Versailles investigation
Monday, 25 August 2008
You don’t suppose there’s one of these tucked in the garden somewhere, do you?
You’d think that a famous hunk of built environment like the Château de Versailles would have a well-documented architectural history. But, no.
Apparently the existing buildings supplanted an earlier Louis XIII structure described as a hunting lodge, of which we have limited knowledge.
Luckily, archaeologists recently got a peek under the paving of the Royal Courtyard next to the main building before construction of an underground service area.
They were only able to open a narrow trench, yet still found a sunken roadway, an arc of a foundation of a modest circular tower, linear wall foundations, and a later basin (to water horses? for a fountain? I couldn’t tell from this report). Maps and pictures here.
Once again, archaeology tells us more than history!