The Throne Room known as the Salon of Apollo—­the seat of the Sun King—­was of the utmost richness.  The throne itself was of silver and stood eight feet high.  Tapestries represented scenes of splendor in the life of Louis the Great and on the walls were masterpieces by Italian artists of the first rank, which were later deemed worthy of a place in the Louvre.  Much of the treasure vanished in the years 1689-1690 when the King was constrained to raise money for his depleted treasury.  In December, 1682, the Mercure Galant, desirous of pleasing its readers, always avid of details about everything that concerned their King, published a long description of the furnishings of the State Apartments—­the velvet hangings, the marble walls enriched with gold relief, the chimney-pieces bossed with silver.

Yet the glory of these apartments was outdone by the later achievements of architect and decorators in the Salons of War and Peace and the Hall of Mirrors that joins them.  In the cupola of the Salon of War the great Lebrun painted an allegorical picture of France hurling thunderbolts and carrying a shield blazoned with the portrait of King Louis, while Bellona, Spain, Holland and Germany are shown crouching in awe.  The colored marbles of the walls contrasted brilliantly with gilded copper bas-reliefs.  Six portraits of Roman emperors contributed to the impressiveness of the Salon, and on the wall was a stucco relief of the King of France on horseback, clad like a Roman.  The Salon of Peace was also decorated by Lebrun’s adept brush.  A ceiling piece portrays France and her conquered enemies rejoicing in the fruits of Peace.  And, again, there are portraits of the ever-present Louis and the Caesars of Rome.  Both these splendid halls remain to-day much as they were in the time of their creator.

Most lavish is the decoration of the Grand Hall of Mirrors—­“the epitome of absolutism and divine right and the grandeur of the House of Bourbon.”  For two hundred and forty feet it extends along the terrace that surveys the gardens where Louis XIV and his successors delighted to ordain fetes of unimaginable gayety.  Gorgeously costumed courtiers, women that dictated the fate of dynasties, diplomats of our day bent upon the solution of world-rocking problems, all have gazed from this resplendent gallery upon the fountains and allees that beautify the scene below.  Seventeen lofty windows are matched by as many Venetian framed mirrors.  Between each window and each mirror are pilasters designed by Coyzevox, Tubi and Caffieri—­reigning masters of their time.  Walls are of marble embellished with bronze-gilt trophies; large niches contain statues in the antique style.  The gilded cornice is by Coyzevox, the ceiling by Lebrun.  The conception of the latter comprises more than a score of paintings representing events that had to do with wars waged by Louis the Great against Holland, Germany and Spain.  In the period when Versailles was the residence of kings—­not