Versailles can only be described adequately in terms of over the top opulence. The size and grandeur of the palace at Versailles is on a level that I had never contemplated before. I could hardly believe how large and how ornate that palace was.
The idea that the palace was built using public funds is all but offensive to my modern American mind. In absolutist and feudal times, when the king owned everything, I suppose that such a palace wouldn’t be too far out of order. But still, the idea that the king could build such a palace for an absolutist king, no matter who that king is, is quite offensive to me. I struggle to justify the refined nature of the White House, let alone Versailles. Yikes.
From what I understand, Versailles came to be recognized as a symbol of an oppressive imperialistic regime bent on maintaining perpetual opulence at the expense of the French peasantry. I believe that the palace was built so far from Paris in order to limit the French population’s ability to march on the castle and attack the royal family that lived there. Although to Marie Antoinette, the French Queen who was taken prisoner when the French revolutionaries stormed the castle and later guillotined, the palace could have been built much farther away.
With that in mind, I have come to wonder many times why Versailles was allowed to continue to exist, even as a national museum. Perhaps it’s to allow the French and the rest of the world to understand what absolutism and an overbearing and oppressive central government can do to a nation. It can also serve as a reminder of what neglect to the population can do to a ruler, such as cause him to literally lose his head. Whatever the reason is, the Versailles palace is undeniable. Its sheer size and incredible opulence are reminders of a past that simply will not be forgotten. The palace is too large of a reminder to ignore, and I believe that no one in France easily will forget the lessons learned in the revolution.
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