The Palace of Versailles, which is located about 20km from Paris, was built near the Château de Louis XIII.
The absolute protagonist of the Palace of Versailles was Louis XIV, nicknamed the Sun King, who in 1661 had it enlarged and modernized.
Several French sovereigns followed one another in the Palace of Versailles after Louis XIV, such as Louis XV and Louis XVI and in the same place several important agreements were signed. The most important were that of the unification of the Second Reich in 1781, the Independence of the United States in 1783 and that of the end of the First World War in 1919.
The Palace has numerous rooms and galleries, the most important are:
- Chapel of St. Louis
- Salons of Mars and Mercury
- Throne Room
- Hall of Mirrors (in which the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 took place)
- Galerie des Glacés
- Queen’s Salon
- Hall of Battles
In 1789 after the French Revolution, the Palace abandoned its function as the official seat of royal power and became the Museum of history of France.
Declared a World Heritage Site in 1979, the Palace of Versailles is one of the most famous palaces in the world.
