page_title: Queen's apartment at Versailles
section_title: The Room of the Queen's Guard
hierarchical_section_title: Queen's apartment at Versailles / The Room of the Queen's Guard
caption_attribution_description: English: Detail of the Escalier de la Reine (Staircase of the Queen) made of marble in the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, France Français&#160;: Détail de l'Escalier de la Reine en marbre du Château de Versailles à Versailles en France
context_page_description: The Queen's apartment at Versailles consists of several rooms: The Queen's Bedchamber; The Queen's Private Cabinets; The Room of the Queen's Gentlemen; The Queen's Antechamber; The Room of the Queen's Guard. The apartment overlooks the Parterre du Midi, and parallels the King's Apartment. When the King's Apartment was abandoned at the end of Louis XIV's reign, the Queens continued to occupy the Queen's Apartment.
context_section_description: The marble paneling in The Room of the Queen's Guard was enhanced with gilded bronze designed by Le Brun and executed by Le Gros and Massou. The room was used as a Chapel in 1672 and received its final decoration in 1676-1681. The paintings are by Noël Coypel and were taken from the Jupiter Drawing Room.
  At the foot of the Queen’s staircase, also known as the "marble staircase", one penetrated the Queen’s Grand Apartment through this Guard room where, day and night, twelve bodyguards accomplished their service to their sovereign. At Versailles, only the King, the Queen and the Dauphin could have a personal guard composed of soldiers belonging to these elite units, the four companies of the king’s bodyguards. The next grande salle, now called the Salle du Sacre [Coronation Room] was assigned to them, serving as the guard room.
  The Queen’s Guard Room is the only room in which the 17th century decor has been preserved: since the Queen had no use for the room, it was not necessary to modernize it. This is why the marble panels characteristic of the first state of the Grand Apartments as well as paintings placed there in 1680, which came from the former Jupiter room, later the War Room can still be seen here.
  "The service of the bodyguards, at the château, consisted in guarding the doors of the apartments, taking up arms when the princes passed, man the chapel during mass and escort the dinners of the royal family. They had to know the dukes and peers because when they passed, the sentinel had to stand to attention and stamp the right heel twice. This sentinel also had to open the door and not allow it to be opened; but you can feel that the guard himself was very glad to be exempted from all these duties".
  It was here in 1789, at dawn, that rioters demanding bread tried to reach the Queen's apartments. A chambermaid, warned by a bodyguard, bolted the door of the Room of the Queen's Gentlemen and advised the Queen to run away. Retracing their steps, the rioters then tried to penetrate through the King's Guard Room.
caption: Marble decoration on the Queen's staircase
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