Petit Trianon, Versailles (must see)

The Petit Trianon is one more beautiful building in Versailles that will give you another insight about how kings and queens lived in France before the Revolution.

It was built between 1762 and 1768 by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, commissioned by Madame de Pompadour as a retreat for herself and King Louis 15th, so that they could escape the rigueur of the royal court and relax among friends.

Sadly the King’s favorite mistress died before the “small” chateau was finished and it was used by her successor Madame du Barry.

The building is a mixture of late Rococo and Neo-classical style and each of its façades was designed to embellish the part of the estate that it faced: therefore the side that faces the French Gardens has ornate columns, while the north façade is rather simple as it faced the greenhouses of the botanical garden.

When Marie-Antoinette arrived at Versailles she was ill-prepared for the snobbery of the French court and her husband, Louis 16th, gave her the Petit Trianon and its lands so that she could amuse herself with her close friends far away from the courtiers’ prying eyes.

There is no doubt that Marie-Antoinette made this place her personal retreat, as the rooms are delicately decorated in feminine colors of pale rose, white and gold; her bedroom with its small, narrow bed, is on the 1st floor, while the rooms set aside for the king are in the mezzanine in the attic.