The palace of Versailles is a national symbol of France filled with beauty & grandeur, considered as the world heritage place by UNESCO. There was a time when it was considered worlds filthiest place by visitors from other nation during the rule of king Louis XIV and Louis XVI.It was said that it was more smellier and filthier than streets of pairs itself.Although the Bourbon’s spared no expense in the expansion and upkeep of Versailles, the main problem was that the palace and grounds had little in the way of sewage and bathroom facilities. As the center of the Kingdom of France, Versailles was often filled with courtiers, VIP’s, there to petition the king, or ask for favors and handouts. There were also hundreds of commoners who were spectators and tourists. In addition, another 2,000 people made Versailles their permanent home. With a lack of bathroom facilities, it was not uncommon for people to use the grand and ornate hallways of Versailles as places to relieve themselves, urinating or defecating behind columns or in Versailles’ many archways to which even dogs and other pets of the people in the palace contributed.
When the English politician Horace Walpole visited Versailles, he noted “Versailles was a vast cesspool, reeking of filth and befouled with ordure…The odor clung to clothes,wigs, even undergarments. Worst of all, beggars, servants, and aristocratic visitors alike used the stairs, the corridors, any out-of-the-way place to relieve themselves. The passages, the court yards, the wings and the corridors were full of urine and faecal matter. The park, the gardens and the château made one retch with their bad smell.”
Versailles beautiful courtyards and gardens were also not immune to the filth, often being used as a corral for animals by visitors, and as a dumping ground for garbage and sewage. King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had their own rooms and apartments deeper within Versailles, often accessed by a network of secret doors and hallways which connected to the public common area. However, even the king and queen’s personal quarters were not free of the stench and filth. One other major problem was that Versailles’ chimneys did not draw out air very well, so much of the inner rooms of Versailles were covered in soot and ash from its many fireplaces.
Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI hated living in the filth at Versailles, especially Marie, after having a chamber pot accidentally emptied on her, which was casually thrown from a window out to the courtyard. To get away from Versailles, Marie Antoinette had a quaint village built a mile away from the palace, which often served as her residence.
Today, Versailles is hardly the cesspit of its early past. Rather, as a national treasure it is fastidiously kept and preserved. Proper pluming was installed in the early 19th century, so there is no longer any need for tourists and visitors to leave their human wastes in the hallways.
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