Paris - The Hall of Mirrors - Versailles

Plate CVII – Hall of Mirrors …

I mentioned yesterday that general access to the palace does not give entry to the chapel (nor to many of the private chambers of the royals, some of which are however included in additional cost tours of the palace). The principal feature of King Louis XIV’s (third building of the) palace is without doubt the magnificent Grande Gallerie known, for its lavish use of decorative mirrors, as the Hall of Mirrors or in French as the Salle des Glaces.

An incredible light is cast by the reflective glass, created by craftsmen recruited in Venice to work in the French factories of Gobelin, effectively ending a Venetian monopoly on the manufacture of mirrors. Any question about their effect in brightening the room is dispelled by comparison with the adjoining salons devoted to War (to the north), and Peace (to the south).

At seventy-three metres in length and some ten and a half metres wide, the silver and gilt furnished hall served as a venue for embassy receptions and daily royal entertainments. Still used for state occasions of today’s fifth French Republic, perhaps the most noteworthy historical event it has seen is the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28 1919, to formally end the First Great World War.

During the time I spent in the Hall of Mirrors I was yet again reminded of the variability of the stories recounted by tour guides (see yesterday’s post). One had many of the original artifacts placed in secret storage by the King and never since rediscovered, while another had them being melted by the King himself to finance his various war campaigns. The latter appears to be supported by recorded history. No matter where the truth lies, enough remains to reel the senses in this magnificent chamber.

Interestingly, I was later in my career to work with a colleague who attended an IBM corporate dinner in the Hall of Mirrors in the early 1990’s - an event he claimed to have been the first and last occasion it had been ‘rented’ for such commercial purposes.

Oh, where was I then?