Horloge de Versailles - Versailles, France
Posted by: manchanegra
N 48° 48.288 E 002° 07.248
31U E 435442 N 5406129
Clock mounted in the façade of the Versailles Palace.
Waymark Code: WMCQDW
Location: Île-de-France, France
Date Posted: 10/03/2011
Views: 30
This beautifull clock is mounted in the façade of the Versailles Palace.
The Versailles Pallace (Also known as the Chateau de Versailles or just Versailles) is one of the most famous pallaces in the world. It´s a symbol of the absolute monarchy and was once the center of power in France from 1682 to 1789 when Louis XIV moved here from Paris.
Versailles was once a small hunting lodge, but, continuous building campaigns from 1664 to 1710 transformed it to what we know today.
The clock was mounted in 1679 during the third campaign (1678-1684) when an extra stage was added. The manufacturer was Marin Pépin and the work was supervised by Julien le Roy ( (
visit link) ). Le Roy is not known for building town clocks he prefered to focus on works requiring more "finesse" but he´s known for supervising some.
It´s mounted in the façade of the Royal court of Versailles, surrounded by the statues of Mars (by Marsy)and Hercules (by Girandon). It has a blue face encircled with a decoration of gold laurel leafs. The pointers and Roman numerals are also painted in gold and in the center, also in gold, a sun with a face, probably representing Louis XIV known as the Sun King (Le Roy Soleil).