It cost a fortune ($200 billion) to build
Upon the death of Louis XIII in 1643, his eldest son became king. However, at the time of his coronation, Louis VIV was just four years old. It wasn’t until the year 1651, when the monarch was 12, that he first visited the chateau in Versailles. It’s fair to say, it wasn’t love at first sight. The new king was not such a big fan of hunting and only returned on a few occasions while in his teens. All this changed in the year 1661, however. The death of Cardinal Mazarin, his chief minister, meant he was in sole charge of France. He quickly developed a passion for Versailles. And he was determined to make it a residence truly fit for an absolutist monarch.
Between 1661 and 1678, several new wings were added to the existing chateau, with much of the work designed by the architect Louis Le Vau. A second floor was soon added, influenced by the American style of the time, and the gardens were given an extensive makeover. Once all this had been done, private apartments for the King and his Queen were constructed, with a marble hall separating them. And then, from 1678, right up until Louis XIV’s death in 1715, even more work was carried out, including the construction of the world-famous Hall of Mirrors, as well as the elaborate Royal Chapel.
Needless to say, Louis XIV spent a huge amount of money realizing his dream. At one point, it’s estimated that 60 per cent of national income was being ploughed into the vanity project. However, even today historians still disagree over how much money was actually lavished on building the Palace of Versailles. Certainly, in today’s money, it costs several billion dollars to construct. Some even place the total value of Versailles at around $50 billion or even $200 billion, with the vast land it sits on included in this breathtaking price tag. Since the vast majority of French men and women at the time were living in poverty, the money lavished on the palace fueled resentment of the royals, a resentment that would ultimately boil over in 1789, the year of the French Revolution.