For the 39th edition of the European Heritage Days, the Palace of Versailles offers a republican tour!
Palace of the Kings under the Old Regime, the Palace of Versailles from 1871 housed the National Assembly fleeing Paris and the revolutionary government of the Commune. A new hemicycle room was inaugurated in the heart of the Midi Wing in 1876 to house the Chamber of Deputies.
If the deputies returned to the Palais Bourbon, in Paris, in 1879, the new and vast room made it possible to reunite, under the Third and Fourth Republics, the two chambers in the «National Assembly», especially during the election of the President of the Republic. Still today, it allows the Senate and the National Assembly to sit in Congress for the adoption of constitutional revisions, or for the addresses of the President of the Republic to both assemblies.
In addition to this exceptionally open space, you can discover during your visit the Hall of the Seal, the apartment of the President of the National Assembly, and see in the city the room of the Jeu de Paume restored in 2022 and where the famous oath was taken during the French Revolution.
During your visit, you can exchange with student mediators of the Ecole du Louvre to learn more about these places where the Republic expresses itself in the Palace of Kings!
Opening hours: 9h-18h30 (last access 17h30)
Access to Congress: 2 rue de l'Indépendance américain (part of the route is wheelchair accessible to visitors with access from the Princes' Court);
Access to the Jeu de Paume room: 1 Rue du Jeu de Paume (wheelchair accessible route)
More information on https://www.chateauversailles.fr/actualites/evenements/journees-europeennes-patrimoine