Первые 144 года в Версале отсутствовали туалеты: замалчиваемый факт о дворце

Hygiene at the Palace of Versailles
Visitors entering the Palace of Versailles today are quickly overwhelmed by the majesty of the setting. The immense gardens, the scale of the architecture, and the dazzling decor transport us to the very heart of the splendors of France's Ancien Régime. But behind the gold paintwork, paneling and decor of the sumptuous apartments, lies an altogether darker image of the royal palace, whose filth was often a subject of comment, and where – in the apparent absence of sanitation – courtiers were rumored to foul the corridors as a matter of routine.
In fact, Versailles suffered from the preconceptions of the French hygienists of the 'romantic' nineteenth century, for whom anything pertaining to the Ancien Régime was to be vigorously shunned and denounced. The palace was, in reality, always at the forefront of modernity. Louis XIV invariably demanded the very best for his residence. Paralleling the development of modern-day Paris and above all the 'birth of intimacy' (in the words of Annik Pardailhé-Galabrun, in her book La naissance de l’intime. 3 000 foyers parisiens, XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles, Paris, 1988), the royal residence – as a thoroughly modern building – was quickly fitted with every essential convenience. But like so many 'banal' artifacts of everyday life, very little remains today to testify to what was a very real concern for sanitation and hygiene. The notion of cleanliness in the seventeenth century was certainly not what it is today, but as we shall see, careful attention was paid to the comforts and well-being of the courtiers living at the royal palace.