Many of the repairs and changes made by Dufour,
Napoleon's architect, have remained to the present time. Certain parts
of the palace giving on the courts were in ruins, Louis XV and his heir
having had no money to spare for their restoration. In 1811, after the
Peace of Vienna, Napoleon, then in residence at the Grand Trianon, took
under advisement the complete reconstruction of the palace. In
consternation he surveyed the tumbling walls and the general confusion
that confronted him during one of his promenades in the park and
Orangery. "Why," cried he, "did the Revolution, which destroyed
everything else, spare the chateau of Versailles! Then I would not
have had on my hands this embarrassing legacy from Louis XIV--an old
chateau poorly built--one much favored without just cause."
Architects busied themselves with innumerable plans for re-making the
shabby pile. Some would have torn down the Council Hall, the
bed-chamber of Louis XIV, the antechamber of the Bull's Eye, and all
the rest of the palace except the apartments of the King and Queen, the
Gallery with the salons at either end, the Chapel and the Opera House.
Napoleon was willing to spend 6,000 francs on the construction of
suites for himself and his family "and fifty others." "Then," said he,
"we could perhaps come to Versailles to pass a summer." The disasters
of the year 1812 and the fall of the Empire saved the palace from the
threatened renovation.
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