Château de Versailles
...t on, Louis XIV hired different architects to expand separate areas of the castle. Little by little, it grew, eventually becoming the massive building it is today. One of Louis’s main architects was Jules Hardouin Mansart. In 1684, Mansart designed the intricate designs of the building, and created such room as the Hall of Mirrors, or Galerie des Glaces. The Hall of Mirrors is a wide hallway in the castle, lined with mirrors on the walls, along with detailed art covering the ceiling, and crystal chandeliers hanging down. The Hall measured 73 meters long, 10.50 meters wide and 12.30 meters high, with the Salon de la Guerre to the north and the Salon de la Paix to the south. Seventy windows opened to the garden, while Corinthian pillars of green marble decorated the walls of the gallery. The Hall is one of the most famous and most visited parts of the castle, and today, is still elegantly decorated. The Treaty of Versailles was named after this castle and town. It was a treaty that signified the end of World War I, which was signed in Hall. From 1664 to 1668, Louis XIV based his efforts to rebuild the palace around the park and groves. One of Louis’s most prized possessions of his castle was l’orangerie. This was a large garden outside his castle, where he grew oranges, which were known as the best oranges you can get. Each orange tree was in a wheeled pot of a sort, so that they could easily be moved to an indoor greenhouse during winter or bad weather. A bit further than the orangerie were the Italianate Grand Trianon, designed by Hardouin Mansart in 1687 as a "country retreat" for Louis XIV, and the more modest Greek Petit Trianon, built by Gabriel in the 1760s. The gardens of the castle were also very distinct and extr...