Nothing represents the turbulent and inspiring history of France quite like the Palace of Versailles. Made famous by the absolutist king Louis XIV, Versailles became legendary for its aristocratic and cultural splendors, but after the Revolution of 1789 it fell into disrepute as a reminder of royal excess and abuse of power. Subsequent French governments struggled with how to handle the palace and grounds - should the site be memorialized, rehabilitated, or even destroyed outright? Distinguished historian Colin Jones masterfully traces the evolution of Versailles from its origins as an early seventeenth-century hunting lodge to the focal point of the opulent Louis XIV's centralized power, and from the palace's variegated fortunes under Revolution to its rediscovered vocation as a site of memory recalling France's former cultural gegemony. This is the vivid story of the creation, renovation, and enduring legacy of the most famous building in France: a building complex of mythical status and a space of royal and aristocratic pleasures that has become one of the world's greatest tourist destinations. Tracking the evolution of Versailles as a building and as a political space in compelling prose, this book is a must-read for any Francophile. -- From dust jacket.