Words by: Kaitlin
A modest, country village doesn’t come to mind when you hear the word Versailles. But that’s what it was. A place where farmers and hunters lived peacefully for centuries. We know very little of this village. We don’t learn about it in history. There’s no curiosity or desire to remember what it was. We only know Versailles as the most dramatic display of Royal opulence still standing today. The epicenter of royal dominance, and ultimately the end of it.
Louis XIII fell in love with that secluded and humble countryside of Versailles. It was a place where he found solace. He built a hunting lodge there. His son and successor, Louis XIV, was also drawn to it, but had a different vision than his father. He expanded the lodge into the Versailles we know today. The Versailles of beauty and grandeur. But simultaneously, the Versailles of civil mutiny, violence, and revolution. How did this place of solitude evolve into all of that?
What happens in the heart of man that takes what is good and beautiful and distorts it into a hurtful thing of pride and selfishness? It’s a question we found ourselves asking as we saw the glory of Versailles that day.
It felt like redemption to walk on the expansive lawns and gardens. To see its lushness enjoyed by so many. The gates open to ordinary people. To see the contentedness of those taking naps and having picnics in the grass or exploring the gardens and boating on the lake. People like us walking throughout that great palace, finding joy in its beauty but also a warning in its history.
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