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
History of the Palace of Versailles Nolhac produced a new awareness of the castle. Members of high society and nobility, such as the Duke of Aumale and the Empress Eugenie flocked to see new developments. Nolhac also working to bring in foreign personalities. On 8 October 1896, Czar Nicolas II and his wife Alexandra, arrived at Versailles. Nolhac also organized events aimed at raising the awareness of potential donors to the palace. The owner of the "New York Herald", Gordon Bennett, gave 25,000 francs for restructuring the 18th-century rooms. The development of private donations led to the creation of the Friends of Versailles in June 1907.