Palace Of Versailles - The Rise and Fall of Royalties

If you ever got to live in a palace, what would it look like?

Would it be like the grey-stoned imperial chateaus in a rural setting or the high-walled fort on some far-flung shores with waves crashing or something which bespeaks of embellished royalty from every corner? Whatever it might be one thing remains common to all such majestic buildings, they portray a larger-than-life picture of the people who once occupied them or are still occupying them.

Every palace comes with fairy-tale-like stories intricately woven into the lives of the real people. And sometimes it becomes difficult to separate the legends from the factual concepts of these palaces. And perhaps that is the reason why we ordinary visitors are always in an awe of them.

Coming to palaces, the French royals knew how to live life king-like in their truest form. Owing to their aristocratic taste and demand for lavish lifestyles they made sure their place was residency radiated power, wealth and fame. France alone is said to have over 40,000 castles and fortresses dating between the 9th and 21st centuries. Here is a tale of one such palace, the Palace of Versailles.

What started out as an unassuming hunting lodge surrounded by dense forest, today is an extravagant palace. Carrying the memories of a regal way of life, the palace has churned a long-standing history of the nation. Versailles was seen as a glorious symbol of the absolute monarchy of the divinely ordained royal family of Louis XIV, and of the state itself.

Versailles Palace is a doorway to an opulent lifestyle and will surely leave you open-mouthed during most of your tour. With 700 rooms of which the Hall of Mirror and the Red Room are the most famous, 800 hectares of ornate gardens and curvaceous marbled corridors connecting the rooms, it was rather odd that it lacked proper sanitation facilities.

Every detail your eyes catch will leave you with a feeling of disbelief. From the detailed paintings on the walls to the state of art décor of each room, somewhere our average brain fails to register that people did live in so much abundance.

However, the exhilarating way in which Versailles became the symbol of pride was all lost soon when the French Revolution struck the nation in 1789. Since then shrouded in a grisly nerve-racking past including that of Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France beheaded at the guillotine, the Palace of Versailles has witnessed it all.

Today the royals might have disappeared but as you walk down the elaborate corridors visiting each room you will be lost in the thrilling history of the place. The Palace of Versailles is standing right there for you to retell the tales of its rise and fall if you are willing to listen.