The Petit Trianon, built by Louis XV, blossomed under Louis XVI, when the palace passed into the ownership of Marie Antoinette, who made its interiors, poised between rococo and neoclassicism, her private retreat, where one could come only by her invitati

The Petit Trianon, built by Louis XV, blossomed under Louis XVI, when the palace passed into the ownership of Marie Antoinette, who made its interiors, poised in style between rococo and neoclassicism, her private retreat, where one could come only by her invitation. After the Revolution the palace was abandoned and lay in desolation until Napoleon III, who resolved to turn the building into a museum of the executed queen. But only in 2008 did access open to all the rooms of the palace: until then the common visitor could see only the first floor. A large-scale restoration returned the Petit Trianon to its former splendour, and the financing of the project drew in such giants as the watchmaking house of Breguet, among others.

The park of the Petit Trianon is as important a part of this architectural masterpiece as the palace itself with its four different façades. Since Marie Antoinette sought in the Petit Trianon respite from the court and its bustle, ideas of intimate cosiness can be traced everywhere, and in the park, a bond with nature.