The Hall of Mirrors (french: Grande Galerie, Galerie des Glaces, Galerie de Louis XIV) is a grand
Baroque style gallery and one of the most emblematic rooms in the royal
Palace of Versailles near
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, France. The grandiose ensemble of the hall and its adjoining salons was intended to illustrate the power of the
absolutist monarch
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Ver ...
. Located on the first floor (''
piano nobile'') of the palace's central body, it faces west towards the
Palace Gardens.
The Hall of Mirrors has been the scene of events of great historic significance, including the
Proclamation of the German Empire and the signing of the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
.
Cultural and historical background
Construction
In 1623
King Louis XIII
Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...
ordered the construction of a modest two-story hunting lodge at Versailles, which he soon enlarged to a château from 1631 to 1634. His son
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Ver ...
declared the site his future permanent residence in 1661 and ordered the transformation into an extensive residence in several stages and on a grandiose scale. The palace was to provide ideal settings for rest and retreat but it also had to attain a new quality of representation as the future seat of Europe's greatest
absolutist royal court and government of supreme authority, residence of choice for the aristocratic society and arena for elaborate state festivals and ceremonies, Europe's centre of culture, art and entertainment. During the early expansion phase
Louis Le Vau
Louis Le Vau (1612 – 11 October 1670) was a French Baroque architect, who worked for Louis XIV of France. He was an architect that helped develop the French Classical style in the 17th Century.''Encyclopedia of World Biography''"Louis Le Vau", ...
added the Forecourt (1662) and the “Le Vau Envelope” (1668 to 1670), encased the old château and added two new wings in the north and south. The new wings towered over the original western building by the garden. The space in between was a terrace supported by arcades. The buildings of the “Le Vau Envelope” included the king's apartments in the north and the queen's apartments in the south.
The Hall of Mirrors was built during the third building stage between 1678 and 1684 and was to replace a large terrace and several smaller salons facing the gardens. The terrace was originally situated directly outside of the
King's and the Queen's apartments. The terrace was considered to be a rather misplaced architectural element and exposed to the elements, reducing its utility. Eventually it was decided to demolish it and architect
Jules Hardouin-Mansart was tasked with the design development and the construction of the Mirror Hall Gallery and artist
Charles Le Brun
Charles Le Brun (baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French painter, physiognomist, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. As court painter to Louis XIV, who declared him "the greatest French artist of ...
received the honor to create the interior decorative apparatus.
The garden facade of the
Corps de logis
In architecture, a ''corps de logis'' () is the principal block of a large, (usually classical), mansion or palace. It contains the principal rooms, state apartments and an entry.Curl, James Stevens (2006). ''Oxford Dictionary of Architecture ...
was built in a straight front and essentially received its current appearance. The Hall of Mirrors is flanked at the far ends by the Salon of War () in the north and the Salon of Peace () in the south, respectively. The Mirror Gallery connects to the two salons, which were assigned to and incorporated into the king's apartments in the north and the queen's apartments in the south. Both salons are accessible via the Mirror Gallery through wide opening passageways. The hall and the two salons were identically furnished and decorated and form a stylistic and functional unit. The exterior walls of the salons date from the time of Le Vau's encasings of the old château and were given their current appearance after the installation of the Mirror Hall by Hardouin-Mansart.
The Hall of Mirrors is—besides the
Palace Chapel, completed in the early 18th century, the
Court Opera and the
Galerie des Batailles
The Galerie des Batailles (; en, "Gallery of Battles") is a gallery occupying the first floor of the Aile du Midi of the Palace of Versailles, joining onto the ''grand'' and '' petit appartement de la reine''. long and wide, it is an epigon ...
—one of the largest rooms in the palace. It is long and deep. With its height of it reaches to the
Attic floor of the Corps de Logis. The square windows on the upper floor, which can be seen from the outside, only serve aesthetic purposes, as there are no rooms inside. The installation of any kind of fireplaces was never contemplated as the Hall of Mirrors was too large to effectively be heated.
Arts and decoration
The Mirror Hall's 17 windows open in the direction of the park. On the opposite inside wall of the hall are 17 equally large mirrors, that are composed of more than 350 individual mirror surfaces. On the one hand, the mirrors had an aesthetic function, as the mirror image of the garden depicted the exterior of the castle into the interior of the building and reflected the candlelight in the evening. On the other hand, the mirrors also conveyed the king's wealth and the efficiency of the French economy in a subtle way. Mirror glass was an expensive luxury product in the 17th century and could only be produced with great effort. The manufacture of the mirror surfaces was the first major order for the
Manufacture royale de glaces de miroirs, a glass factory founded by
Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the later Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, with which the
Venetian monopoly on the manufacture of mirrors in Europe was broken.
Much of the original solid silver furniture of the Hall of Mirrors, famous at the time, was soon lost, particularly the silver
Guéridon
A guéridon is a small table supported by one or more columns, or sculptural human or mythological figures, often with a circular top. The guéridon originated in France towards the middle of the 17th century. The supports for early guéridons we ...
s (tables), which were melted down and coined by order of Louis XIV in 1689 to finance the
War of the League of Augsburg. Today's furniture was manufactured during the 19th century after most of the original furnishings were lost during the French Revolution.
Sculptures
The gilded bronze
capitals of the
Rouge de Rance {{Short description, Red limestone from Rance, Belgium
Rouge de Rance (Red of Rance) is a Devonian red reef limestone from the town of Rance in the province of Hainaut (Wallonia, Belgium).
The red "marble" of Rance in the Belgian province of ...
marble pilasters are decorated with the
Fleur-de-lis
The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol.
The fleur-de-lis has been used in the ...
and
Gallic rooster
The Gallic rooster (french: le coq gaulois) is a national symbol of France as a nation, as opposed to Marianne representing France as a state and its values: the Republic. The rooster is also the symbol of the Wallonia region and the French Commu ...
s. The gilded bronze trophies, that adorn the green marble
Pier glass
A pier glass or trumeau mirror is a mirror which is placed on a pier, i.e. a wall between two windows supporting an upper structure.
It is therefore generally of a long and tall shape to fit the space. It may be as a hanging mirror or as mirro ...
es, were manufactured by goldsmith Pierre Ladoyreau.
The marble and
porphyry busts of eight Roman emperors are accompanied by sculptures of Greek and Roman deities and
Muses, such as Bacchus, Venus (
Venus of Arles
The ''Venus of Arles'' is a sculpture of Venus at the Musée du Louvre. It is in Hymettus marble and dates to the end of the 1st century BC.
It may be a copy of the Aphrodite of Thespiae by Praxiteles, ordered by the courtesan Phryne. In the ...
), Modesty, Hermes, Urania, Nemesis and Diana (
Diana of Versailles
The ''Diana of Versailles'' or ''Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt'' (french: Artémis, déesse de la chasse) is a slightly over-lifesize marble statue of the Roman goddess Diana (Greek: Artemis) with a deer. It is currently located in the Musée du ...
). The latter, moved to the Louvre in 1798, was replaced by a Diana sculpted by
René Frémin for the gardens of the
Château de Marly until the restoration of the Hall of Mirrors during 2004 to 2007, which in turn was replaced by a copy of the original Diana.
Ceiling
![Ceiling Hall of Mirrors Versailles](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Ceiling_Hall_of_Mirrors_Versailles.jpg)
The ceiling combines with the mirrors and the light from the western windows to confer on the room its unique character. Nine large and numerous smaller paintings, most of them on canvas using
marouflage and the rest directly painted on masonry, are dedicated to the idolization
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Ver ...
as the Sun King and to the successes of the first two decades of his personal rule (starting in 1661).
Charles Le Brun
Charles Le Brun (baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French painter, physiognomist, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. As court painter to Louis XIV, who declared him "the greatest French artist of ...
, "the greatest French artist of all time" according to king Louis XIV, directed the ceiling paintings. The central scene is titled ''The King rules by Himself'', highlighting Louis's claim to absolute power and his adversarial stance to rival European powers, the main three of which (the Holy Roman Empire, the United Provinces, and Spain) are depicted on the opposite side of the same panel. The themes of the larger panels center on the
Franco-Dutch War of 1672-1678, while the other scenes include episodes of the prior
War of Devolution
In the 1667 to 1668 War of Devolution (, ), France occupied large parts of the Spanish Netherlands and Franche-Comté, both then provinces of the Holy Roman Empire (and properties of the King of Spain). The name derives from an obscure law know ...
of 1667-1668 and domestic achievements.
According to a contemporary anecdote, the decoration of the eastern wall with mirrors was a ploy by architect
Jules Hardouin-Mansart to prevent Le Brun from having even more opportunities to impress Louis with his work.
The narrative sequence of the central scenes starts with the formation of the German (Imperial)-Spanish-Dutch alliance in 1672 on the Northern end, and ends with the unraveling of that alliance with the Dutch acceptance of a separate peace with France in 1678. The full list is a compendium of key propaganda themes of the early 1680s, with titles provided by poets
Boileau and
Racine in their capacity as the regime's official historians:
# ''Alliance of Germany and Spain with Holland, 1672''
# ''Holland rescued from the
bishop of Munster, 1665''
# ''Relief of the people during th
wall mirrors 1662''
# ''Reparation of the
Corsican Guard's affront in Rome, 1664''
# ''The
crossing of the Rhine in front of the enemy, 1672''
# ''The King
seizes Maastricht in thirteen days, 1673''
# ''
Defeat of the Turks in Hungary by the King's troops, 1664''
# ''The folly of
duelling abolished, 1662''
# ''The
precedence of France acknowledged by Spain, 1662''
# ''The King gives his orders to simultaneously attack
four of
Holland's best-defended strongholds, 1672''
# ''The King ramps up military preparations on land and sea, 1672''
# ''The restoration of France's naval power, 1663''
# ''
War against Spain for the Queen's rights, 1667''
# ''The reformation of the justice system, 1667''
# ''The King rules by Himself, 1661''
# ''The pomp of France's neighboring powers''
# ''Order restored to the kingdom's finances, 1662''
# ''The
peace concluded in Aix-la-Chapelle, 1668''
# ''
Protection awarded to the fine arts, 1663''
# ''
Franche-Comté conquered once again, 1674''
# ''Resolution to undertake war against Holland, 1671''
# ''Establishment of the royal institution of
Les Invalides
The Hôtel des Invalides ( en, "house of invalids"), commonly called Les Invalides (), is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as ...
, 1674''
# ''
Acquisition of Dunkirk, 1662''
# ''Embassies sent from the confines of the Earth''
# ''Takeover of the city and citadel of Ghent in six days, 1678''
# ''Spanish actions countered by the takeover of Ghent''
# '', 1663''
# '', 1665''
# ''The
junction of the two seas, 1667''
# ''Holland accepts
peace
Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...
and leaves the alliance with Germany and Spain, 1678''
Many of the same themes would be illustrated again a few years later, albeit with a different iconography, in the
Louis XIV Victory Monument
The Louis XIV Victory Monument was an elaborate trophy memorial celebrating the military and domestic successes of the early decades of Louis XIV's personal rule, primarily those during the Franco-Dutch War of 1672-1678, on the Place des Victoire ...
on
Place des Victoires
The Place des Victoires is a circular ''place'' in Paris, located a short distance northeast from the Palais Royal and straddling the border between the 1st and the 2nd arrondissements. The Place des Victoires is at the confluence of six streets ...
in the center of Paris.
Functions
![William Orpen - The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/William_Orpen_-_The_Signing_of_Peace_in_the_Hall_of_Mirrors.jpg)
During the 17th century, the hall's main purpose was to serve as a kind of covered promenade for Louis XIV's visit to the chapel. He entered the gallery at least once a day and from 1701, the king's bedroom lay behind the middle wall of the gallery. Courtiers assembled to meet the king and members of the royal family and might make a particular request by intoning: "Sire, Marly?". This was the manner in which nobles were able to obtain a much sought-after invitation to one of the king's house parties at
Marly-le-Roi
Marly-le-Roi () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the administrative region of Île-de-France, France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris.
Marly-le-Roi was the location of the Château de Marly, t ...
, a villa Louis XIV had built north of Versailles on the route to
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris.
Inhabitants are called ''Saint-Germanois'' or ''Saint-Ge ...
.
Its central location and size predestined the Hall of Mirrors as a place for court festivities such as the wedding of the
Duke of Burgundy (the Petit Dauphin) with
Marie Adélaïde of Savoy
Marie Adélaïde of Savoy (6 December 1685 – 12 February 1712) was the wife of Louis, Dauphin of France, Duke of Burgundy. She was the eldest daughter of Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy, and of Anne Marie d'Orléans. Her betrothal to the Duke ...
, the wedding of
Louis, Dauphin of France and
Maria Teresa of Spain in 1645 and the wedding of
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
and
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...
in 1770. In the successive reigns of
Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...
and
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
, the Hall of Mirrors continued to serve for family and court functions. Embassies, births, and marriages were held in this room. The most celebrated event of the 18th century on 25 February 1745 was the celebrated
Yew Tree Ball. It was during this costume ball that Louis XV, who was dressed as a
yew tree, met Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson d'Étiolles, who was costumed as
Diana, goddess of the hunt. Jeanne-Antoinette, who became Louis XV's mistress, is better known to history as the
Marquise de Pompadour
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (, ; 29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and re ...
.
Foreign audiences were granted, including that of the
Doge of Genoa
The Doge of Genoa ( lij, Dûxe, ; la, Januensium dux et populi defensor, "Commander of the Genoese and Defender of the People") was the ruler of the Republic of Genoa, a city-state and soon afterwards a maritime republic, from 1339 until the s ...
in 1685 and the embassy of Sultan
Mahmud I of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
in 1742. Of all the events that transpired in this room during the reign of Louis XIV, the
Siamese Embassy of 1685-1686 has been cited as the most opulent. At this time, the Hall of Mirrors and the ''grand appartements'' were still decorated with the original silver furniture. In its heyday, over 3,000 candles were used to light the Hall of Mirrors. In February 1715, Louis XIV held his last embassy in the hall when he received
Mohammad Reza Beg,
ambassador
An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...
of the Shah of
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
,
Sultan Husayn.
The Second
German Empire
The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
was established in the hall of mirrors on 18 January 1871, after the German
siege of Paris at the conclusion of the
Franco-Prussian War. In a ceremony led by
Otto von Bismarck
Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of J ...
, the Prussian king,
William I
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087 ...
, the assembled German princes and lords declared William I the German emperor in the Hall of Mirrors. Versailles was chosen because it was the headquarters of the united German armies; the Hall of Mirrors was chosen specifically because its ceiling paintings glorified the conquest of German territories by France. The French nation regarded this ceremony as deeply humiliating. The event greatly contributed to the further accretion of the Franco-German enmity. A few decades later French Prime Minister
Clemenceau consciously chose the Hall of Mirrors as the site to sign the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
on 28 June 1919, that officially ended World War I. Thus,
the Entente dismantled the German Empire in the very room where it had been proclaimed.
The Hall of Mirrors remains reserved for official ceremonies of the
French Republic
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. Notable events during the 20th century were the reception of US-President
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
and his wife by
Charles De Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
, the reception of the Shah of Iran
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
, title = Shahanshah Aryamehr Bozorg Arteshtaran
, image = File:Shah_fullsize.jpg
, caption = Shah in 1973
, succession = Shah of Iran
, reign = 16 September 1941 – 11 February 1979
, coronation = 26 October ...
by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in 1974 or the invitation of representatives of the
Group of Seven
The Group of Seven (G7) is an intergovernmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non-enumerated member". It is official ...
summit by President
François Mitterrand
François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...
from June 4 to 6, 1982.
Gallery
References
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External links
Fullscreen interactive panoramic image of Hall of Mirrors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall Of Mirrors (Palace Of Versailles)
Baroque architecture at Versailles
Buildings and structures completed in 1682
1682 establishments in France
Individual rooms
Palace of Versailles
Mirrors
ca:Palau de Versalles#Galeria dels Miralls