Versailles

Versailles, town and capital of Yvelines département, Île-de-France région, north-central France, 14 miles (22 km) southwest of Paris. The town developed around the 17th-century Palace of Versailles, built by Louis XIV, the principal residence of the kings of France and the seat of the government for more than 100 years. The first scenes of the French Revolution were enacted at the palace, whose gardens, the masterpiece of André Le Nôtre, have become part of the national heritage of France and one of the most-visited historical sites in Europe. Although it was a place of entertainment, the grandiose palace was also well equipped as a centre of government. Of about 20,000 persons attached to the court, some 1,000 courtiers with 4,000 attendants lived in the palace itself. About 14,000 soldiers and servants were quartered in annexes and in the town, which was founded in 1671 and had 30,000 inhabitants when Louis XIV died in 1715.

Louis XV throughout his reign continued the building program begun by his predecessor, and the palace became a symbol of royal extravagance. In 1837 Louis-Philippe restored the palace and turned it into a museum consecrated to “all the glories of France.” The German army besieging Paris in 1870 used Versailles as its headquarters, and in 1871 the German emperor was crowned there. For eight years after the peace with Germany, the palace was the seat of the French Parliament, and the constitution of the Third Republic was proclaimed there in 1875. The presidents of the Third and Fourth republics were elected in Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles (1919) between the Allies and Germany was signed in the palace, which was again restored and modernized under Pres. Charles de Gaulle.

The town of Versailles is now a local administrative centre and residential suburb of Paris. The palace serves as a tourist attraction and as a residence for visiting heads of state. The oldest quarter of the town, Satory, contains the cathedral of Saint-Louis, while the new quarter, Le Chesnay, in the north, is the site of the church of Notre-Dame. Versailles is an important garrison town, with a military hospital and a school of military engineering and artillery. There is little industry in the town itself, where service and administrative activities dominate the economy. However, the adjoining Satory plateau is the location of armament and high-tech (electronics) industries. A school of horticulture (1874) is attached to a fine garden. Versailles is also a centre of commerce and education. Pop. (1999) 85,726; (2014 est.) 85,461.