The Grand Trianon () is a French Baroque style

château A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions. No ...

situated in the northwestern part of the Domain of Versailles in

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...

, France. It was built at the request of King

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of ...

as a retreat for himself and his '' maîtresse-en-titre'' of the time, the Marquise de Montespan, and as a place where he and invited guests could take light meals (''collations'') away from the strict ''étiquette'' of the royal court. The Grand Trianon is set within its own park, which includes the

Petit Trianon The Petit Trianon (; French for "small Trianon") is a Neoclassical style château located on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, France. It was built between 1762 and 1768 during the reign of King Louis XV of France. ...

(a smaller château built in the 1760s, during the reign of King

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

''Trianon de porcelaine''

Between 1663 and 1665, Louis XIV purchased the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Trianon, on the outskirts of

. In 1670, he commissioned the architect Louis Le Vau to design a

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises main ...

pavilion (''Trianon de porcelaine'') to be built there. The

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means ' frontage' or ' face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...

was made of white and blue

Delft Delft () is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, and The Hague, to the northwest. Together with them, it is part of both the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolita ...

-style porcelain (

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain, ...

) tiles from the French manufactures of

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the region of Normandy and the department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, the population ...

Lisieux Lisieux () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. It is the capital of the Pays d'Auge area, which is characterised by valleys and hedged farmland. Name The name of the town derives from the ...

Nevers Nevers ( , ; la, Noviodunum, later ''Nevirnum'' and ''Nebirnum'') is the prefecture of the Nièvre Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in central France. It was the principal city of the ...

and Saint-Cloud. Construction began in 1670 and was finished in 1672. Since it was made of porcelain, the building suffered from deterioration. Louis XIV ordered its demolition in 1686 and replaced it with a larger building.

''Trianon de marbre''

Under Louis XIV

By 1686, the fragile porcelain tiles of the ''Trianon de porcelaine'' had deteriorated to such a point that Louis XIV ordered the demolition of the pavilion and its replacement with one made of stronger material. Commission of the work was entrusted to the architect

Jules Hardouin-Mansart Jules Hardouin-Mansart (; 16 April 1646 – 11 May 1708) was a French Baroque architect and builder whose major work included the Place des Victoires (1684–1690); Place Vendôme (1690); the domed chapel of Les Invalides (1690), and the Gran ...

. Hardouin-Mansart's new structure was twice the size of the porcelain pavilion, and the material used was red marble from

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...

. Begun in June 1687, the new construction (as we see it today) was finished in January 1688. It was inaugurated by Louis XIV and his secret wife, the Marquise de Maintenon, during the summer of 1688. Hardouin-Mansart's early plans for the building were substantially altered during construction, with the original intention of keeping the core of the ''Trianon de porcelaine'' intact vetoed in favor of an open-air

peristyle In ancient Greek and Roman architecture, a peristyle (; from Greek ) is a continuous porch formed by a row of columns surrounding the perimeter of a building or a courtyard. Tetrastoön ( grc, τετράστῳον or τετράστοον, lit=f ...

with a screen of red marble columns facing onto the garden. At least three other structures were built at the center of the new building and then torn down before the peristyle was settled on, during the frantic building activity of the summer of 1687. The sloping

Mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. Th ...

of the original design, meant to harmonize with the roof of the ''Trianon de porcelaine'', was vetoed by the king, who felt it looked too "heavy" on the structure. The long interior gallery which forks west from the main wing was built on the spot of a favorite outdoor promenade that Louis XIV enjoyed at the old ''Trianon de porcelaine''. The interior design scheme departed significantly from what Louis XIV and his architects had established at the Palace of Versailles. Louis reputedly ordered the architects to "Paint everything white. No gilt or color for the walls of Trianon." This was a departure from the variegated marbles, rich colors, and gilding which defined the interiors at Versailles. Instead of the heavy ornamentation on display in the palace, the walls of the Trianon were covered in delicately carved wood '' boiseries'', with plaster friezes, pilasters, and capitals of noticeably more refined, delicate appearance. The Trianon was home to Louis XIV's extended family, housing his son and heir ''le Grand Dauphin'' from 1703 to 1711. The domain was also a favourite retreat of the Duchess of Burgundy, the wife of his grandson Louis de France, the parents of

. In the later years of Louis XIV's reign, the Trianon was the residence of the king's sister-in-law

Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate Princess Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate (german: Prinzessin Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz), (french: Princesse Élisabeth-Charlotte du Palatinat); known as Liselotte von der Pfalz, 27 May 1652 – 8 December 1722) was a German m ...

, Dowager Duchess of Orléans and known at court as ''Madame''. Her son, Philippe d'Orléans, future son-in-law of Louis XIV and

Regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

of France, lived there with his mother. Louis XIV even ordered the construction of a larger wing for the Trianon, which was begun in 1708 by Mansart; this wing, called ''Trianon-sous-Bois'', housed the Orléans family, including Louis XIV's legitimised daughter Françoise-Marie de Bourbon. The king's youngest grandson, Charles de France, and his wife

Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans Louise Élisabeth, Duchess of Berry (born Marie Louise Élisabeth, Mademoiselle d'Orléans; 20 August 1695 – 21 July 1719) was Duchess of Berry by marriage to the French prince Charles, Duke of Berry. She is known affectionately by the mon ...

also resided there. The Orléans family, who had apartments at the Palace of Versailles, were later replaced by Françoise-Marie's sister; the Duchess of Bourbon, ''Madame la Duchesse'', lived at the Trianon and later built the

Palais Bourbon The Palais Bourbon () is the meeting place of the National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French Parliament. It is located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, on the '' Rive Gauche'' of the Seine, across from the Place de la Con ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, the design of which copied the Trianon. André-Charles Boulle, Commode Mazarin (Mazarin Cabinet), 1708, Grand Trianon

In 1708, the prototypes for the ''commodes Mazarine'', then called ''bureaux'', were delivered to the Trianon by André-Charles Boulle. The first

Duke of Antin {{Use dmy dates, date=September 2021 The duchy of Antin was a French duchy created in 1711 by the promotion of the marquisate of Antin (held by the Pardaillan de Gondrin family) into a "duché-pairie". It merged the Marquisate of Antin and the bar ...

, Louis Antoine de Pardaillan de Gondrin, director of the king's buildings, wrote to Louis XIV: "I was at the Trianon inspecting the second writing desk by Boulle; it is as beautiful as the other and suits the room perfectly." In 1717,

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

of Russia, who was studying the palace and gardens of Versailles, resided at the Trianon; the Peterhof Palace was inspired by Versailles.

Louis XV and after

Louis XV did not bring any changes to the Grand Trianon. In 1740 and 1743, his father-in-law, Stanislas Leszczynski, former king of Poland, stayed there during his visits to Versailles. Later, it was during a stay at Trianon that Louis XV fell ill before being transported to the Palace of Versailles, where he died on 10 May 1774. No more than his predecessor had,

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

brought no structural modifications to the Grand Trianon. His wife, Queen

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...

, who preferred the

, gave a few theatrical representations in the ''galerie des Cotelle'', a gallery with paintings by Jean l'Aîné Cotelle representing the bosquets of Versailles and Trianon.insecula.com
During the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

of 1789, the Grand Trianon was left to neglect. At the time of the

First French Empire The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental E ...

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

made it one of his residences, and he furnished it in the

Empire Style The Empire style (, ''style Empire'') is an early-nineteenth-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 durin ...

. Napoleon lived at Trianon with his second wife,

Marie Louise of Austria Marie Louise (12 December 1791 – 17 December 1847) was an Austrian archduchess who reigned as Duchess of Parma from 11 April 1814 until her death. She was Napoleon's second wife and as such Empress of the French and Queen of Italy from their ...

. The next royals to live at the Grand Trianon were the King and Queen of the French –

Louis Philippe I Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary Wa ...

and his Italian wife Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies. He was a descendant of the Regent Philippe d'Orléans, and she was a niece of Marie Antoinette. In October 1837, Marie d'Orléans (daughter of Louis Philippe I) married Alexander of Württemberg at the Grand Trianon. In 1920, the Grand Trianon hosted the negotiations and signing of the

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in Versailles on 4 June 1920. It forma ...

, which left

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

with less than one-third of its pre-

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

land size. To Hungarians, the word "Trianon" remains to this day the symbol of one of their worst national disasters. In 1963,

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Governm ...

ordered a renovation of the building. A popular site today for tourists visiting Versailles, it is also one of the

French Republic France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

's presidential residences used to host foreign officials.

List of residents

*1690–1703 :

Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

*1703–1711 : ''

le Grand Dauphin Louis, Dauphin of France (1 November 1661 – 14 April 1711), commonly known as Grand Dauphin, was the eldest son and heir apparent of King Louis XIV and his spouse, Maria Theresa of Spain. He became known as the Grand Dauphin after the birth of h ...

'', son of Louis XIV **From 1708 :

in the ''Trianon-sous-Bois'' wing *1711–1712 : The

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are r ...

and Duchess of Burgundy, son of the above and his wife *1712–1714 : The

and

Duchess of Berry Duke of Berry (french: Duc de Berry) or Duchess of Berry (french: Duchesse de Berry) was a title in the Peerage of France. The Duchy of Berry, centred on Bourges, was originally created as an appanage for junior members of the French royal famil ...

, brother of the above *1717 :

, Emperor of Russia and his entourage *c. 1720 : '' Madame la Duchesse'', daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan *1740 and 1743 :

Stanislas Leszczynski Stanislav and variants may refer to: People *Stanislav (given name), a Slavic given name with many spelling variations (Stanislaus, Stanislas, Stanisław, etc.) Places * Stanislav, a coastal village in Kherson, Ukraine * Stanislaus County, Cal ...

, former king of Poland *1774 :

, there the week before his death *1810–1814 :

Empress Marie Louise french: Marie-Louise-Léopoldine-Françoise-Thérèse-Josèphe-Lucie it, Maria Luigia Leopoldina Francesca Teresa Giuseppa Lucia , house = Habsburg-Lorraine , father = Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor , mother = Maria Theresa of ...

, wife of

Napoléon I Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

*1830–1848 : Queen Marie Amélie, wife of

It is an official residence of the

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...

, used for receiving foreign dignitaries.

Notes

References

* Charles Philippe d'Albert, duc de Luynes (1860–1865), ''Mémoires'', vol. 3, pp. 197, 201, 207 and vol. 4 pp. 474 and 477

External links

* {{Authority control Houses completed in 1672 Palace of Versailles Gardens in Yvelines Châteaux in Yvelines Baroque buildings in France 1672 establishments in France Royal residences in France Imperial residences in France