History of the Palace of Versailles round towers. The vignette also shows a garden on the western side of the château with a fountain on the central axis and rectangular planted "parterres" to either side. Louis XIV had played and hunted at the site as a boy. With a few modifications, this structure would become the core of the new palace. Louis XIII's successor, Louis XIV, had a great interest in Versailles. He settled on the royal hunting lodge at Versailles, and over the following decades had it expanded into one of the largest palaces in the world. Beginning in 1661, the architect Louis Le Vau,
Palace of Versailles markets of Paris to Versailles. They took weapons from the city armory, besieged the Palace, and compelled the King and Royal family and the members of the National Assembly to return with them to Paris the following day. As soon as the royal family departed, the Palace was closed, awaiting their return. In 1792, the Convention, the new revolutionary government, ordered the transfer of all the paintings and sculptures from the Palace to the Louvre. In 1793, the Convention declared the abolition of the monarchy, and ordered all of the royal property in the Palace to be sold at auction.