History of the Palace of Versailles Cotte and his team of decorative designers. There were also some modifications in the "appartement du roi", namely the construction of the "Salon de l’Œil de Bœuf" and the King's Bedchamber. With the completion of the chapel in 1710, virtually all construction at Versailles ceased; building would not be resumed at Versailles until some twenty one years later during the reign of Louis XV. After the death of the Louis XIV in 1715, the five-year-old king Louis XV, the court, and the "Régence" government of Philippe d’Orléans returned to Paris. In May 1717, during his visit to France, the Russian
History of the Palace of Versailles XIV's; in a word, it is having given to this magnificent book that is called French history this magnificent binding that is called Versailles" (Victor Hugo). Later, Balzac characterised the effort in less laudatory terms as the “hospital of the glories of France”. The southern wing (Aile du Midi) was given over to the Galerie des Batailles (Hall of Battles), which necessitated the demolition of most of the apartments of the Princes of the Blood who lived in this part of the palace during the Ancien Régime. The Galerie des Batailles was modeled on the Grande Galerie of the Louvre