Versailles 18 June 2016 : Caspar Institute

Royalty = People

Here's Wikipedia's description of the formidable personnage on the right:

Marie Adélaïde de France, Daughter of France (23 March 1732 in Versailles – 27 February 1800 in Trieste), was the fourth daughter and sixth child of King Louis XV of France and his consort, Marie Leszczyñska. As the daughter of the king, she was a Fille de France. She was referred to as Madame Adélaïde from 1737 to 1755 and from 1759 to her death, and simply as Madame between 1755 and 1759.

Madame, whose name is remembered, not so fondly, in many stories about the court at Versailles, was a force of nature, if not a petty tyrant. She certainly ruled her father and later her brother, L16, and was personally responsible, despite numerous court architects, for changes in the Chateau that endure to this day. Said to be very bright, vivacious, forceful, a lover of gardening, music, and fishing, she also had her way whenever she chose to assert it.

The image above is of a model of the Ambassador's staircase, demolished at Madame's insistence so that her own quarters and those of her sister could be enlarged ...oh, yes, and the King's apartments as well (that's when his private WC was added). Also the glass roof leaked, and L15 seldom used the staircase, except for very occasional dramatic functions. It must have been magnificence sandwiched into a terribly narrow space (there was a wall where the front of the model ends) ... but it was, nevertheless, a masterpiece. A futile masterpiece ...and Madame had the wit and courage to see it destroyed in favor of comfort for herself and her brother, L16.

With the enormous Ambassador's staircase gone, an even narrower space was created, and access between floors was lost for centuries until a new staircase was finished in 1985. The New York Times fawningly describes the successor thusly: "The freshness of the stone gives away the youth of this staircase, but in addition it lacks the paintings, wall hangings, gilding and faux marble lavished on other public spaces of the palace. In its bare monochrome, the staircase offers a serenity in contrast to its surroundings. Visitors can enjoy Gabriel's volumes and architectural forms without distraction."

Our guide to the King's private apartments disagreed, describing the staircase thusly: "Don't even look at this. It is an – how you say it? embarrassment. I show you a model of the original. I beg you, just don't look at this ...thing." (See the picture of the original, above)

And that, basically, is the story. A palace is an historical document, recording the whims and extravagances of people. Madame, surely the tail that wagged the dog of construction during her reign, died impoverished (well, relatively) in Trieste, and the palace was looted and largely ignored ...until people recognized its value as built history ...and couldn't resist making their own changes, adding upgrades, safety and anti-terrorist innovations: rewriting the history, putting their own stamp on the document.

One of the undoubted architects of Versailles was that recognizable fellow on the far right –it's all in the nose – who, with his co-conspirator, culture minister André Malraux, clearly grasped the importance to a modern France, battered by two world wars, of the grandeur of Royal France. Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité: obviously good ideas, and a necessary evolution for a free people. But expressing pride in what the French (at least some of them) once were, and as a showplace for others to admire, wasn't such a bad idea, either.

We are greater because our Madames goad us to be, and reward us when we are. Page finished this 20th day of June in the City of Paris with my beloved Madame of 34 years today.