Versailles
As we sailed back towards Paris and Versailles, I could not help but reflect on my connection to this area, tenuous though it may be. It was through here on Sep 30, 1944, that my granduncle T/5 Jesse Eric Curtis, Jr, from S. Madisonville, Tennessee, and his fellow members of the 561st Field Artillery Battalion passed on their way to Bastogne, Belgium and the Battle of the Bulge. Five and a half months after passing Versailles, just three months shy of his 24th birthday, he would lie dead by a German bomb near Giesenslage, Germany. Though I never knew him, knowing that he passed through here along with the experience of yesterday at the Beaches leaves a sad place in my heart. To read the story of Uncle Jesse, click here.
The Palace of Versailles was the royal residence of King Louis XIV. Located about 12 miles west of Paris, it was built on a 2000 acre site on which his father, Louis XIII, had built a hunting lodge in 1623. Started in 1661, the Palace was not completed until 1715. In 1682, Louis, known as the Sun King, made Versailles the capital of all France. However, in 1789, the royal family, along with the capital, returned to Paris.
Following the Revolution, the palace remained empty and over the years was emptied of much of its contents. (Queen Elizabeth, before her death would annually return some portion of the loot that had fallen into English Royal possession.) Napoleon Bonaparte used it as a summer residence from about 1810 to 1814. However, no restoration was done at that time.
Real restoration did not begin till the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I have not been able to quantify the total spent on restoration. John D. Rockefeller gave $2,166,000 between 1825 and 1928. And the "Grand Versailles" project has spent €500 million over the last 17 years.
If you watched the Netflix series "Versailles", I believe it portrays a reasonable facsimile of life at Versailles. However, what they don't tell you is that the smell was terrible. Without toilets, a courtier that had to relieve him or herself, might slip down a side corridor and tend to business. So much for the glamour.
To Last Tango in Paris