Louis XIII’s old hunting lodge, turned into a royal residence by his son Louis
XIV between 1661 and 1715, with the works run by Louis Le Vau and Jules
Hardouin-Mansart and the gardens by André Le Nôtre. At its height it housed
some 5,000 courtiers across more than 2,000 rooms, and it set the template for
the absolutist palace that the rest of Europe’s monarchies wanted to copy
(Caserta, Schönbrunn, La Granja). A World Heritage Site since 1979.
