Palace of Versailles

Stuart Jacome
Arch 211- M11
Prof. Khorsandi
Blog Post
Palace of Versailles
The palace of versailles is the most famous chateau in France. The palace was built in 1631 in the order of Louis XIII. Since the palace was so large there were a few architects that have worked on this structure over time. These include Louis Le Vau, Jules Hardouin Mansart, Ange- Jacques Gabriel, Claude Perrault, Frederic Nepveu, Robert De Cott, Philibert Le Roy, and Jacques Gabriel. Not only was a palace a place for the royals to reside but it has held numerous other purposes it was originally used as hunting grounds and a private retreat for  Louis XIII which was constructed by Nicolas Huaut. Currently the palace is being used as Museum of French History.
When the Chateau was first constructed it was a hunting lodge made up of brick stone and slate.It was then reconstructed in 1631 Louis did not was to be restraint to just a classical design, instead he chose to have classical large structural elements that contained a highly decorated and luxurious Baroque style which expressed power and authority. The palace contained 700 rooms, 2,153 windows, and each floor takes up to 67,000 square meters. Baroque style architecture combines classical and renaissance elements. Instead of orderly rectangular areas you have curves all throughout the castle which helps create the illusion of a larger space as well as using a simple series of repetitions marked by the repetition of large windows. This palace was designed to revolve around the king himself and emphasize his importance.
The Hall of Mirrors is one of the most important rooms in the palace; it runs along the length of the central building, with windows that look over the gardens. The Hall pays tribute to the political, economic, and artistic success of France. The political success is depicted through the thirty painted compositions on the ceiling by Le Brun. The economic success is shown in the number and size of the 357 mirrors. The artistic prosperity is revealed by the rouge de rance pilasters with capitals made of gilded bronze by Le Brun. The hall of mirrors was also used for many parties including a wedding of Louis XVI and Marie antoinette, and a few military agreements.
Louis XIV’s palace was finished twenty-one years after it begun construction in 1661. The royal palace having a connection to the park held importance as it was made to serve ceremonial and celebratorial purposes of the king. Louis had the gardens built  by Andre Le Notre, who is considered the inventor of the ‘French’ . Although the symmetrical design stems from italian traditions the park has a program of axial pathways leading off the horizon because Louis wanted the garden to run along the west and east side of the palace so that the sun would rise and set around the axis of his home. The gardens were also filled with sculptures and gold paintings that were focused around Louis.  The other was was covered with three hundred fifty seven mirrors that would light up the inside of the palace to remind everyone of the king’s power.





 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Villa Muller, (Prague,Czech Republic); 1930; Modern architecture

Image
The Villa Muller is located in Prague,Czech Republic. The building is designed by  Adolf Loos  in 1930. The project has appointed by the civil engineer and building contractor Frantisek Müller to design a new house for his family in 1928. The project has shown Loos’s ideas of economy and functionality, and it has name as an innovative landmark of early modernist architecture. The spacing has designed in multi-level parts of individual rooms, to show the functions and symbol. The exterior design of Villa Muller, Adolf Loos has made it white cubic façade to make it shin when the sun irradiates to the house. The fence has set higher because the architect wants to show the exterior to public, but keep the interior space to private. That’s why he designed a grant, and comfortable furniture that made by marble, wood, and silk surface. This method is representing his theory discussion” Ornament and Crime” in 1908. Adolf Loos separates the private inside and public ...
Read more

Villa Wagner I, Vienna, Austria.1886-1888; Early 20th Century Pioneers

Image
Villa Wagner I, Vienna, Austria.1886-1 888; Early 20th Century Pioneers The Villas were designed and constructed by modernist architect, Otto Wagner in Hüttelbergstraße 26, district fourteen of Vienna, lower eastern Austria. This heavily wooded part of the Alps, also known as Penzing, is the home of both Villas, which happen to occupy adjacent lots. The first Villa, larger than the second, was constructed between 1886 and 1888, founding of the Secession the year after. The Villas were constructed by Otto to be residences, but now the original Villa is owned by the heirs of painter Ernst Fuchs. Villa Wagner I is known today as the Ernst Fuchs Private Museum (Unknown, "Wagner Villa I and II").   When Wagner began construction of the first Villa, he intended to make this place a center of relaxation and somewhere where his family could rest. It has some relationship to the nearby Hütteldorf forest, with the first villa at the end of it (Unknown, "Wagner V...
Read more

Secession Building

Image
This building was a masterpiece done by Gustav Klimt, one of the most widely recognized artworks of Secession style. It is even on the national side of the Austrian coin (.50). The Vienna Secession was founded in 1897 by Gustav Klimt, Joseph Maria Olbrich, and Josef Hoffman. Because Vienna was becoming a growing metropolis and it was supposed to be represented that way. They were inspired by arts and craft and organic geometries, essentially an abstract architecture. The building has a covered courtyard structure, it provided for gallery space on all sides of a large top-lit rectangular exhibition hall in the center. The materials used in this building was mainly masonry and metal. the crowning element sketched by Klimt included a perforated metal dome, suspended between four pylons and set above profiled planar masses. The slogan of the Secessionist movement is written above the entrance of the pavilion: "To every age its art, to every art its freedom”. Below the motto, the...
Read more