Versailles.
As promised, today I’m sharing some of the photos of the interior of the Palace of Versailles. If you missed my last post where I shared exterior photos and some helpful hints about touring it, you can check that out here.
Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still. -Dorothea Lange.
The Royal Chapel and the Hall of Mirrors.
Once again, I have more photos than I can share in one post. Today, I have chosen my two favorite places in the Palace…
the Royal Chapel and the Hall of Mirrors.
Hall of Mirrors.
The Hall of Mirrors is considered the most famous room in the Palace. One reason is that it is the location of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, ending World War I. Work was started on the Hall of Mirrors in 1678 and completed in 1684. You can find out more about its history here, at the Palace of Versailles website.
The room is quite stunning, filled with light from all of the windows and reflections from the mirrors.
I see photos that run the entire length of the Hall of Mirrors without a single person included or just the one person as their focal point. If you are trying to achieve that, then I suggest you follow some of the timeframes offered in my prior post. I’m sure you can gauge the size of the crowd by those waiting to get inside.
Had we not been exhausted by all of the walking that we had done that day, I may have tried to go back at the end of our day to capture a less crowded hall.
The Royal Chapel.
Of course, I could not show you Versailles on a Thursday without including at least one of the magnificent doors! This is one of the doors to the Royal Chapel.
If you love doors, head on over to Norm 2.0’s blog where door lovers come together each Thursday to share doors from around the world.
The Royal Chapel was the fifth and final chapel built in the Palace since the reign of Louis XIII.
One of the things that I found interesting about the Royal Chapel was that the design was presented by the Architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart in 1699. He would not survive to see its completion, dying in 1708. His brother-in-law completed the works which were finished in 1710.
Reminders of the past.
It reminded me of a story I once read about motherhood, which could be applied parenting in general. It was about how as mothers we are building a masterpiece, just like the cathedrals of old, but we will not likely survive to see its completion. About how we would never live there, but if we built it right, God would.
And it also brought to mind, that we remember those names who lived in this Palace. But there were countless people whose hard work brought about the possibility of them living there. Including, the people standing in the sun creating walls, people chiseling the finest of details, people cooking, and also the people scrubbing floors.
We should remember those people who spent their life behind the scenes making their bit of difference in the world.
Let your light shine!
Amy
