As you approach the gates of Versailles you inescapably have the feeling of entering not a palace but an entire city. The impression is justified given the massive scale of the building and the even larger grounds.
Beginning as a modest ch??teau of stone and slate to serve as a hunting lodge for Louis XIII (13th), Versailles blossomed - figuratively and literally - during the reign of his son. By 1682, after 20 years of work, the ‘Sun King’ took up residence… and then building really began.