The Hercules Room

Our next stop is the Salon of Hercules, which served as the royal chapel before the one we just visited was built.

As you can see, it's on a completely different scale from the rooms we've seen so far.

This is where the King's Grand Apartment begins.

An apartment, in this context, refers to a self-contained suite of ceremonial rooms within the palace.

But don't imagine this as the king's private home where he relaxed in his nightclothes.

It was, above all, a stage where Louis XIV presented himself as the Sun King to nobles from across Europe.

Ahead of us are a total of seven such rooms.

Each room represents one of the planets that revolve around Louis XIV, the Sun King, and its ceiling depicts the deity associated with that planet.

The ceiling of this room features Hercules.

It depicts Hercules ascending to Mount Olympus after becoming a god.

Surrounding him are allegorical figures representing Strength, Endurance, Justice, and Prudence.

Together, they represent the heroic qualities Louis XIV wished to associate with himself.

Now, let's take a look at the enormous painting covering one side of the room, The Meal at the House of Simon.

It depicts Simon hosting a meal for Jesus, while Mary, once known as a sinner, washes Jesus' feet with her hair.

This painting came from Venice.

The Republic of Venice presented it to Louis XIV as a diplomatic gift to strengthen its relationship with France.

Louis XIV treasured it, but because of its enormous size, finding a suitable place to display it was no easy task.

It was first kept elsewhere, including the Louvre, but when Versailles was expanded, a special room was created specifically to house this masterpiece—the Salon of Hercules.

In other words, you could say this room was designed around one extraordinary painting received from Venice.

The Salon of Hercules serves as the grand entrance to the King's Grand Apartment.

Displaying this enormous painting in the very first room was a way of telling every visitor, "This is the kind of gift our king receives."

Fittingly, this magnificent room was often used for royal banquets.

Now, let's move on to the next room.