Why was the palace of Versailles made?

Answer 1

Louis XIV, who reigned longer than any other King in history, had big ideas. One of them was that the whole of the nobility ought to live with him in his palace, where he could keep an eye on them. He came to the throne as a very small child, and the Nobility had revolted off and on all the way through his childhood and youth. he needed the great nobles constan tly under his eye. As the Louvre was too small, he began a new palace at Versailles, ten miles out of Paris to the South-West. 2000 rooms, and a garden with a pond a mile long. Room for everybody, if a bit cramped. If you were a Duke you might get three rooms to live in and the supreme honour of holding the King's shirt when he got dressed. Everything the King did, he did in public. Often twice, to fit in all the spectators. Going to bed he did three times, because once the public ceremony was over, he was up and off again on, er, unofficial business. It worked, though. With the building of Versailles, the era of civil wars ended.

Answer 2

Versailles was built by Louis XIV for himself and his royal family. What you might not know was that he was in very much danger for his life ever since he was crowned king of France as a child. He was actually once attack and nearly killed; this caused him to go into to hiding for some time. After he arose from his hiding reclaiming the thrown he set a major project in motion to build a palace so large and extravagant that it became a city all its own. With everyone living under the same roof as him he could keep a close eye on everyone to ensure his safety. By having the palace built a a tremendous, huge thing, he could order noble families from all of France to stay in the palace, so that no one could plot to lead an army to overthrow the royal family.

Answer 3

Before the French Revolution (1789-1799), the French monarchy and upper class lived a life of complete luxury, whilst the poorer classes experienced the complete opposite, living in filthy conditions and not having enough to eat. The rich largely ignored the needs of the poorer people and worked them hard. It became a crisis during the reign of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, when many working class citizens couldn't afford bread.

France was an absolute monarchy, meaning the king had ultimate governing authority over the country. Since the reign of Louis XIV, the French royal family had lived in Versailles. The palace cost the equivalent of roughly $2 billion to build.

As you can imagine, it infuriated the people to see the royal family living in absolute luxury and spending the money they had worked for all their lives on building projects, the miniature village, the gardens, the furniture, etc. The maintenance costs must have also been huge.

The palace was built to represent the splendour and power of King Louis XIV, but to the people it represented the inequality between different classes in society, the greed and pointlessness of the monarchy, and the power and control that the nobility had over the working class and peasantry. It was a symbol of all the rich people had and stopped the poor from having.

Answer 4

Because it's an important architectural monument.

Answer 5

The King (Louis XIV) lived there. More importantly, all the great nobles lived there too, where the King could keep them occupied and under his eye.

Answer 6

The glorification of French monarchy.