Versailles
Versailles is a city in the department of the Yvelines, Île-de-France, renowned worldwide for the Château de Versailles and the gardens of Versailles, designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Located in the western suburbs of the French capital, 17.1 km from the center of Paris, Versailles is in the 21st century a wealthy suburb of Paris with a service-based economy and a major tourist destination as well.
A new town founded at the will of King Louis XIV, Versailles was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789, before becoming the cradle of the French Revolution. After having lost its status as a royal city, it became the préfecture (regional capital) of the Seine-et-Oise département in 1790, then of Yvelines in 1968. It is also a Roman Catholic diocese.
Versailles is historically known for numerous treaties such as the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution, and the Treaty of Versailles, after World War I. Today, the Congress of France – the name given to the body created when both houses of the French Parliament, the National Assembly, and the Senate, meet – gathers in the Château de Versailles to vote on revisions to the Constitution.
Versailles' primary cultural attraction is the Palace, with its ornately decorated rooms and historic significance. The town also has other points of cultural notability; in recent times, its position as an affluent suburb of Paris has meant that it forms a part of the Paris art scene, and musical groups such as Phoenix, Air, and Daft Punk have some link to the city, as does the director Michel Gondry.