Editing Palace of Versailles (section)

===Role in politics and culture===
[[File:Réception du Grand Condé à Versailles (Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1878).png|thumb|''[[Reception of the Grand Condé at Versailles]]'', painted by [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]]]]

The Palace of Versailles was key to Louis XIV's politics, as an expression and concentration of [[French art]] and [[French culture|culture]], and for the centralization of royal power.{{sfn|Blanning|2002|pp=33–40}}{{sfn|Bohanan|2001|pp=61–64}} Louis XIV first used Versailles to promote himself with a series of nighttime festivals in its gardens in 1664, 1668, and 1674,{{sfn|Spawforth|2008|pp=4–5}} the events of which were disseminated throughout Europe by print and engravings.{{sfn|Blanning|2002|p=49}}{{sfn|Walton|1986|pp=57, 59}} As early as 1669,{{sfn|Spawforth|2008|p=6}} but especially from 1678,{{sfn|Jones|2018|p=26}} Louis XIV sought to make Versailles his seat of government, and he expanded the palace so as to fit the court within it.{{sfn|Bohanan|2001|p=62}}{{sfn|Jones|2018|p=42}}{{sfn|Doyle|2001|p=173}} The moving of the court to Versailles did not come until 1682,{{sfn|Doyle|2001|p=173}} however, and not officially, as opinion on Versailles was mixed among the [[nobility of France]].{{sfn|Walton|1986|p=53}}{{sfn|Spawforth|2008|p=14}}

By 1687, however, it was evident to all that Versailles was the ''[[de facto]]'' capital of France,{{sfn|Palace of Versailles: Capital}}{{sfn|Spawforth|2008|p=15}} and Louis XIV succeeded in attracting the nobility to Versailles to pursue prestige and royal patronage within a strict court etiquette,{{sfn|Bohanan|2001|pp=61–64}}{{sfn|Jones|2018|p=42}}{{sfn|Blanning|2002|pp=31–34, 40}}{{efn|At any given moment during Louis XIV's reign, about 5% of France's nobles were at court in Versailles. Bohanan places the exact number of persons normally present at Versailles as 5,000 nobles and an equal number of commoners,{{sfn|Bohanan|2001|pp=62, 64}} while Blanning gives 1,000 nobles and 4,000 servants.{{sfn|Blanning|2002|p=36}}}} thus eroding their traditional provincial power bases.{{sfn|Jones|2018|p=42}}{{sfn|Doyle|2001|p=173}}{{sfn|Swann|2001|pp=143, 145}} It was at the Palace of Versailles that Louis XIV received the [[Doge of Genoa]], [[Francesco Maria Imperiale Lercari]] in 1685,{{sfn|Palace of Versailles: Reception of the Doge of Genoa}} [[Siamese embassy to France (1686)|an embassy]] from the [[Ayutthaya Kingdom]] in 1686,{{sfn|Palace of Versailles: Reception of the Ambassador of Siam}} and [[Persian embassy to Louis XIV|an embassy]] from [[Safavid Iran]] in 1715.{{sfn|Palace of Versailles: Reception of the Ambassadors of Persia}}

Louis XIV died at Versailles on 1 September 1715 and was succeeded by his five-year-old great-grandson, [[Louis XV]],{{sfn|Jones|2018|p=52}}{{sfn|Palace of Versailles: Death of Louis XIV}} then the [[duke of Anjou]],{{sfn|Jones|2018|p=57}} who was moved to the [[Château de Vincennes]] and then to Paris by Louis XV's regent, [[Philippe II, Duke of Orléans]].{{sfn|Palace of Versailles: Death of Louis XIV}} Versailles was neglected until 1722,{{sfn|Palace of Versailles: History}} when Philippe II removed the court to Versailles to escape the unpopularity of his regency,{{sfn|Spawforth|2008|p=20}}{{sfn|Jones|2018|p=58}} and when Louis XV began his majority.{{sfn|Swann|2001|p=201}} The 1715 move, however, broke the cultural power of Versailles,{{sfn|Doyle|2001|p=91}} and during the reign of [[Louis XVI]], courtiers spent their leisure in Paris, not Versailles.{{sfn|Palace of Versailles: History}}

[[File:The story of the greatest nations, from the dawn of history to the twentieth century - a comprehensive history, founded upon the leading authorities, including a complete chronology of the world, and (14586749738).jpg|thumb|The 7-year-old [[Mozart]] during his stay at the palace]]

During Christmas 1763, [[Mozart family grand tour|Mozart and his family visited]] Versailles and dined with the King. The 7-year-old [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] played several works during his stay and later dedicated his first two harpsichord sonatas, published in 1764 in Paris, to [[Victoire of France (1733–1799)|Madame Victoria]], daughter of Louis XV.<ref>{{cite web |title=Visit from the child Mozart (1763-1764) |url=https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/history/key-dates/visit-child-mozart-1763-1764 |website=The Palace of Versailles |date=23 August 2018 |access-date=10 July 2023}}</ref>

In 1783, the palace was the site of the signing of the last two of the three treaties of the [[Peace of Paris (1783)]], which ended the [[American Revolutionary War]]. On 3 September, British and American delegates, led by [[Benjamin Franklin]], signed the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] at the Hôtel d'York (now 56 Rue Jacob) in Paris, granting the United States independence. On 4 September, Spain and France signed separate treaties with Britain at the Palace of Versailles, formally ending the war.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.constitutionfacts.com/us-declaration-of-independence/treaty-of-paris/|title=The Treaty of Paris|website=www.constitutionfacts.com}}</ref>

The King and Queen learned of the [[Storming of the Bastille]] in Paris on 14 July 1789, while they were at the palace, and remained isolated there as the [[French Revolution|Revolution]] in Paris spread. The growing anger in Paris led to the [[Women's March on Versailles]] on 5 October 1789. A crowd of several thousand men and women, protesting the high price and scarcity of bread, marched from the markets of Paris to Versailles. They took weapons from the city armoury, besieged the palace, and compelled the King and royal family and the members of the [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|National Constituent Assembly]] to return with them to Paris the following day.{{Sfn|Lacaille|2012|pp=16–17}}

As soon as the royal family departed, the palace was closed. In 1792, the [[National Convention]], the new revolutionary government, ordered the transfer of all the paintings and sculptures from the palace to the [[Louvre]]. In 1793, the Convention declared the abolition of the monarchy and ordered all of the royal property in the palace to be sold at auction.  The auction took place between 25 August 1793 and 11 August 1794. The furnishings and art of the palace, including the furniture, mirrors, baths, and kitchen equipment, were sold in seventeen thousand lots. All fleurs-de-lys and royal emblems on the buildings were chambered or chiselled off. The empty buildings were turned into a storehouse for furnishings, art and libraries confiscated from the nobility. The empty grand apartments were opened for tours beginning in 1793, and a small museum of French paintings and art school was opened in some of the empty rooms.{{Sfn|Lacaille|2012|p=18}}

By virtue of an order issued by the Versailles district directorate in August 1794, the [[The Royal Gate of the Palace of Versailles|Royal Gate]] was destroyed, the Cour Royale was cleared and the Cour de Marbre lost its precious floor.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Heitzmann |first1=Annick |last2=Didier |first2=Frédéric |title=La Grille et la Cour royales |journal=Versalia. Revue de la Société des Amis de Versailles |date=2007 |volume=10 |pages=26–43 |doi=10.3406/versa.2007.871 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/versa_1285-8412_2007_num_10_1_871 |access-date=7 June 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Maral |first1=Alexandre |title=Octobre 1789: Versailles déserté |date=24 October 2018 |url=http://www.lescarnetsdeversailles.fr/2018/10/octobre-1789-versailles-deserte/ |access-date=7 June 2023}}</ref>