bicycle.
Amazing facts
-
Mirrors were very special and costly when the Hall of Mirrors was built.
When the Hall of Mirrors was built, mirrors were a great luxury. Its 357 mirrors showed that France could make them as well as Venice could.
The number and size of the 357 mirrors were meant to show that French manufacture could rival the Venetian monopoly on mirror-making.
-
The king sailed boats on a long canal in his garden.
Louis XIV sailed boats on the Grand Canal, and in 1674 Venice sent him two gondolas with four gondoliers. In winter, people skated on the frozen canal.
From 1669 Louis XIV kept a fleet on the Grand Canal; Venice's gift of two gondolas and four gondoliers in 1674 gave the canal's end the name Little Venice.
-
The whole garden gets new plants about every hundred years.
To keep its design, the garden is replanted about once every 100 years. It was fully replanted after a terrible storm in December 1999.
Replanting roughly once a century (Louis XVI, Napoleon III, and after the late-20th-century storms) keeps the garden close to Louis XIV's design.
-
The palace has 2,300 rooms.
The Palace of Versailles has 2,300 rooms spread over 63,154 square meters.
Today the palace counts 2,300 rooms across 63,154 m², a scale reached through more than a century of royal building.
Words to know
- palace
- a very large, grand home for a king, queen or ruler
- court
- the king or queen and all the people who lived and worked around them
- hunting lodge
- a small house in the countryside used by people who go hunting
- parterre
- a flat garden with flower beds and hedges in neat patterns
- canal
- a long channel of water dug by people
- treaty
- a written agreement between countries
Discovery challenge
-
Which king made Versailles into a giant palace?
Which king moved his court and government to Versailles in 1682?
Which king made Versailles the seat of government on May 6, 1682?
- Louis XIV
- Napoleon
- Louis-Philippe
Show the answer
Louis XIV
King Louis XIV! He loved Versailles.
Louis XIV began big works in 1661 and moved the court and government to Versailles in 1682.
Louis XIV, who began major works in 1661 and made Versailles the de facto center of the kingdom from 1682.
-
How many mirrors are in the Hall of Mirrors?
How many mirrors fill the arches of the Hall of Mirrors?
How many mirrors are set in the 17 arcades of the Hall of Mirrors?
- 17
- 357
- 3,000
Show the answer
357
357 mirrors! They shine in the light.
There are 357 mirrors in 17 arches, facing 17 windows.
357 mirrors in 17 arcades opposite 17 windows, along a gallery 73 m long.
-
What was at Versailles before the big palace?
What did King Louis XIII first build at Versailles in the 1620s?
What kind of building did Louis XIII decide to build at Versailles in 1623?
- A castle with a moat
- A hunting lodge
- A cathedral
Show the answer
A hunting lodge
A little hunting house in the woods!
Louis XIII built a small hunting lodge, which he rebuilt from 1631 to 1634.
A small hunting lodge, first used in 1624 and rebuilt in 1631 to 1634, which laid the basis of the palace.
-
Which important agreement was signed in the Hall of Mirrors?
Which treaty, ending the First World War, was signed in the Hall of Mirrors in 1919?
Which treaty was signed in the Hall of Mirrors on June 28, 1919?
- The Treaty of Versailles
- The Treaty of Rome
- The Treaty of Tordesillas
Show the answer
The Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles! It helped end a big war.
The Treaty of Versailles was signed in the Hall of Mirrors in 1919, ending the First World War.
The Treaty of Versailles, signed June 28, 1919, ending the First World War.
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate Versailles near Paris and explain how a hunting lodge became a royal palace.
- Describe the Hall of Mirrors and why mirrors were a sign of wealth and skill in the 1600s.
- Explain how the gardens were made and how the palace became a museum.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Louis XIV moved the whole government out of Paris to Versailles. What might be good, or difficult, about that?
- Mirrors were once a great luxury. What everyday things today might have seemed amazing 350 years ago?
- The gardens are replanted every hundred years to keep their old design. Why do people work so hard to keep historic places the same?
Try at home or in class
- Stand two small mirrors facing each other with a flashlight between them and see how mirrors fill a space with light.
- Design a formal garden on paper using only straight lines, circles and mirror-image shapes on both sides of a center line.
Key vocabulary: palace, court, hunting lodge, parterre, canal, treaty
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- UNESCO World Heritage List , UNESCO World Heritage Centre (Linked as a reference; site facts come from Wikidata)
- History , Château de Versailles (official site)
- Key Dates , Château de Versailles (official site)
- The Palace , Château de Versailles (official site)
- The Hall of Mirrors , Château de Versailles (official site)
- The Gardens , Château de Versailles (official site)
- The Park , Château de Versailles (official site)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 27, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.