FRENCH REVOLUTION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 May 1939, Page 8

FRENCH REVOLUTION

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION. The hundred and fiftieth anniversarj of the French Revolution Will be celebrated at Versailles by an Exhibition of Souvenirs of the French Revolution. It was in Versailles that the States General, formed of representatives sent from all parts of France to- the Court to decide upon means to save the country from bankruptcy, was opened on May 5, 1789. Versailles played an important role in the Revolution from that day until the following October 6. when the mob marched out from Paris and compelled King Louis XVI and his queen to accompany them back tc Paris and captivity and eventually death. The theatre is intact and practically as it was when imprudent guards at < banquet applauded their king anc queen and aroused the indignation 01 the Parisians. The palace and the Trianons, lesser palaces in the park, arc unchanged, and one of the most interesting souvenirs of the royal court of those days has been completely restored. this being the make believe village, with its farm, mill, and tower, little bridges and artificial lake, built tc oleasc Marie Antoinette. Here beside this hamlet is her very own private theatre, on the stage of which she herself acted. The exhibition of Souvenirs of the Revolution w[ll be held in the Palace of Versailles and will be opened from April to October.