Six Wonders of the World.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21153, 9 April 1932, Page 4 (Supplement)

Six Wonders of the World.

THE PALACE AT VERSAILLES.

Within a short distance of Paris stands the town of Versailles, and here is one of tho most beautiful palaces m the world, the Palace of Versailles, where from the time of Louis XIV the French Court was held, until the tragic execution of Louis XVI and his beautiful Queen Marie Antoinette which brought the French monarchy to nil end and set up Republican rule in France. To-day this palace is kept as a showplace and its beauties anil wonders aro displayed to visitors by especially appointed guides. It is surrounded by beautiful parklands which near the palace, itself aro broken up into ornamental ground, lawns and shrubberies and garden beds blazing with flowers. There are seventy-two fountains in the grounds and all around the marble basins there are stone, or bronze figures carved in beautiful or fantastic forms. When the fountains play from the central marble groups j„ each enclosed pool—some of which are as large as fair-sized lakelets—and from the graceful shapes poised on tho rim of the pools, there leap silvery streams of crystal-clear water, curving and tossing, rising and falling in the sunlight, flinging showers of glittering spray into the clear air. At night when fetes are sometimes held in palace grounds and the dark-green woodlands trees aro gemmed with many-coloured fairv lights, all those glittering tossing fountain-streams look llko endless streams of jewels tinted with rainbow hues. Besides these fountains there is an ornamental lake laid out in the middle of the grounds in the form of a cross. The palace is a magnificent building with hundreds of tall windows looking out upon the lakes and flowers, and flights of marble steps leading up to bronze doors. Tho courtyard which is covered with large cobblestones, gigantic statues are set at intervals all round it and above is a small stone, balcony, beautifully carved. A story is told about this balcony and Marie Antoinette which may or may not be true. During the time of tho French Revolution a mob of starving peasant) y headed by some of their better educated leaders marched out of Paris to A ersnilles where the court was then established in a state of great luxury and extravagant grandeur. It is said that tho King and Queen stood on this little balcony ti\ing to pacify tho mob which threatened to break into the palace and loot it for food. So impiessod were they by the Queen s bravery as she stood there with her little son beside her looking down on that howling mob of half-naked peasants with billhooks in their hands, that they might have turned away but for one unfortun-

By ISABEL M. CLUETT

ate, remark which is said was made by Mario Antoinette in tho hearing of some of the leaders. Someone cried out: the people are starving—they have no bread and according to the story the Quaen icplicd disdainfully with a slight shrug of her white shoulders, " ' Let them eat cake then.' " Within the palace are immense vaulted chambers hung with rich tapestries and covered with glorious paintings of the Kings and Queens of France and their children; there are art treasures of gold and silver, glass and ivory and gems and groups of marble statuary. Many of the ceilings are adorned with lovely frescoes by some of the most famous artists m the world. In one, chamber is the furniture of Mario Antoinette's time, typical French furniture of gilt and brocade with a low, richly-inlaid canopied bed, and painted satin' panels on the walls. All Ihe rooms in this sumptuous palace are interesting, but tho most interesting and beautiful of all is the famous Hall of Mirrors. 'l'his is a vast apartment with a lofty painted ceiling and many pictures, and fi'om end to end there are tall mirrors Jet, into the walls so that the Minlight by day, and lamp light, by night, is reflected from minor to mirror in an incessant quivering play of radiant light. In the, days of ihe French Court's greatest splendour, this room was always used for State functions and Court Balls, and when that great lofty-ceiled room, lit by thousands of perfumed wax candles in tall oj|( and crystal chandeliers and packed with men and women dressed in the richly coloured satins and velvets of the time,' with powdered wigs and glittering gems, and painted and bejewelled fans slowly waving, reflected again and again in those many mirrors as they passed and re-passed in their stately promenades or graceful rninuettes, the, bounty and brilliancy of the sight may well be imagined. But a far more, important function than any state ball was to tako place in that stately ballroom hundreds of years after the haughty powdered heads of those French aristocrats had fallen to the cruel knife of La Guillotine, and that was the sitting of the Peace Conference and the signing of the Peace Treaty in 1919 on tho conclusion ol the Great A\ar. Here in this room, those mirrors which had reflected the pride and beauty and extravagant magnificence of the I'rcnch Court of the 181 h century, in the twentieth century reflected a little group of plainlydressed statesmen with here and there perhaps the bright note of a soldier s uniform, gathered round a table on which were laid the documents the signing "f which meant peace and rest to a sorelytried world.