Versailles, French court culture, and the way the French constructed the public image of the ruler, became a model which all other European courts sought to follow … …
Thomas Höpel
The Versailles Model
I was so excited to see Versailles. I’ve heard a lot about it, from other palaces I have visited before, that Versailles is the original model for them. The perfect model of European palace, that every King wishes to build after it.
Versailles was built by Louis XIV (1638 – 1715), known as the Sun King. He related himself to Apollo. The reason was:
The sun is the symbol of Apollo, god of peace and the arts; it is also the star which gives life to all things, rising and setting with unfailing regularity. Like the god, Louis XIV was a warrior fighting to restore peace; he was also a patron of the arts and the source of all privileges. Though the unstinting regularity of his life and with the public getting-up and going-to-bed ceremonies, he hammered home the symbolic parallels. The Palace of Versailles is replete with representations and allegorical allusions to the sun god (laurel wreathes, lyres, tripods) combined with royal portraits and emblems.
From: https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/history/great-characters/louis-xiv#king-by-divine-right
I was having fun taking selfie in The Hall of Mirrors.
I bought a box of sweets from Versailles as an Easter gift for a friend. The box is decorated with a beautiful picture of the last queen of France – Marie Antoinette (1755 – 1793). My friend happily and carefully examined the beautiful golden sweets and the box.
“Wait a minute, isn’t Maria Antoinette beheaded by guillotine?” she asked.
“That’s her. But she has a good taste, now you can taste her sweets, like a queen!” I replied.
Despite Marie Antionette’s fine taste in fashion and her passion about books and art, she has a pretty bad reputation. She was really famous for enjoying a life of luxury despite the fact that people were living in dire straits, which led to French Revolution.
eager in the pursuit of pleasure, and firm enough to hold to her desires, or perish in their wreck. Her inordinate gambling and dissipations, with those of the Count d’Artois, and others of her clique, had been a sensible item in the exhaustion of the treasury, which called into action the reforming hand of the nation; and her opposition to it, her inflexible perverseness, and dauntless spirit, led herself to the Guillotine.
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), writing in 1821
A warning to me, first, my love for books and art won’t make me a better person. Second, don’t befriend with luxury lifestyle even when I become rich one day. Third, always take chance to serve people around me, including stranger.
What a timing that I visited Versailles during Holy Week. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, when Jesus hailed as King. Jesus as well as French royalties were sentenced to death. The difference is earthly Kings’ death penalty was because they did not care about their people. The exact opposite, Jesus’ death penalty was because He is the King who cares and gave His life for them. True King come to serve and not to be served (Matthew 20:28).
How good is it to be ruled by the true King, who is almighty and has my best interest at heart.
Nymph and Zephyr bronze sculpture in the gardens of Versailles. I guess the nymph could be Chloris, who represents spring and new life. Because she was always associated with Zephyr according to artworks like Zephyrus with Chloris by William-Adolphe Bouguereau and The wedding of Zephyrus and Chloris fresco from Pompeii.
So today’s music is the heart melting song A Chloris (French) – For Chloris. This song is revealing a secret, the secret is about the kind of happiness that is far happier than being a king. If you have the happiness, it is much more precious than the palace, even the most splendid Versailles looks pale in comparison to it.
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