Palace Of Versailles - France - Full Tourist Guide - Travel & DIscover

The Palace of Versailles was the principal residence of the French kings from the time of Louis XIV to Louis XVI. Embellished by several generations of architects, it provided Europe with a model of the ideal royal residence for over a century. The first mention of Versailles appeared in 1038 in the deeds of Saint-Père-Abbé at Chartres, which bore, among others, the signature of a certain Hugo de Versailles. The foundation of the seigniory, and of the parish church dedicated to Saint Julian, most probably dates back to this period. Louis XIV rarely visited Versailles, but once married, he brought the Queen and the court there. The first gateway is flanked on the right by the statue of the victories of Louis XIV over the Empire by Gaspard Marcy, on the left by the statue of the victory of Louis XIV over Spain by François Girardon. The visitor enters through the forecourt with the minister's wings on either side, and by an iron gateway. When Louis XIV set his sight on Versailles, he was already familiar with the area. Indeed, his father, Louis XIII, had built a hunting lodge there, where he enjoyed the serenity of the somewhat wild surroundings. But Louis XIV wanted to make Versailles the most beautiful palace in the world, a symbol of his almighty power, as well as the official residence of the kingdom. The chapel royal at Versailles is consecrated to Saint Louis, that's to say Louis IX of France, the French monarchy's crusader king. The chapel's architecture is simultaneously Gothic and Baroque. Its floor plan, loftiness, it reaches over 25 metres high, stained glass, pointed roof and gargoyles, all hark back to medieval cathedrals. This bold compromise was the work of Jules Hardouin Mansart, even though the chapel wasn't consecrated until 1710, two years after the architect's death. The Mansart's royal gate, which disappeared following the French Revolution, once again stands in the palace courtyard, restoring its original double enclosure. Replicas of the 80-metre steel gate, decorated with 100,000 gold leaves, were unveiled after two years of painstaking work to recreate the Baroque-style piece by Jules Hardouin Mansart. This royal gate, which stands at the entrance to the Cour d'Honneur, provides an essential element of Versailles' historical identity. It returns to this area in front of the château, all its impressive symbolic force. Experts studied 17th- and 18th-century archives and information from archaeological digs before deciding on the final installation. The adornments, which have not yet been added, are made of plate iron and bronze casting. It took over two years to replicate the original gilded wrought iron fence and gate. The structure was reworked to obtain the finish of the former gates. All of the ironwork and ornaments were gilded on site with gold leaf, under covered scaffolding. Fifteen tonnes of iron were necessary for this project, which mobilised ornamentalists, wrought iron craftsmen, foundrymen and gilders. 100,000 sheets of gold leaf were crafted onto fleur-de-lis designs, crowns, masks of Apollo, cornucopias and the crossed capital Ls, representing the Sun King Louis XIV. The gate is the centrepiece of a secure double enclosure, separating the Cour d'Honneur from the royal courtyard at the very heart of the palace. Versailles was the king's residence and the whole layout aimed to demonstrate that one was approaching his sacred person. The palace courtyard was restored to its original appearance in 1789, prior to the French Revolution. On the right is the Statue of Abundance, created by Antoine Coissevaux. On the left, the Statue of Peace by Jean-Baptiste Tuby. From 1661, work commenced to rapidly transform the retreat of a man in search of solitude into a pleasant residence suitable for the royal family. The coloured facades are typical of the period. Their elevations were to establish the building norms of the end of the 18th century. According to Robert Cott's regulation of 1715, house owners should respect the symmetry regulated by His Majesty. House heights were strictly limited to a ground floor, a piano nobile and an attic storey with mansard windows. Two large buildings of red brick and stone, with dark blue slate roofs, were added facing each other and formed the new Court Royale. The brick and stone castle was further embellished. The facades were adorned with Rance marble columns, gilt wrought iron balconies, busts placed on brackets and allegorical statues on the balustrades. It strictly obeyed the rules of French classical architecture, as seen in its colonnaded pavilion. The Museum of French History, founded in 1837, during the period of restoration overseen by Louis-Philippe, was consecrated to all the glories of France. However, its 6,000 paintings and 2,000 sculptures are largely closed to the public. The Gabriel vestibule leads to the Great Staircase, beyond which is the State's General Hall and the Hercules Room, at the entrance to the King's State Apartments. This staircase was intended to replace the Ambassador's Staircase, which was pulled down in 1752 to comply with Gabriel's plans. Operations on the original project were soon interrupted, though, and it was only in recent times that they had been resumed and were completed in 1985. The Chapel Room is situated above the Chapel vestibule, an opening directly onto the Royal Tribune. It shares the same architecture as that of the Chapel, a floor paved with marble, Corinthian columns and figures of the virtues above the doors and windows. The stucco work in the angles of the ceiling represent the four parts of the world. The statues were placed in their niches in 1730. The Royal Chapel is the fourth chapel to be built for the Chateau, the three preceding ones having been merely temporary. Work began in 1699, according to the plans of Jules-Hardouin Mansart, and was completed in 1710 under the direction of his brother-in-law, Robert de Cotte. In accordance with the tradition of Palatine chapels, it consists of two floors. The main tribune above the entrance was reserved for the Royal Family, the side tribunes for the Royal Princes and the Principal Court Dignitaries, while the rest of the congregation remained on the lower floor. The high altar in gilt bronze is entirely due to Van Cleef. He carved the glory with the name of Javert shining forth, the angels in adoration and the bas-relief representing the dead Christ on his mother's knees. The fine organ is situated in the tribune above the high altar, with a mechanism due to Clichot and the magnificently carved chest of drawers gilded by Le Goupil. The entire decoration clearly illustrates the parallelism existing between the Old and the New Testaments. The luminosity of this majestic nave, the nobility of the architecture and the exceptional quality of its decoration make this chapel one of the great masterpieces of religious art. The pallor of the stone is discreetly heightened by the golds of the high altar and the organ, as well as by the polychrome marble paving and the painting on the arch ceiling. The decoration of the Hercules Room was undertaken in 1712 under the direction of Robert de Cotte, but was interrupted first by the death of Louis XIV in 1715 and then by the Regency, and only resumed in 1729 and completed in 1736. The marble casing and twin pilasters foreshadow the decoration of the Hall of Mirrors. The repast at Simon's House, executed by the great Venetian artist Paolo Veronese for the refectory of the Servai Convent, was offered to Louis XIV in 1664 by the Republic of Venice. This ceiling, one of the largest in the world, is also one of the great masterpieces of French decorative painting. François Lemoyne, who painted it between 1733 and 1736, depicts the apotheosis of Hercules. The exceptional quality of the marbles and the splendour of the bronzes on the chimney piece, chiselled by Antoine Vassé, contribute to making this room one of the most beautiful in the palace. The Room of Abundance, arranged in 1680, for long served as a vestibule to the Collection Room or Room of Rare Objects, reached by the door at the end after mounting five steps. The ceiling was painted by René-Antoine Houas, who depicts in the background the most valuable pieces in the Room of Rare Objects, in particular the King's Ship, an ornament symbolising sovereign power. The walls in the Venus Room are cased in marble, with ornate columns in Rance marble on either side of the doors at the end. The same columns, painted in Trompe l'Oeil, are repeated in the Fake Perspectives, with which Jacques Rousseau decorated the narrow sides of the room and which appear to increase its dimensions. In the recess at the end stands a statue of Louis XIV in antique attire by Jean Morin. The ceiling was painted by Houas. In the centre he represents Venus. On either side there are two imitation medallions in gilt bronze, depicting the rape of Europa and of Amphitrite. In the corners are couples of famous lovers. The Diana Room, like the preceding one, provided access to the State Apartment and the door on the far right opened onto the second flight of the Ambassador Staircase. On a pedestal, adorned with bronze, cast by the Keller brothers, stands the bust of Louis XIV, made by Lorenzo Bernini in 1665. The brilliant execution of this sculpture makes it one of the masterpieces of this great Roman artist and without doubt the finest portrait of the King in his youth. He was 27 at the time. In the centre of the ceiling, Diana, accompanied by the night hours and the fresh morning hours, presides over hunting and navigation by Gabriel Blanchard. In the corner is a composition of fleur-de-lis, lease flower, the symbol of royalty. The Mars Room was really the first room of the State Apartment during the odd ten years that the King lived there. Each of the imitation gilt bronze bas-reliefs in the covings is an allusion to the re-establishment of discipline and to the King's military justice. In the corners there are some magnificent gilt stucco works. Two trophies evoke the alliance between the Holy Roman Empire, Spain and Holland, against France. It was the Guard Room, and this destination explains its warlike character and the subjects of the decoration. The Mercury Room was an antechamber, which later became the State Bedchamber, in which stood the parade bed, embroidered entirely with gold. The rest of the furniture was in silver. Jean-Baptiste de Champagne was given the task of painting the ceiling. In the centre, Mercury and his chariot, with the Morning Star, Arts and Sciences. On the crimson damask hangs the portrait of Louis XV, painted by Hyacinthe Rigaud in 1730. The clock with automata, made by the clockmaker Antoine Morin and offered to Louis XIV in 1706, stood in this room in the 18th century. The bed on display was ordered by Louis Philippe for Louis XIV's room. It's a ceremonial bedchamber. These are found in many royal residences. Nobody slept in them. On the crimson damask also hangs the portrait of Marie Leszczynska, painted by Louis Toquet in 1740. The Apollo Room used to be the most sumptuous room of the whole State Apartment. It still retains important vestiges of its former splendour, particularly the marbles, as well as the ceiling. The portrait of Louis XIV in Royal Regalia was painted by Rigaud in 1701. This ceiling is without doubt Charles de La Fosse's masterpiece and it illustrates the colourist's talent. In the centre we see Apollo on his chariot, accompanied by the figure of France and the procession of the seasons. In the corners are allegories of the Four Continents. The War Room was the Council Room, or the Jupiter Room, where Louis XIV held council. Originally it was decorated with pictures related to the story of Jupiter and to the restraint of princes. Its decoration and that of the Peace Room symmetrical to it closely resemble that of the Hall of Mirrors separating them. These three rooms occupy the entire west front of the main building of the Chateau, forming a homogenous ensemble so that the whole infilade of the State Apartment ends in a veritable apotheosis. The walls are entirely cased in precious marbles, adorned with gilt-bronze trophies and mirrors. Charles Le Brun took charge of the decoration of the arch ceiling in the Hall of Mirrors and the two reception rooms. The Great Gallery, or Hall of Mirrors, built in 1678 by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, was cased in marble in 1679. The sculptors completed their work in 1680, and Le Brun painted the arch ceiling between 1681 and 1684. Opposite the 17 arched windows are 17 corresponding arcades, adorned with mirrors, separated by engraved gilt-copper baguettes. The gallery is decorated with eight busts of Roman emperors in porphyry and rance marble, and eight statues, seven of them antique. The eighth one is a moulding of the famous Diana the Huntress. The pilasters are in rance marble, on a background of white marble, with capitals adorned with fleur-de-lis and Gallic cocks. The vaulted ceiling is Charles Le Brun's masterpiece. He gave free course to his inventive genius, multiplying the allegories, the trompe l'oeil, the fake perspectives, the real or imitation stucco work. The great paintings evoke the most glorious episodes from the Dutch War, while the painted or fake bronze medallions on a gold background recall victories of the War of Devolution, as well as the main administrative and economic reforms carried out during the early years of the Reign. Today, the furniture consists of some large porphyry and onks vases, four tables with porphyry vases, and 24 pedestal tables, faithful copies of the original ones of 1769. The second antechamber is also called the Bassano Antechamber, because it was adorned with pictures by masters of this illustrious Venetian family of artists. This Louis XVI bust was by Houdon. The Louis XIV bust was by Corsovo. This room is also called the Bassano Antechamber, because it was adorned with pictures by this illustrious family of Venetian artists. This large room owes all its charm to this frieze, where numerous artists have carved a graceful ring of laughing children on a mosaic background. The king's bedchamber was a central salon, separating the king's private apartment from that of the queen. In those days, it had three French windows opening onto the terrace, which became doors when the Hall of Mirrors was built. The decoration of the gilded pilasters dates from this alteration. In 1684, the room became the king's dressing room, but in 1701, Louis XIV decided to make it his bedchamber. In Louis XIV's day, the furniture here was incredibly splendid. In winter, the alcove was lined with crimson velvet, embroidered in gold, and in summer, there was gold and silver brocade on a background of crimson damask. It was in this bedroom that Louis XIV sometimes gave audiences, and where he dined in private. The ceremonies of the king's getting up in the morning and going to bed at night were also held here, with their succession of entrances and strict rites. Here, on 1 September 1715, he died, with a serenity and a nobility which even his enemies admired, after reigning for 72 years. The peace room was the queen's large drawing room, and it was completely transformed at the same time as the war room. Its redecoration was finished in 1686. It was in fact the benefits of peace that Le Brun was determined to evoke in the paintings of the cupola. It's also peace that Louis XV offers to Europe in the charming picture above the chimney piece, painted by François Lemoyne in 1729. In the queen's bedchamber, no trace remained of the decoration created for Marie Thérèse. The present admirable decoration was carried out for Marie Leszczyńska. The alcove curtain, in figured silt, with bouquets of lilac and peacock feathers on a white background, was rewoven at the Lyon Silk Works, which had produced the original material in 1787. The bed, à la Duquesse, was scrupulously copied from documents in the archives, with the exception of the quilt, which is original. The wood panelling is the work of Deguyon, Le Goupil and Verberg, and the mirror frames and overdoor panels are particularly remarkable. The stuccoed corners show the arms of France and Navarre, alternating with the two-headed eagle of the Holy Empire. The antechamber of the great dining hall was originally the queen's guardroom. The guardroom corresponds to the dining room in the King's State Apartment and was sometimes used as a drawing room. The paintings on the ceiling are the work of Noel Cuyper and were brought from the former Jupiter Room. In the corners, a charming fancy inspired the artist to represent the lords and ladies of the court leaning over a pretend balustrade to admire the queen passing by in procession. Near the door is the bust of the emperor Vespasian. The three large pictures covering the walls of the coronation room are particularly famous. On the left, the coronation, or rather the crowning of the Empress Josephine at Notre-Dame de Paris on 2 December 1804 by Jacques-Louis David. On the right, the army swearing allegiance to the emperor. In the centre of the ceiling, there's an allegory of the 18th century. At the far end is the Battle of Aboukir, commissioned from Gros by Joachim Mourad. Here, the allegory of Brumaire is by Calais. Louis-Philippe decided to devote this room to the glorification of Napoleon I and gave it its present decoration. The 1792 room, symmetrical to the Hercules Room, served to communicate between the central building of the château and the south wing. The three rooms, the 1792 room devoted to war, the battle gallery, which evokes the main victories of French history, and the 1830 room, concerned with the theme of national reconciliation, were all conceived by Louis-Philippe as a triptych. The prince's staircase, with its beautiful decoration dating for the most part from the 17th century, links the ground floor and the first floor of the south wing, or the prince's wing, where the apartments of certain members of the royal family, the royal children of France, and some princes of the blood were situated. The vaulted ceiling, which originally captured, was unfortunately replaced in the reign of Louis-Philippe by a heavy coffered ceiling. The south wing gallery is adorned with statues and busts representing famous figures of the revolution and the empire. The gardens are usually reached through the prince's passage. When the king wished to further enlarge the castle, which had become too small, he asked Louis Laveau to draw up plans. Laveau submitted several different projects. Some required the former castle to be pulled down and reclaimed by a palace in the Italianate style. Others were in favour of keeping it, while merely adding a new wing and stone at each end. As for the gardens, the considerable extension of the buildings had tripled the surface of the castle, and huge embankments had to be made, with the result that the original small mount was increased to the size of a vast platform in order to support the new buildings. A new orangery of Cyclopean dimensions replaced that of Laveau, which had become too small. The new orangery is situated below the Parterre du Midi garden, to the left of the terrace. King Louis wrote his own guide to the gardens and suggested that a tour should always commence from the terrace. The orangery is dug into the slope below the chateau. Flanked by the great 100-step staircase, it anchors the slope and remains perfectly sheltered. Because it faces due south and is double-glazed, the temperature remains stable, between 5 and 8 degrees Celsius, even in winter. Built to nurture 2,000 orange trees, the temperature is regulated to accommodate these warmth-loving trees. André Le Notre then produced a definitive design for the gardens. The flowerbeds and lawns were enlarged to match the scale of the immense palace. The perspectives were increased. The Grand Canal and the ornamental Swiss pool at the end were dug. Innumerable groves were planted. Fountains were installed, all at a great cost and requiring extensive canalisations. The grounds were laid out geometrically around a main axis, secondary axis, radiating pathways and circular or semicircular pools known as basins. The water garden stretches in front of the main central body of the chateau at the foot of the Hall of Mirrors. In 1683, the water garden acquired its present aspect when the south wing was completed and the construction of the north wing gave the facades of the chateau their final appearance. In front of the terrace are two long rectangular basins with marble rims adorned with bronze statues. Their beautiful faces, elegant shape, the delicate chiselling and the quality of the bronze casting attributed to the Keller brothers, all make this monumental ensemble one of the great masterpieces of 17th-century statuary. On the longer sides, eight water nymphs can be seen. There are groups of children in the corners and on the sides, reclining figures which harmonise perfectly with the immensely long horizontal frontal line of the chateau. The masterpiece, known as the Jardin à la Française, came into being and the greatest sculptors of the time contributed to its decoration. From 1678 onwards, the garden front was renovated. The central terrace disappeared and a new façade was erected between the two pavilions behind which the Hall of Mirrors was built. The piece at Nijmegen, which certainly ensured the supremacy of the king in Europe and marked the zenith of Louis XIV's reign, provided the impetus for further enlargements. It was now that Jules Hardouin Mansard erected two long wings at the south and north ends to accommodate the princes and courtiers. The façade overlooking the gardens is the only true expression of the wishes of Louis XIV and his architects. A vast palace in the Italianate manor with flat roofs concealed by a balustrade bristling with trophies and flame ornaments and façades punctuated by salient avant-garde with columns surmounted by statues. The western terrace of Château de Versailles comprises four bronze statues cast by the Keller brothers from classical works in 1684 to 1685. The Latona Basin represents the mother of Apollo and Diana protecting her young children from the insults of the Lycian peasants and imploring Jupiter to avenge her. All these works are due to the Marcy brothers who found their inspiration in Ovid's Metamorphoses. An illusion can be supposed here to the turbulent Fronde uprising and the regency of Anne d'Autriche, the mother of Louis XIV. The labyrinth in the Bosque, designed and planted by Le Notre from 1665 has a precious decoration imagined by Charles Perrault. Until 1688, the Parterre Sud was known as the Parterre of Love or the Queen's Parterre. Every turn in a pathway presents new vistas, new fountains, new statues, trellised arbours and trees trained and pruned into unusual shapes. All varieties of marble can be found in Versailles. It's the king of building material and was the king's favourite. Most of the marble came from the Pyrenees and only the white marble was imported from Carrara in Italy, the quality of which could not be matched by any French. Thousands of men participated in the vast undertaking. Sublimated by numerous representations of Greco-Roman mythology through the magic of the 50 fountains and 620 waterworks, the extraordinary beauty of the gardens was used to represent the king's power. The king entertained distinguished guests in the gardens. On an island, the goddess with the twins at her side is praying Jupiter to pour his anger upon the rough people who scattered about in the water below are spurting jets upon her which rise out of human bodies with mouths of frogs or from actual frogs. The gardens of Versailles occupy part of what was once the Domaine Royale de Versailles. Situated to the west of the palace, the gardens cover some 800 hectares of land, much of which is landscaped in the classic French garden style. The gardens are adorned with over 300 statues and terms, busts and vases in marble, bronze or lead, making them the most important outdoor museum of sculpture in the world. Among the statues, there are about 20 original antiques and some 30 copies from the antique executed by pupils of the French Academy in Rome. All the rest are original works due to the greatest sculptors of their day. Some of these statues, damaged by pollution or vandalised, have been removed for safety to the galleries of the Great Stable. Generally, the sculptures are placed around the ornamental gardens and along the Royal Avenue. On either side of the principal compositional axis, these bosquets provided the stroller with shade and privacy in their enclosed spaces, an appropriate complement to the vistas and the grand parterres with their sunny passages. The colonnade, a wooded grove, was planted in 1684 under the supervision of Jules Hardouin-Mansart. Until 1685, the site of the present colonnade was occupied by Le Notre's Grove of Springs, with its narrow twisting paths weaving their way through the wood and crossing several little streams. The triangular spandrels between the archways are decorated with bas-reliefs depicting children playing musical instruments. The carving on the arcade spandrels, representing young satyrs, fauns, nymphs, naiads and bacchants, was entrusted to the finest sculptors, from Coincevent-Aurelien Niaudon to Flamen and Manier. In the centre, Louis XIV had placed Pluto abducting Proserpine, symbolising fire. This masterpiece by Girardon is now safely installed in the galleries of the Great Stable and has been replaced here by a plaster cast. Without any plant life, the perfect circular peristyle measures 32 metres in diameter. 32 marble columns of ionic order support the archways and a white marble cornice upon which there are 32 urns. Fountains in the form of large marble basins are under each archway, water from which flows into a channel. The garden has many features, numerous fountains, jets and waterfalls, a vast amount of sculptures and statues, water parterres and formal gardens. All these aspects have made it the most famous garden in the world, along with its size and grandeur. The Fountain of Apollo was constructed on the site of a rectangular quadrilobate pond dug in 1636 during the reign of Louis XIII. The story of Apollo illustrates the solar myth and governs the subjects of statues and fountains along the main axis of the gardens. The large basin at the western end is adorned with Apollo's chariot. The sun god can be seen emerging from the waves at dawn, beginning his daily path. The lead sculpture, from which the fountain took its name, was executed by Jean-Baptiste Touby in 1668 and depicts Apollo in his chariot, drawn by four horses and surrounded by four tritons and four sea monsters. The sculpture was brought to Versailles from the Goblin's Works in 1670 and was gilded and installed the following year. The Grand Canal was the scene of Louis' boating parties. The boats were brightly painted gondolas, complete with real-life gondoliers, presented to Louis XIV by the Doge of Venice. It's in the form of a cross, a mile long. The north transverse arm leads directly to the Grand Trianon. The Trianon Palace was planned to resemble a French mansion standing between a courtyard and a garden, but its architecture is more in the Italian style. A single storey, covered with a flat roof concealed by balustrade. Facades in light stone, delicately carved with climbing flowers, are punctuated by Languedoc marble pilasters. The courtyard is enclosed on the outer side by a ha-ha and very low railings. The left-hand side wing hides the kitchen's court and the one on the right the king's garden. The main building, improperly called the Peristyle by Louis XIV himself, is in fact a lodger, opening onto the garden through a colonnade. This peristyle ensures communication between the two groups of buildings, one at the south and the other, a far more important one at the north. The garden front is surprisingly long and asymmetrical. The large greenhouse has been replaced by mountains, a large rock, and never have two acres of land been so totally changed. In order to create her landscape garden, Marie Antoinette changed everything. Between 1776 and 1783, architect Richard Meek built her a Chinese tilting ring, a temple of love, a rock pavilion, a theatre, and then the hamlet. Receptions and nocturnal celebrations followed one after another, restoring to the Petit Trianon the spirit of the festivities that marked the early years of Versailles. Between 1661 and 1700, 250 acres of land were turned into intricate gardens and parks by Le Notre. The grounds are a perfect example of classic French formal gardens. The Belvedere, or the rock pavilion, was erected on a mound overlooking a small lake. It's octagonal in shape. The ornamental fronts of the doors are adorned with attributes of hunting and gardening. The Château du Petit Trianon was built to enable Louis XV to make lengthy stays in his favourite domain. Begun in 1763, it was completed in 1768. A comparison with the French pavilion shows how rapidly the style of Ange Jacques Gabriel had evolved. The garden front is surprisingly long and asymmetrical. The Neptune fountain was designed and dug out in the shape of a hemicycle, resembling antique theatres. Armed with a strident, Neptune, the ocean god, sends up graceful jets of water into the sky. Every year, it became the scene of the splendid Versailles festivities. Versailles monumental pools, moats, grottos, and a mile-long Grand Canal required a sophisticated hydraulic system to bring water from the Seine, as well as to drain area lakes and rivulets. In its heyday, Versailles had 1,400 working fountains. Today there are mere 300. The Château Palace was further epitomised, graced with a spectacular garden of 50 impressive fountains, the most dramatic and innovative being the Dragon fountain. The dragon is centred in a vast reflecting pool and poised as if to strike. This gold-leafed mythical beast spouts 27 metres of water into the sky, creating a plume of foam and misty aura of rainbows. The splashing cascade makes a jingling symphony, while the sheets of water seem to animate the dragon's webbed wings, wreathing scaled body and fierce talons. The dragon basin was built by Tony Noel, Balthasar and Gaspard Marcy between 1669 and 1689. The Pyramid fountain is an elegant work by Girardin, who is also responsible for the fine bas-relief of the Bath of Diana's nymphs. The Château's interiors and exteriors have undergone continual restoration and reconstitution since the early 20th century.