The Palace of Versailles is a former royal house in Versailles, France, approximately 12 miles west of Paris. The French Republic owns the palace, which has been managed by the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum, and National Estate of Versailles since 1995, under the leadership of the French Ministry of Culture. Every year, 15,000,000 people visit the Palace, Park, and Gardens of Versailles, making it one of the world's most popular tourist destinations.
King Louis XIII established a hunting lodge on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles in 1623, and Louis XIV extended it in three parts from 1661 to 1715. Both kings favored the palace, and in 1682, Louis XIV moved the seat of his court and government to Versailles, effectively making the palace the de facto capital of France. Kings Louis XV and Louis XVI maintained this state of affairs, mostly making interior changes to the palace, but the royal family and capital of France returned to Paris in 1789. The Palace of Versailles was entirely abandoned and emptied of its possessions throughout the rest of the French Revolution, while the population of the neighboring city dropped.
Following his conquest of France, Napoleon Bonaparte used Versailles as a summer house from 1810 until 1814, but did not repair it. When the French monarchy was restored, it stayed in Paris, and significant renovations to the palace were not performed until the 1830s. It was converted into a museum of French history, with the flats in the southern wing being demolished.
UNESCO declared the palace and park as a World Heritage Site in 1979 due to its significance as a center of power, art, and science in France throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. The palace, its gardens, and several of its auxiliary constructions have been added to the French Ministry of Culture's list of culturally significant monuments.
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