Versailles - the Palace Interiors

Audrey : The Palace was quite overwhelming, Lillian - weally umm palatial?  
Lillian : Yes, very lavish and grand.  This is the chapel ...

 
Audrey : It seemed that everything was decorated - even the ceilings!

 

Lillian : This fabulous trompe l'oeil is painted in a stairwell.

Audrey : It must take a lot of looking after - just think of all the house-work, or is it Palace-work?

Lillian : Well, we did see lots of restoration work in progress - on this ceiling for example -

 


Audrey : Not all the ceilings were painted, but they were just as fancy -

Lillian : The famous Hall of Mirrors is quite bedazzling, marble, gilt, chandeliers ad infinitum.

 

Audrey :  Very Twinkly !!  Imagine when they held parties there - all the ladies in silk dwesses & diamonds, the gents in uniforms with gold braid ... And all those twinkly chandeliers with candles - it would've been so pwetty. 

Lillian : The royal bedrooms were very grand too - not very restful!

 

Audrey :  There is actually a bed in there?

Lillian : Yes, I've read that some of the kings ...

Audrey : The Louis?

Lillian : Yes, Louis XV I think and perhaps XVI as well; they would go through the royal 'going to bed' ceremony there in the grand bedroom, and then they would sneak off (in nightshirt & slippers) to another nice, private bedroom.
Audrey : Oh dear, what a fuss & bother!  I do like that fabric design, but not for a bedroom - perhaps for a wonderful big cape, with a hood, trimmed with white fur ...

Lillian : A lot of the fabrics for the royal palaces were woven in Lyon ...

Audrey : Where we went later on?

Lillian : Yes.  Well that red & gold design was for the King's Chamber - quite different to the Queen's which was really pretty.

Audrey : Wasn't that designed for Marie Antoinette?

Lillian : I think so.

Audrey : Ahh lovely.  I would like a dress or too made in those fabrics; lilacs, roses, peacock feathers and ribbons ...