The King’s chamber

VERSAILLES (France): The King’s chamber.

In 1701 Louis XIV moved his bedchamber into the drawing room lying east-west in the Palace, facing the rising sun. The three glazed doors into the Hall of Mirrors at the back were blocked off so as to form an alcove for the bed, with a carved and gilded wood balustrade separating the alcove from the rest of the chamber and over the bed a stucco allegory of France watching over the King in his slumber by Nicolas Coustou. It was in this chamber, become the visible sanctuary of the monarchy, that Louis XIV lunched en petit couvert (in relative privacy) and the ceremonies of the King’s rising and retiring took place every day. It was likewise in this chamber that Louis XIV died on 1 September 1715 after reigning for 72 years.

info: http://en.chateauversailles.fr/

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