Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France

In French, it is known as the Château de Versailles. When the Château was built, Versailles was a country village, but today it is a suburb of Paris. From 1682, when King Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in 1789, the Court of Versailles was the center of power in Ancien Régime France. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy that Louis XIV espoused.