Les plaisirs de Versailles Les plaisirs de Versailles Les plaisirs de Versailles (English: "The Pleasures of Versailles") is a short opera (or "divertissement") by the French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier. It was intended for performance at the new courtly entertainment known as "les appartements du roi" ("the king's receptions") devised by King Louis XIV and held in his own apartments at the palace of Versailles in 1682. At the time, Charpentier was composer for Louis, "le Grand Dauphin", the king's son. The librettist is unknown. Most of the characters represent the pleasures enjoyed at Versailles: "La Musique" (Music), "La Conversation" (Conversation), "Le Jeu" (Gambling), Comus
Versailles rail accident Versailles rail accident The Versailles rail accident occurred on May 8, 1842 in the cutting between Meudon and Bellevue stations on the railway between Versailles and Paris following King Louis Philippe's celebrations at the Palace of Versailles. A train returning to Paris derailed at Meudon after the leading locomotive broke an axle, and the carriages behind piled into it and caught fire. It was the first French railway accident and the deadliest in the world at the time, causing between 52 and 200 deaths, including that of explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville and his wife Adèle Dumont D'Urville. The accident led