Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso (farm) alongside the lodge and shrine. The site was purchased from the monks in 1719 by King Philip V, after his summer palace nearby at Valsaín burned to a shell. He was the first Spanish king from the French Bourbon dynasty. Beginning in 1721, Philip began building a new palace and gardens modeled on Versailles, built by his grandfather, Louis XIV of France. Like Versailles it embraced a "cour d'honneur" on the approaching side, and formal gardens, with a main axis centred on the palace, that were surrounded by woodland in which further hidden garden features were disposed. Like Versailles,
Palace of Versailles he revived 18th-century weaving techniques so as to reproduce the silks used in the decoration of Versailles. The two greatest achievements of this initiative are seen today in wall hangings used in the restoration of the "chambre de la reine" in the "grand appartement de reine" and the "chambre du roi" in the "appartement du roi". While the design used for the "chambre du roi" was, in fact, from the original design to decorate the "chambre de la reine", it nevertheless represents a great achievement in the ongoing restoration at Versailles. Additionally, this project, which took over seven years to