Fêtes & Divertissements À La Cour

Exhibition at the Château de Versailles, 29 November 2016 - 26 March 2017

To serve the greatness of the kingdom, Louis XIV and his successors gave grandiose festivals at Versailles that spread throughout Europe. In order to keep a court bored, they offered regular entertainment, day and night, indoors and outdoors: hunting, walks, comedy, concerts, games, balls, fireworks and illuminations.

Based on the latest research by historians, archivists and curators, but also by musicologists, practitioners of hunting, dancing and ancient games, this exhibition catalogue recreates the reality experienced by courtiers. It reveals the mechanisms of courtly entertainment and invites us to question its ambivalence and its true purpose.