Versailles: A Biography of a Palace : Book

Search ISBN:0312357850 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Versailles: A Biography of a Palace Reference Book. Classifications : General France Europe History Subjects Books General AAS France Europe History Subjects Books General World History Subjects Books General AAS World History Subjects Books Monarchy Systems Of Governme . Click the following link to view the cover of Versailles: A Biography of a Palace.

1) Hardcover Book Versailles: A Biography of a Palace by St. Martin´s Press. Versailles: A Biography of a Palace by Tony Spawforth is an architectural history quite different from most of the dull, dry ones. This book is filled with true stories of incidents within Versailles told by its inhabitants, from servants to kings and queens. The history of place is derived not only from facts and descriptions but also from writings of people who actually lived there or helped work on the palace and gardens. This is really interesting, sort of like eves-dropping on a wicked plot or an unlawful tryst, or the collapse of a kingdom, for which the palace itself plays a huge part as the culprit. The book is fun to read, captivating, and will fill your mind with images of an unbelievably decadent and lavish lifestyle, long-gone forever. You´ll find this an interesting read.¤

The behind-the-scenes story of the world’s most famous palace, painting a picture of the way its residents truly lived and examining the palace’s legacy, from French history through today

The story of Versailles is one of historical drama, under the last three kings of France’s old regime, mixed with the high camp and glamour of the European courts, all in an iconic home for the French arts. The palace itself has been radically altered since 1789, and the court was long ago swept away. Versailles sets out to rediscover what is now a vanished world: a great center of power, seat of royal government, and, for thousands, a home both grand and squalid, bound by social codes almost incomprehensible to us today.

Using eyewitness testimony as well as the latest historical research, Spawforth offers the first full account of Versailles in English in over thirty years. Blowing away the myths of Versailles, he analyses afresh the politics behind the Sun King’s construction of the palace and shows how Versailles worked as the seat of a royal court. He probes the conventional picture of a “perpetual house party” of courtiers and gives full weight to the darker side: not just the mounting discomfort of the aging buildings but also the intrigue and status anxiety of its aristocrats. The book brings out clearly the fateful consequences for the French monarchy of its relocation to Versailles and also examines the changing place of Versailles in France’s national identity since 1789.

Many books have told the stories of the royals and artists living in Versailles, but this is the first to turn its focus on the palace itself---from architecture and politics to scandal and restoration.

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 20-Nov-2008, 03123578509780312357856, 500-350-830-650-0X1-881-8

Versailles: A Biography of a Palace

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