Architects busied themselves with innumerable plans for re-making the shabby pile.  Some would have torn down the Council Hall, the bed-chamber of Louis XIV, the antechamber of the Bull’s Eye, and all the rest of the palace except the apartments of the King and Queen, the Gallery with the salons at either end, the Chapel and the Opera House.  Napoleon was willing to spend 6,000 francs on the construction of suites for himself and his family “and fifty others.”  “Then,” said he, “we could perhaps come to Versailles to pass a summer.”  The disasters of the year 1812 and the fall of the Empire saved the palace from the threatened renovation.

When Louis XVIII ascended the throne of his Bourbon ancestors after the extinction of Napoleon’s Star of Hope, he conceived a new plan “to put the chateau of Versailles in a habitable state.”  During the next six years (1814-1820) the King restored the Hall of Mirrors and all that was especially associated with Louis XIV.  He finished the facade on the Paris side, begun by Gabriel under Louis XV, and built a pavilion corresponding to the one designed and erected by this same architect.  He did away with a maze of small apartments, cleaned and simplified the interior, restored painted ceilings and gilt embellishments, and with great care put in order the entire palace and its surroundings.  The chapel was repaired and blessed anew by the Bishop of Strassbourg.

Many State visitors came to see Versailles, even in the days when it was shorn of its glory.  Pope Pius VII was there in 1805.  From the balcony outside the Gallery of Mirrors he bestowed his benediction upon a crowd that stood below on the terraces.  Two days later the Salon of Hercules was the scene of a ball in celebration of the coronation of the first Emperor of France.  In May, 1814, Czar Alexander I of Russia visited Versailles with his two brothers, following the example of Peter the Great, who had been there when Louis XV was on the throne.  Another historic cortege was composed of Frederick William III of Prussia and his two sons, one of whom, Prince William, was to return to Versailles in the year 1870 on a mission less peaceful.  The gates of Versailles opened to the Duke of Wellington in 1818.

Other visitors there were that came to Versailles and, by the good will of Louis XVIII, lodged there—­homeless dependents, who dried their laundry at the stately windows of the palace and installed goats and cows on the roofs overlooking the inert bronze fountains.

After the reign of Charles X all the occupants at the chateau left, following the Revolution of July, 1830.  Once more the question arose as to the disposition of the palace.  Empty, abandoned, “What shall we do with it?” cried the ministers.  The answer was found in the project proposed to Louis Philippe that Versailles should become a national depository for souvenirs of French history, surrounded by the splendors of Louis the Great.  This suggestion had the king’s approval and cooperation.  A confusion of offices, rooms, staircases and passages was simplified in the two wings, and the main body of the chateau and long galleries were created for the reception of thousands of battle pictures, portraits and pieces of sculpture, reflecting events and personalities concerned with the story of France.