At Palace Versailles, in the town of Versailles, suburb of Paris, France

 "Dance is very, very old. With Louis XIV at Versailles is where ballet started." — Neve Campbell

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(in the Île-de-France region of north-central France) The town of Versailles is renowned worldwide for the Château de Versailles and the gardens of Versailles, which are designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Located in the western suburbs of the French capital, Versailles is a suburb of Paris (with a service-based economy} and a major tourist destination.

+ A town yhat was founded by King Louis XIV, Versailles was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of France from 1682 to 1789, before becoming the cradle of the French Revolution. After having lost its status of a royal city, it became the regional capital of the Seine-et-Oise department in 1790, then of Yvelines in 1968.
+ Versailles is historically known for 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 meets in the Château de Versailles to vote on revisions to the Constitution.

+ The town developed around the 17th-century Palace of Versailles. The first scenes of the French Revolution were enacted at the palace, whose gardens have become part of the national heritage of France (and one of the most-visited historical sites in Europe). Although it was a place of entertainment, the palace was also well equipped as a center of government. Some 1,000 courtiers with 4,000 attendants lived in the palace itself. About 14,000 soldiers and servants were quartered in annexes and in the town, which had 30,000 inhabitants when Louis XIV died in 1715.

+ Louis XV continued the building program of his predecessor, and the palace became a symbol of royal extravagance. In 1837 Louis-Philippe turned it into a museum consecrated to “all the glories of France.” In 1870 the German army used Versailles as its headquarters, and in 1871 the German emperor was crowned there. For eight years after the peace with Germany, the palace was the seat of the French Parliament, and the constitution of the Third Republic was proclaimed there in 1875. The presidents of the Third and Fourth republics were elected in Versailles. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles, between the Allies and Germany, was signed in the palace, which was again restored and modernized under President Charles de Gaulle.

+ The palace now serves as a tourist attraction and as a residence for visiting heads of state. The oldest quarter of the town, Satory, contains the cathedral of Saint-Louis, while the new quarter, Le Chesnay, in the north, is the site of the church of Notre-Dame. Versailles is an important garrison town, with a military hospital and a school of military engineering and artillery. There is little industry in the town itself, where service and administrative activities dominate the economy. However, the adjoining Satory plateau is the location of armament and high-tech industries. (A school of horticulture is attached to the fine garden.)