Recollects Convent (Versailles) (an annual theater event organized by the city of Versailles). During the period 1672-1673, as part of the design for his new Court of France, at what was then a royal hunting lodge at Versailles, Louis XIV decided to demolish Saint-Julien, the only church in Versailles at that time, and construct a convent for the Recollects, (an order so favored by the king he chose army chaplains from them) in the new town to be situated on the opposite side of the Palace, in today’s Notre-Dame area. In 1682, the Court of Louis XIV was installed at Versailles, and Jules
Palace of Versailles gardens of Versailles in the early 1660s. They are the finest example of the "jardin à la française", or the French formal garden. They were originally designed to be viewed from the terrace on the west side of the palace, and to create a grand perspective that reached to the horizon, illustrating the king's complete dominance over nature. The features closest to the Palace are the two water parterres, large pools which reflect the facade of the palace. These are decorated with smaller works of sculpture, representing the rivers of France, which are placed so as not to interfere with