History :
The Splendor time

The King anxious to enlarge the castle which becomes too tiny and he will confide to the Vau the conception of new plans. This last will present several projects. The first will foresee the original castle destruction and its replacement by an Italian palace. The second project will propose to enlarge the castle, quoted garden, by a stone envelope. By the Colbert advice, the King will opt for this last solution, in 1668.
The two constructions (the old and the new) lack a harmony. In the King's spirit, it is needed a temporary solution. The King wants to destroy the former castle in the aim to replace it by a stone building. Due to a money lack this project will never be achieved. Therefore Versailles is an incomplete castle formed of two different constructions fit together. The King undertakes the construction of the Trianon of china in 1670, then of the apartment of the Ambassadors Baths and staircase, in 1672. The Nimègue Peace, which marks the King Louis XIV apogee and its supremacy in Europe, brings the King to undertake new enlarging works. The Brun finishes the decoration of the Big Apartments in 1681
Louis XIV dreams to build a palace which marks his era. To the Louvre and to the Tuileries, he is limited by the work of his predecessors. The creation of Versailles reply to a political and economic wish. The King's Apartments are transformed in 1701. The King has 72 years. Its beautiful proportions and its decoration make it one of the jewels of the Louis XIV reign . The King dies September 1st, 1715.