France's Most Famous Palaces: The History and Legacy of Versailles, the Louvre, and the Tuileries

*Includes pictures*Includes accounts of the construction and history of the palaces*Includes a bibliography for further readingIn every nation, in every era of history, there are inevitably one or two places that become the symbol of the times. Mention Valley Forge to an American and it will immediately conjure up visions of a hard won fight for freedom. Likewise, the word Dunkirk said to a Briton will elicit a sense of both pride and horror at the lives lost and saved at that desperate point in World War II. For the French, and those who study their history, Versailles is a symbol of, as Charles Dickens once put it, “the best of times…the worst of times.” It was here that the Sun King, Louis XIV, built a palace worthy of a great nation during a time when peace was, at best, short-lived. It was at Versailles that Russian Tsar Peter the Great to study the palace’s architecture and gardens so that he could recreate them in his home country. Indeed, the greatest minds and artistic geniuse