History of the Palace of Versailles czar Peter the Great stayed at the Grand Trianon. His time at Versailles was used to observe and study the palace and gardens, which he later used as a source of inspiration when he built Peterhof on the Bay of Finland, west of Saint Petersburg. During the reign of Louis XV, Versailles underwent transformation but not on the scale that had been seen during his predecessor's reign. When Louis XV and the court returned to Versailles in 1722, the first project was the completion of the Salon d'Hercule, which had been begun during the last years of Louis XIV's reign
Subsidiary structures of the Palace of Versailles dining table to be lowered to the kitchen level of the house, thus eliminating the need for servants in the dining room. At this time, the "jardins botaniques" were removed to Paris and the "Hameau de la reine" constructed in their stead. Regarded by opponents as a folly of Marie Antoinette, the Hameau was a model bucolic village and farm in which advances in agronomy and animal husbandry were practiced. Owing to the association with Marie Antoinette's perceived excesses—such as the construction of a theater where she and her friends acted to private audiences—the Petit Trianon and the Hameau were