Temple of Love, Versailles (must see)

The Temple of Love is set on an artificial island in the centre of an artificial lake and is a calm place where you can sit for a while and drink in the beauty of this hidden part of Versailles.

The temple is a place of legend and superstition. It was built in 1778 by Richard Mique, who was the court architect and a favorite of Queen Marie-Antoinette. Its design is Neo-Classical with 12 columns supporting a white marble dome. In the centre of this small pavilion is a copy of Bouchardon’s controversial statue of “Cupid fashioning a Bow out of the Club of Hercules”.

According to legend, Marie-Antoinette had the temple built during her first pregnancy, seven years after her marriage to King Louis 16th because she feared that she wouldn’t be able to carry her child to term.

The temple, raised to pagan gods shocked the court and they blamed the birth of a baby girl on the queen’s “un-Christian” practices. In spite of their disapproval, Marie-Antoinette continued to visit the temple, where she prayed for a son.

Her three subsequent children had sad endings in spite of her prayers: The crown prince, born in 1781 died of tuberculosis in 1789. Marie-Antoinette’s third child, her second son, born in 1785, died in prison in 1795, and her fourth child, a daughter, born in 1786, died a year after her birth.

The temple is visited by thousands of tourists every year, but it is considered unlucky for young women to touch the columns or the statue of Cupid in the centre.