may 14, 1643 - Coronation of Louis XIV

Description:

The Palace of Versailles (begun 1669)

"Did ever the sun shine upon such a king before, in such a palace? —or, rather, did such a king ever shine upon the sun?" -- WM Thackery's Notes on Versailles.

Under the general management of Charles Le Brun, the royal hunting lodge at Versailles was converted into a large palace complex encircled by a satellite city. The radials of this grand testament to the divinely ordained absolute monarch intersect in the king’s bedroom. As an absolutist monarch Louis XIV claimed dominion over all the land and peoples in his territory. With its mastery over the natural world that surrounds it and success in making it conform to the distinct and deliberate architectural and landscaping plan the Palace and surrounding complex demonstrate this governing ideology. This was in keeping with the scientific discoveries of Newton and mathematical advances of Descartes that gave primacy to the human senses in laying down the laws of nature. The absolutism of scientific spirit however would outlive the absolutism of monarchy that Louis XIV was one of the greatest propagators of.